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Well, the long promised photos of the kitchen project have finally been posted. 

 

I posted two separate photo galleries, the before and after if you just want to see what changed and the kitchen construction timeline, which shows the sequence of work as it is being done.  I've added captions explaining a little about the pictures.  If you want more, you have to buy me drinks.

 

Anyway, highlights are that we started planning the kitchen remodel in June 06, hired an architect (big mistake) in Aug 06, hired a contractor (Stonewood Builders) in Dec 06, basically fired the architect in Feb 07 due to their immense over-extravagance and expense. From there we worked on the plans ourselves and with a few local professionals who were very helpful.   We highly recommend Russ Morgan at Morgan's Electric in Ballard who helped us with the cabinets. We got our permits, finalied the plan and signed the contract in May 07.  The contract had scheduled the process to be done by end of July.  Ha ha, we assumed maybe Labor Day to be realistic.  We moved in the upstairs 2 weeks after Labor Day, so that was pretty close.  Of course, we were not 100% done by then, as a few details were still hanging out there.  We have finally just on November 8th finished the major remaining items:  counters were reinstalled, power service was moved to the front of the house. 

 

There's still a handful of little things to do, but we're on to other projects now.  We've definitely found that the more detail you get into, the more you want to do. It's a downward spiral, and you really have to fight to keep the projects from expanding forever.

We set out for Peggy's Pond & Cathedral Rock around 11 am on Saturday and quickly made our way up the hill to Squaw Lake and grabbed a bite. No major problems on the trail other than the copious pack animal suprises. Weather was high clouds and occasional sun that kept the temps moderate. The forecast, however, was iffy, and seemed to have kept a lot of people from a reportedly crowded trail.

 

After reaching Cathedral Pass, we descended briefly towards Deep Lake and then cut north towards Peggy's Pond. This was harrowing in a few places where scrambling was the only option. We reached Peggy's Pond at about 2:50, set up camp and scrambled around in the upper basin to the west on Mt. Daniel. Part of the trail up the slopes was completely eroded away, so the trail in this area is not easy to follow. The meadows and creek bed were home to some stunning red and yellow wild flowers, and the stark, harsh alpine environment elicited comparisons to a desert in springtime on more than one occasion.

 

Only a handful of people stayed overnight at Peggy's Pond and meadows above it, perhaps unwisely disregarding the forecast. Sprinkles started by 10 pm and rain continued until we hit the trailhead the next day at 11 am.

 

My biggest fear about this hike was not going up Aasgard Pass, it was coming back down the pass.  I've been on some backpacking trips before where there's a long decline.  With the extra weight of the pack, it puts a lot of strain on your knees.  And given the harshness of this decline, I knew it would be a doozy. 

 

We were pretty fortunate to awake to a really nice, calm and thankfully dry morning on Saturday, our hours in the Enchantments Zone.  We got up pretty early (for us), fueled up, packed up and hit the trail by 9 AM.  We got to the pass by 10 am and were astounded that we passed so many people who hadn't gotten going just yet.  Usually we're the lazy ones.

 

I continued my timer-mania with my camera, trying to catch up on all the photos I could have taken earlier in our trip with both me and Jeff in them... had I only remembered the timer.  At the top of the pass we could see all the way up to Mount Baker, so I made sure to catch the photo ops when we could.  Maybe I was just delaying the inevitable.

 

And down we went... 2,200 feet decline in just one mile.  Our handy trekking poles saved the day again.  We were much more stable on the slippery & rock slidey steep trail.  Having 4 supports rather than just two legs really made the journey a lot easier.  There's just no way we could have done it without them.

 

We passed a lot of day hikers and a handful of backpackers who were on their way up to Aasgard.  On a beautiful Saturday, I guess the Aasgard back-door entrance to the Enchantments is really the only realistic way someone could get all the way up and back without camping.  I would NEVER recommend it, because we had such a hard time getting to Colchuck Lake on day 1, let alone combining that hike with Aasgard too?  Wow, these folks were intense.

 

After about 3-4 hours, we were back down to Colchuck Lake.  We did look for a camping spot to take our last night by the lake, but again, since it was a Saturday, all the good spots were taken. So we decided to tough out the last 4 or so miles to get to the trailhead.  And with that decision made we were allowed to start talking about the topic backpackers generally try to avoid... talking about what food they will eat when they are done.  Pizza and beer was ours by about 8pm that night in Leavenworth, and we got into Seattle by 11 pm.

We awoke on Friday AM with fears of the biting winds continuing from the day before.  To our surprise, it was actually calm and sunny, and began warming up almost immediately.  As nature would have it, we needed to relieve ourselves immediately after getting up.  Apparently the goats in the Enchantment Basin are used to this behavior from human visitors, and they have a penchant for the salt in urine.  So to our surprise, a pack of 4 mountain goats appeared in our campsite to stalk us during our morning rituals.  We were delighted to see them, but a little creeped out by their behavior.  They are goats, so, oh well.

 

Side note, check out this interesting discussion about how to get permits for the Enchantments if you ever want to go there.

 

We ate a quick breakfast, packed up for a day hike and took off to the lower basin.  We caught an overlook down a steep hillside to Crystal Lake, a rather secluded Enchantment lake.  Beyond Crystal Lake, you could see towards Ellensburg and the Gorge.  As a point of reference, if you've ever stopped at the rest area on I-90 going eastbound just before Ellensburg, you can look northwest from the rest area to see some tall jagged peaks.  There is a map of the Stuart Mountain Range profile there to help you identify the peaks.  We were up there, looking back towards the rest area from those peaks!

 

We turned back from the Crystal Lake overlook and continued down the valley past more snow fields and waterfalls (a recurring theme) to reach the banks of Inspiration Lake.  We pondered the benefits of camping down here rather than the upper basin, but decided we were happy with where we were (and too lazy to move).  I spotted what I called the psycho banzaii garden on a side trail at Inspiration Lake.  There were several tiny pine trees that had been twisted by the alpine winds and weather. Each was surrounded at the base by green fuzzy growth that had tiny yellow flowers twinkling around the trees.  It's odd to see how nature can so perfectly coordinate something like that without any "plan".

 

After Inspiration, it was down to Perfection Lake, which amazingly lived up to it's name.  We first took in the sights of Perfection from the rocks above, and were stunned by the amazing layers and colors in the shallow end of the lake.  It appears at some time to have been a meadow through which a stream meandered, but was now submerged.  Layers of mud have built up like brown underwater rainbows before reaching the deep end of the lake, with a dark line where the stream used to be.  As we got closer to Perfection, we found numerous instances of similar psycho banzaii gardens, with more twisted little pine trees dotting the lake shores.  As we rounded the lake, we were greeted by a lush forest floor covered by another beautiful green vegetation that we could not identify. Looking back west across the lake to the rock hillside we decended, another stunning waterfall.

 

We contemplated going up Prussik Pass to see Gnome Tarn, a tiny lake up the hill from Perfection. But given some menancing clouds, we decided seeing the lower lakes was a higher priority for this trip, and we would hit the pass on the way back if we had time and the weather looked OK.

 

Perfection Lake has an outlet that drains down yet more waterfalls into tiny Sprite Lake.  This was another delight, and there are several campsites and a backcountry toilet too that would make this a great place to stay.  There was a giant snow field on the hillside above Sprite Lake, and it looks like several hikers took advantage of this by sliding down the hill.  We contemplated what this would be like, since you'd probably end up in the freezing, glacier-fed water.  Well, maybe not.

 

Down the valley further was Leprechaun Lake, probably named for it's greenish appearance depending on the light.  We took this opportunity to stake out a sunny spot on a rocky peninsula on the western side of the lake to have some lunch.  We observed some fish in the water, and definitely a lot more human activity than we had seen in the last day or so.  We watched and heard a pack of people across the lake trying to figure out which way to go.  Hey folks, when you're in the wild in a big group, you're not the only ones out there.  Please try to keep the peace of the wilderness!

 

After some lunch, we made our way down the side of Leprechaun.  It has an interesting shape with a side channel that has a couple small islands and leads to the outlet which flows down to yet another lake.  We ran into a group of 5 women on the trail who appeared to be in their 30's or 40's.  They had toughed out the 4,000 foot elevation gain of the Snow Lake entrance, and they were ready to find a good campsite.  Way to go, especially with the recent trail killings in Snohomish County, it's really important for everyone to be careful on the trail and travel in groups.  And perhaps even more important, they must not let it stop them from enjoying the outdoors and living their lives.  From what I've heard about the mother & daughter victims of this horrible crime, they would have wanted hikers to do just that.

 

Anyway, I digress.  One of the women advised us against spending time to go down to the last lake on our itinerary, Lake Vivian.  She said we could get to an overlook just around the bend, so we took her advice.  Yes, another beautiful alpine lake.  Blah blah blah.   We were getting tired, but we also wanted to go up Prussik Pass to Gnome Tarn. 

 

So we turned around and headed back past Leprechaun, up to Sprite Lake and back to Perfection.  This time at Perfection Lake, we took the turn-off to Prussik Pass at the north end of the lake.  We were greeted by a big fat marmot who was trundling up a giant rock to get some sun.  He was a little camera shy at first, but responded to my high-pitched whistle imitation of a marmot by poking his head up and looking around for some buddies. 

 

The trail to Prussik Pass starts in a large meadow.  About half-way through the meadow we ran into another pack of mountain goats enjoying the sunshine and stopped for a photo op.  We also spotted a young, small marmot, maybe 1/4 the size of the large one we saw down the hill.  He was trying to get to the top of a gigantic boulder, but kept sliding back every time he tried to go up.  If I would have thought of it, I could have used the movie option on my camera and submitted it to some funniest animals video show because it was adorable and funny.

 

Anyway, we proceeded up the pass, looking for a side trail to take us to Gnome Tarn.  We didn't find one, and kept going up and finally found ourselves at Prussik Pass, in the shadow (not literally) of Prussik Peak, part of a range of peaks known as the Temple.  Prussik Peak is pretty amazing.  It looks not dissimilar to a skyscraper such as the Chrysler Building in New York City.  On the other side of Prussik Pass, to our delight, was Shield Lake, one of the Enchantments we did not expect to see this journey due to it's isolation.

 

At this point, I suddenly remembered that I had a timer on my digital camera.  Duh!  So instead of having pictures of just Jeff, I was finally able to get pictures with both of us.  We snapped a bunch more, and headed down.  The pass had some pretty brisk winds and the clouds were still threatening.

 

We made our way quickly back up past Inspiration and Crystal Lakes to our campsite in the upper Enchantments basin.  And really suddenly, the weather seemed to get perfect.  No more threatening clouds.  No more biting winds.  It was calm and clear.  We kept expecting it to turn again, because it seemed to every 10 minutes or so. But the mild weather held from about 5pm all the way to sunset, and allowed us to cook a relaxed dinner, and eat it on a large flat rock next to the stream by our campsite, watching the sun go down through Aasgard Pass to the west.  Note to self... Decaf Chai mix from Trader Joes, plus a little whiskey, is an ideal dinner drink when camping!

 

Even after the sun went down on our campsite, we basked in the reflected sun from the peaks surrounding us.  The perfect end to our final night in the Enchantments.

On Thursday last week, we woke up at Colchuck Lake, preparing ourselves for the rough journey up Aasgard Pass to get into the Enchantment Zone.  Aasgard has a severe reputation, so we were definitely taking on a challeng.  The morning was relatively clear, with an occassional cloud.  We had intended to hit the road by 9:30 or so, but took a slow approach to breaking down camp.  We saw the entire pack of Swiss Family Robinson from Day 1 headed up to Aasgard before us.  If those little teenage girls could go up the pass, you BET we'd make it too!

 

To make life a little easier, we decided to "bear bag" the food for our final night and some extra equipment at Colchuck to pick it back up on the way out.  No reason to carry anything extra up that mountain.  

 

Eventually we hit the trail by about 11 AM.  First, we had to hike the remaining length of Colchuck Lake.  In the morning light, the lake appeared almost blue/green.  At the southern end of the lake was a large boulder field, with rocks the size of cars and small trucks that had tumbled down the steep hillside.  We had to cross these to follow the trail, which was not much fun with 45 lb packs on our backs.

 

After the boulders, we stopped for lunch on another car-sized rock before beginning the journey up the pass in earnest.  Then we set off to do the 2000 foot elevation gain in less than 1 mile (as the crow files).  We were really expecting the worst, but with our trusty trekking poles to help balance and push, the trail was not nearly as scary as we imagined.  Jeff said he felt like an "insect" when using the poles.  I felt like it was closer to a mountain goat.  But whatever animal you choose, we both agreed we would not have done the hike without them.  We also wore knee braces to help keep our knees stable.  It was DIFF-I-CULT, probably the most challenging backpacking trip I have ever done.  But there were very few times where I got vertigo, which is what I expected.

 

On the way, we were able to enjoy some cool alpine flowers and a bizarre forested patch on the hillside which I compared to the garden of eden.  But other than a couple moments of enjoyment, we kept pushing up the hill because the clouds started rolling in.  The forecast said something about 20% chance of thunderstorms.  We were not able to see beyond the immediate valley and mountains, and we even got hit with a little spritz of rain.  The last thing we wanted to be doing was to get stuck in a thunderstorm, climbing over huge, slippery, wet boulders up a steep hillside with 45 lb packs on our backs!

 

We did not see anyone on the journey up until almost the top.  The helpful couple told us we were basically there.  What a relief!  About 7,750 feet above sea level.  It was not nearly as bad as either of us had imagined, but it was darn cold up top and the clouds were still rolling in, so we bundled up and set out looking for a camping spot in the upper Enchantments Basin.  We meandered through a few high lakes, across a couple snow fields and down to a beautiful alpine valley with a stream running through it.  We spotted a back-country toilet, which is a good sign of established campsites close by, and a helpful camper pointed us to several sites that she and her friend had scouted before but decided against.  We quickly picked a spot and set up camp and got dinner rolling.

 

The winds up top were incredibly brutal that night. We decended only a couple hundred feet from the peak height of the pass to get to our campsite, so we were pretty exposed. At that height, there really is not a lot of vegetation to protect you from the winds.  I had every layer of clothing on that I brought with me and was still cold.  I think we ended up taking cover in the tent by 8:00 pm, and the howling winds kept us up for some time.