Old Robe Trail

Today was an extraordinarily warm January day, so I thought it would be a perfect day to take my oldest daughter on a quick and easy hike. With the local air temperatures reaching 65 degrees and blue skies we headed past Granite Falls on the old trusty Mountain Loop Highway and stopped at the Old Robe Trail. The trail head is right off the highway where you will see tons of cars parked along the road in the height of summer, but today there were only 6. As you leave the highway you walk through thick trees heading toward the Stillaguamish River. Soon the trail takes you down the hill from the road, descending about 200 feet to the river valley bottom. Then you walk about a half a mile until you meet up with the river.

We didn't venture very far after reaching the river. We only walked about a mile before we turned around and headed back toward the car. I had my daughter in my pack the whole time and she only wanted to get out to eat some snacks and throw rocks in the river. But she quickly wanted to get back in the pack. She very much enjoyed riding in the backpack making daddy do all the work. We had lots of fun just taking a quick jaunt into the woods. My daughter talked constantly about all the beautiful things she was seeing saying "[Fill in the blank] is my favorite!"

This is certainly a great way to get out in the woods and see lots of nature and wilderness when you are pressed for time and want to stay close to home. Great for kids and the whole family, just beware of crowds on summer weekends. The trail continues on a little further to an old train tunnel that is quite fun for young kids, but the trail ends shortly after the old train tunnel.

Region: North Cascades, Mountain Loop Highway
Distance: 2 miles
Elevation Gain: 230 ft.
Peak Elevation:1100 ft.
Difficulty: Very Easy
Pass Requirement: No

As always check out all the photos from the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

AIARE 1 Course

So I spent the weekend with the Mountaineers up at Mt. Baker for an AIARE 1 (Avalanche Education) course. The weather was cloudy, about 34 degrees and snowed lightly off and on. Visibility was very limited and the amount of snow on the mountain was unseasonably low. But there was enough to demonstrate the concepts of reading terrain, traveling safely, beacon searches, avalanche hazards and making observations including looking at different layers in the snow pack.

We had tons of fun with our group. We all had snowshoes, except our two instructors who were on back-country skis. That was good to learn how to travel with skiers, since they often can't travel the same paths as snowshoers. We got to plan our own destination and figure out how we would travel avoiding specific avalanche hazards and choosing terrain wisely and route finding in near white-out conditions.

In the end, I learned a lot about avalanche dangers, how to spot avalanche conditions, how to trip plan effectively, how to travel in safe terrain and how to respond in an emergency situation. I had a lot of fun and got to meet some great people. The only thing I could have hoped for was better weather and snow conditions. But you can't control that.

As always check out all the photos from the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.