Half way there!

We are almost at the $5,000 mark, nearly half-way to our goal of raising $10,000 for the American Lung Association. So, while you are working hard to help us meet this amazing goal- we are working hard to get ready to climb. To train, we are spending time at the gym, taking weightlifting classes, running, sprints up hill, and hiking every weekend.

Last weekend we had our sights set on McClellen Butte, a 5162' peak off I-90's exit 42. As we were literally getting our gear in the car, the radio caught our attention with, "The Cascades expect at least 2 feet of new snow starting early this evening..." I gave Mandy the look: lip down, forehead wrinkled, and eyes full of question, "Do we do it?" I asked. It was only 8am and had projected a round trip time of approximately 4 hours- well before the snow we to begin falling.

Following the old muddy logging road, my car dipped and jolted by the unrelenting pot-holes. We reached our destination and an intelligent decision to turn around, as the McClellen parking lot was completely vacant... we needn't be those hikers we often hear about on our early Monday morning commutes, "two hikers have failed to return from what was a weekend hike in the Eastern Cascades. Searches have been delayed due to snow..." We told the horn-shaped summit we'd be back in the near future and back west we went. Driving away from snow-capped mountains, Snoqualmie Point at the Rattlesnake Mountain Trail beckoned us. This trail begins on the Eastern side of Rattlesnake Ledge, where we hiked with the CFCA team last month, and connects to Rattlesnake Lake via an 11 mile route. There are two vantage points, Stan's Overlook (2.5 miles) and Grand Prospect (4.9 miles) on the way to Rattlesnake Lake.

We made it about a mile past Grand Prospect, then turned around. The weather held out for us the entire 12 mile trip and only started raining as we descended into the parking lot. The trail, well maintained, had very few other hikers and a lovely mix of views, terrain, grade, and forest. After our eye-opening pace that our guide held at the Little Si training hike, we kept focus on our speed. In the coming weeks, we aim to hike the entire traverse, parking one car at the east end for drop off and the other at the west end for pick up.

This coming weekend we have custody of Big Si and Tiger Mountain. Saturday we’ll be joining our fellow team members as we train on Tiger and Sunday, we plan to quicken our pace up Si. Our intensity increases as we count down to our July summit. 100 days.

The weekends of never-ending hiking have been exhausting but as we drive away from our trails and back to our homes, we see Rainier watching over us from the distance and whispering… “my turn’s next.” There’s no stopping now.

k&m