Icicle Creek and Leavenworth

After leaving Salmon La Sac we headed north to Leavenworth WA. Leavenworth is a small Bavarian Village surrounded by rugged mountain peaks. Our campground was along the Icicle creek whose headwaters were the dozens of snow fields high above us. This is truly a magical place with dramatic mountain scenery in every direction. We had a perfectly private and large campsite with the raging icicle creek below and behind our campsite. After helping to unpack and set up camp, the kids quickly found a stand of trees to climb. It took them no time at all to reach a height their mother would be unhappy about and just slightly more time to go even further to where even I told them to stop going higher. They were about 30 ft up moving from tree to tree and having a blast. I had to remind them that we do not have health insurance so that if they fall they would have to rely on my surgical abilities to put them back together. I think that was enough for them to come down to a more acceptable height of around 20 feet up. Just outside of mom’s comfort level.

              We were able to meet up with fellow cruising friends who are also RVing around the US this summer having left their boat in Puerto Vallarta. They have two boys around Alexander’s age. The crew of S/V Descanso met us at the trailhead to Hidden Lake in the Wenatchee National Forest. Alexander was so happy to see his friends Max and Jasper again. There were also two other boys of similar ages visiting the S/V Descanso so we had 6 kids and 5 adults walking through the woods together. The kids ran ahead and back and then ahead again. They helped each other cross a stream and they chased each other through the woods. At the lake most of the kids jumped in and swam around despite the water being a little chilly. At the end of the hike our two families said our “see ya laters” as their journey took them in one direction and ours another. We are confident our paths will meet again as we have crossed paths in Seattle, Catalina Island, Espiritu Santos, La Cruz, and now again in Leavenworth.

              We came to Leavenworth to go on one specific hike. We wanted to show the kids another alpine lake with an even more dramatic backdrop than the last one. So early one morning we packed our day packs with food for the day and made our way to the Stuart/Culchuck Lake Trailhead. We climbed first up and through the forest and then along Stuart Lake. At the far end of Stuart Lake we scrambled over, around and even under massive boulders to the foot of the daunting Aasgard Pass. We had hoped to ascend Aasgard Pass but we just did not feel we had enough time to get to the top, look around and then get back down in time. Now the top of AasgardPass is only ¾ of a mile further but in that ¾ of a mile you have to gain an additional 2000 ft of elevation. We elected for the view from the bottom instead. By the time we made it back to our car the kids had been on the trail for 7 hours and hiked over 12 miles. The whole time they had smiles on their faces and skips in their steps.