i'm not sure what it is, or why it always turns out this way, but it seems that the fiance and i
always have horrible luck with weather when we decide to go hiking! it could be beautiful all week, with a pretty promising forecast but it is almost always the opposite when we wake up in the morning. i'd have to say its kind of ironic!
last year we did quite a few hikes, but this year we haven't had much time between planning the wedding and johnny working so many hours at work. well this last sunday we decided it was time to get our first hike of the summer in - for once we didn't have any appointments or prior engagements. we were so excited! so we went to bed saturday night with huge plans of getting up early and heading out to the olympic peninsula. fast forward to sunday, early am... we wake up, smile at each other, look out the window and are so disappointed!! it was foggy and overcast outside! go figure!
well, we decided to give it a try anyway... weather.com said the clouds were supposed to burn off. of course when we got close to quilcene it was still too cold, so we decide to keep driving and check out port angeles with the thought that we could do the hurricane ridge hike. we get to port angeles and the weather is still horrible! so we pull out our map and decide that we were all the way out there, we might as well do a mini road trip through the olympic peninsula!! :) and me, being the huge dork that i am, suggest that since we're so close that we should visit forks! haha.
washington is interesting in the fact that you can be in a rain cloud or thick fog, drive a few miles and be in patches of sun - we have one of the strangest (and unpredictable) weather patterns in the US (fun fact)! so as we were driving down the highway, we ended up climbing into a nice patch of sun by lake crescent. it was one of the most beautiful lakes that i have seen - crystal clear water, surrounded by mountains. it was gorgeous. but alas, we kept driving and hit more fog, clouds and icky weather - which meant that we must be getting closer to forks!
we drove through the town of forks to the chamber of commerce and checked out the (of course) twilight memorabilia and their super cool loggers memorial! it was fun! we didn't stay long and decided to start heading back. after making it through the 'san juan scenic byway' (which by-the-way wasn't so scenic in the fog) we ended up hitting more sunshine! all the clouds started burning off and the sun was shining all around. we crossed the hood's canal bridge and decided that we were going to go for it! off to quilcene to hike mt. walker!
the hike was great - although it might have been a little steep for our first hike of the summer - especially since i was already sore from working out the day before. but - 2 miles in and after a 2000 ft climb, we reached the top and it was beautiful! i always love reaching the top because you're tired, mentally exhausted, and then you see what you climbed to and everything you were feeling just goes away.
all in all it was a great - but long - day. i'm so happy we got to share that day together, it was awesome just getting out there, being spontaneous and getting our hike in! i love my man - he is so good to me!
that's all folks! :)
xoxo,
sc
