Our hikes and trips around

Glacier National Park trip

2011-11-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Here is our trip plan from Seattle to Glacier National Park:

Late summer is best time to go as Going-to-the-sun will be blocked most of the winter.

Friday -

545 bus from 41st freeway stop(next to MSFT) takes you very close to king station
if you want to rent lens from Glazers - its also in downtown - ~ $20 per lens for entire weekend
Catch Empire builder train from Downtown Seattle (there are roomettes and dinner is served in train)

Saturday

Early morning arrive at one of the Glacier NP train stations
Rental car pick up (book it prior and make sure to confirm at which GNP train station they will be there for you to pick it up)
Reach accommodation (recommend booking something with VRBO)... we took Tea Kettle ranch, it is a very secluded house in the woods - spooky and but beautifully close to nature (like in the movie Shining)
Drive down to Visitors center, do the Hidden lake trail ~ 1.5 miles. you will see a lot of mountain goats here
Return to room before sunset - curvy mountain roads are not easy to drive at night
Enjoy dinner, bonfire and the stars - i have never seen so many at once

Sunday -

wake up early - to reach Maney lodge, where the ranger led hikes start around 8am
You will need to buy tickets for the boat ride unless you plan to hike about 4 miles
you can buy lunch sandwiches here - be sure to carry lunch if you plan to do Grennel Glacier hike
Take Bear spray - bears are really there here
depending on your stamina choose to do shorter 3 mile hike around the lakes or the 8 mile long Glacier hike
if you are doing Glacier hike try to do it with the ranger for safety from bears
after a tiring hike try huckleberry shake - its yummy

Monday -

there are early morning flights to Seattle that you can catch and you can return rental car in airport - you should reach Seattle by 7:30AM

If you want to spend one more day - you can try some scenic float boat rides or white water rafting (recommended for more adventurous souls)

Bridal Veil Falls

2010-05-09T02:21:00.001-07:00

Inspiration: Scared of rattlesnakes at hikes near Spokane, we shifted directions back to the Central Cascades to cover Lake Serene. But halfway through the trail, under the direction of our wise ol’ man, we took the Bridal Veil Falls trail.

Photo credits: Anitha

Description of the trail: This hike was surprisingly hard for us (casual hikers) mostly because of low maintenance of the trail. The first two miles were pretty flat but the last half mile was “half mile from hell” reaching the majestic Bridal Veil falls.

The trail was full of wild flowers and wild mosquitoes :). This is a trail our group had difficulty doing but definitely created sweet memories about all the tough times and decisions we made. The waterfall was huge and easy to go upclose. For those interested, the trail to Lake Serene is much rockier and steeper which is why we decided to do Bridal Veils instead.

Hike talk: “Good Telugu, who draws the line? ”, Spirit of Gattaca, Return by 4.

One learning from this trip: Destination doesn’t matter, journey does.

Coal Creek Falls Hike

2010-05-02T23:45:00.001-07:00

Inspiration: A sunny weekend. This was our kickoff hike for this summer’10.

Photo credits: Anitha

Description of the trail: This hike was surprisingly close. The cougar mountain has a lot of trails and we chose one combination of those so that it stays easy and pretty.

The hike had a random incline and decline which was quite interesting. This is a trail our parents could easily do. The waterfall was small but accessible, which allowed us to sit and spend some great time there. This was like a local version of Hoh rain forest.

Hike talk: Gilli Danda, Summers at grandparents’ villages, racing with the snail, horses.

One learning from this trip: a great hike can be just next door.

Wallace Falls Hike

2010-05-02T23:18:00.001-07:00

Inspiration: Anitha found this hike. We love waterfall hikes since Franklin falls hike, they have a nice background music of the water flowing that's pretty meditative.

Photo credits: Pallavi (for first) and Anitha (for the rest)

Description of the trail: It starts with high transmission power lines but then immediately converts into a very woody trail. The flora has a lot more variety than on the trails near north bend.

The hike has a gradual incline until lower falls which was gorgeous btw. It got only slightly steep towards middle falls. The river was adjacent to to the trail for most part until lower falls which was really nice to see and hear.

Hike talk: Cinema Paradiso, "Are you having a good time in your life?", Photography to develop visual thinking, Body building, Nasal breathing, Sleep, DSLRs

One learning from this trip: don't believe the weather forecast and waste a pleasant weekend sitting indoors.

Around the Seward Park

2009-10-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Just another sunny Sunday in Seattle (huh ?) and we just felt like doing this trip to the seward park ..

Lot of folks (felt compelled to) joined as pedda dikku declared he was joining :) .. We had an elaborate brunch at Family Pancake house which was suggested by ....

We reached there in no time.. and then before starting the hike, for some extra energy ..

Here is a majestic view of Mt.Rainier at the beginning of the trail ...

Water was so calm that we felt we should throw some stones in it .. may be stick one or two on Mt.Rainier ..

After Rainier was all studded with stones and the shore ran out of pebbles, we walked for miles and miles ..

(That milestone above is probably in light years)
Then we got to a place to play some frisbee ... so we posed for more photos ...

We again tried to fill the Lake Washington with pebbles and sink Seattle, but it was getting cold so we continued on our remaining hike ..

And as we reached almost to the end of the trail , one of us felt overwhelmed by milestone blessed by health conscious, dogs who marked their territory on the trail

As we finished the trail, we immediately needed to recharge ourselves hot smoking chillis , at least so we were told by ...

and again ....

So there you go ..

We all had a glimpse of heaven and/or hell, as we ate these nuclear reactive chillis . These chilis can supply power to all major US cities for a month or may be more if you use them raw without removing their seeds . Thats how ..

That last pic required a lot more motivation than you think ...
and the Gods thanked us as we rest (temporarily)..

Waiting for just another sunday like that !

Franklin Falls trail

2009-10-04T04:16:00.000-07:00

It was supposed to be really rainy weather today, so we didnt really plan for a hike when we met last night for Surrogates movie (btw awesome entertaining movie) followed by late night dinner at Dennys. Next day around 11am, the weather looked great so we thought we'd go to an easy quick hike, like the Denny creek trail in the Snoqualmie area.

But somehow we saw the Franklin falls trail-head before getting to Denny creek trailhead. It has been third time that we have skipped on Denny creek trail :). The entire trail is next to the Snoqualmie River and ends with the gorgeous and tall Franklin falls. Its only a 1 mile hike with some elevation. We had some great shots

right as we started the hike.....

We skipped some stones on the glistening river along our way and clicked some more pics .

We spotted some wooden cottages during this hike, which we felt would be a great getaway location (warning - they probably have internet there :D ) .

Vaishnav had a lot of fun getting cool shots of huge trees, macro leaves and dew drops ... We all had to make it to Kamal-Anitha's reception party at 6 that evening, so we started picking up speed and soon were near the gorgeous franklin falls. The last 100 feet or so were bit challenging though ..

We were able to see the rainbow in the waterfall's mist and the I-90 right next to it.

On our way back we rushed and finished the trail in 35 minutes to catch up with the reception party. After lot of dancing in the party, followed by a movie and a fourth meal...

Next day, we woke up and met again for lunch , and saw another movie .. One heck of a fun packed party weekend ..

Olympic National Park

2009-09-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

This was the planned route to our 2 day Olympic national park trip, in summer 2008

Packed a bunch of food, strategically located right under Pratap's seat...

Ate biriyani at Hurrican Ridge visitors center... our first stop, it tastes different at heights... Pratap didn't realize there was curd in it...

And then we all went throwing snow at Pratap:

Next on the trip was a small hike to reach up to the Sol-duc falls:

After the falls we went to cresent lake, skipped stones... chetan taught us how.

And then again... a lunch break

Took the Moments in time trail, that's right next to Cresent lake... it is hard to describe in words, will let the picture do the talking...

A passing thought when I was there... its definitely a place one could camp with their parents and take some easy trails around.

At night before heading back to the hotel we covered Port Angeles, that had ocean on 3 sides... was a nice experience trying to walk over big boulders that stopped the current...

My memory is going hazy... so the timeline may not be very correct, so guys on the trip... feel free to correct it...

On day 2, I think we covered Hall of Mosses, another easy trail. For some reason I remember eating a lot of chocolate... anyways we were wonder stuck by the multi layered life in Hoh forests. It was so beautiful, so beautiful, so beautiful.... It was around this trail I guess when senior told me, she thanks all the Gods for the moment she decided she wants to come to US for studying and so grateful for being able to see all this beauty... or something on that lines...

This has been one of our first trip into the thick green of NW national forests... The camera went all crazy with only green in the entire frame...

[cg] This poem by Millay might describe how it felt being there ..

AH, could I lay me down in this long grass
And close my eyes, and let the quite wind
Blow over me--I am so tired, so tired
Of passing pleasant places! All my life,
Following Care along the dusty road,
Have I looked back at loveliness and sighed;
Yet at my hand an unrelenting hand
Tugged ever, as I passed. All my life long
Over my shoulder have I looked at peace;
And now I would fain lie in this long grass
And close my eyes.

There are all kinds of landscapes one can see in ONP... from rain forests to water falls, hot springs to oceans and snow capped peaks. Below is the beach trail that is filled with tiny black pebbles... it was really hard to walk. On the way one could see so many dead trees pushed on to the shores and many adventurous campers. Hoping to beach camp like that some day, under the stars, listening to the ocean, with warm camp fire and long conversations that last nigh long.

This one was taken at the end of our trail at Rialto Beach... after which we drove back home, all six of us...

FINE...

Hike to Poo Poo Point - Chirico trail, Tiger Mountain, WA

2009-09-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

Attendance photo:

[Chetan][Sep 28th 09] Today was a beautiful sunny Sunday here . So it all began with a phone call from me to Vaishnav about going on a short hike nearby. Vaishnav and Bindu are budding photographers with new DSLRs , so they eagerly agreed for the hike. We decided to go to Chirico Trail in Tiger Mountains.

It was a really steep hike. It took us about 1.5 hrs to climb up.
This is the view of Mt.Rainier from the top --

Here is a video of all the pics created by Vaishnav:

Here are the stats for the hike

Type	Length	Difficulty	Rating	Gain	Latitude	Longitude
View	3.2 mi	3 / 5	7 / 10	1650 ft	47° 29' 59.53'' N	122° 1' 15.17'' W