Two Big Feet

Saturday, August 13, 2011
Be sure to click on the pictures to see an enlargement.

You should have seen the marshmallow roast last night!  We had purchased a bag of the super huge marshmallows, and our advice is, don’t buy them.  They are way too big. After getting them just right over the coals, it’s just about impossible to get the whole thing in your mouth, and if you don’t, they make a really gooey mess all over your hands and face.  It really is quite funny to watch the other three! This one doesn’t really care for marshmallows, so didn’t partake of the fun.

That's a BIG marshmallow!

The batty program last night in the ampitheater was okay, but sort of long.  There was to be one Saturday night about glaciers, and we decided against going. Then about an hour before it was to start, some high school kids came through the campground saying they had just spent three weeks in the wilderness area, and were going to share their experiences at the program, so we ended up going.  They were pretty good, and one boy was extremely funny.  They had qualified for this trip by having a higher GPA at their high schools, and were in the “green” clubs, or some other such stuff. They were from different high schools throughout Oregon and Washington. There were 20 of them, and they split into two groups. One hiked while the other canoed on Ross Lake.  Then they changed places. Most of them had never been out like that, and really enjoyed the experience.

So we might as well go backwards through the day.  We again roasted marshmallows over a small campfire, and again, it makes a real mess.  We only have seven of the big ones left, so it will make one more campfire fun.

Just before making the campfire, Barney told us about a walk he had just done, and he found a small old powerhouse that was pretty neat. So we hopped in the Rubble cavemobile and drove over to the powerhouse. Then we went down the “Trail of the Cedars” just to see what it was. It is spectacular!  It is a fairly large grove of beautiful old growth cedars along the Skagit River. It is a loop trail, but at the far end is a suspension bridge to cross the river and goes right into the little village of Newhalem that we had visited Friday.  We are really happy we did not miss that walk!

It's a really tall tree!

This tree is huge!

Who can resist climbing a tree?

What fun!

The moss growing on the limbs
is beautiful.





From the proud child of a
bridge-builder.

Nap time came after our drive to the Wilderness Center, then we had another great lunch/dinner at the picnic table under the screen house.  We really enjoy this type of “eating out.”  And it is helping make a small dent in all the fresh stuff in our refers.

We took a fairly short road trip down to the Wilderness Information Center to get our Parks Passport stamps. The Center is headquarters for anyone hiking into the National Park, which is all wilderness area. Permits are required even for a day hike into the park.  Even though the National Park VC is just down the road from the campground, it is actually inside the National Park. We are really in the Ross Lake Recreation Area corridor.  We also stopped at a little fish hatchery, and were encouraged to feed the fish, so we did.

After cleanup from breakfast, we hopped in the Rubblemobile.

Breakfast was again enjoyed at the picnic table inside the screen house. Just enough bugs flitting around to make the screen house really enjoyable.

Now if you are really confused about the order of our day, start here and read up the page!
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