Earthen Vessel

This week Ruh and I did some hiking while Daisy was at a Christian camp for the week. He did all the planning and he found an article in The News Tribune about Victor Falls located in Bonney Lake. It is only a 45 minute drive from Gig Harbor. It is actually located in a very rural area. There are no signs from the road but the directions gave a clear description of what to look for. You can't even see the trail from the road but we parked where the directions said to and found the trail pretty easily. We walked a short distance down the trail and could see the water fall from above on a very steep ravine. The directions said there would be a rope line to climb down the ravine with. We did come to the rope but it was an almost vertical drop. Ruh was all excited about climbing down but I got shaky just looking over the edge! He tried to get me to climb down but I just couldn't. So he climbed down without me and I sat at the top enjoying the view of the falls from above. At one point I decided I was going to at least try to climb down. I sat down at the top and grabbed onto the rope with both hands. I kind of slid down, VERY slowly, on my rear but only got about 6 feet and I got really shaky and nervous. I knew I shouldn't go any further because I was so shaky. So I turned back around and climbed back really quickly. A few minutes later Ruh climbed back up and we sat at the top for a little bit while he ate a snack.

We decided not to just head home but we drove up through Enumclaw and went up toward Mt. Ranier through Wilkeson. We found a sign for Mt. Ranier National Park and Mowich Lake. We drove up towards the lake. It was about a half hour drive up a winding dirt road with beautiful vistas. The lake was absolutely beautiful and Ruh and I walked around a couple small trails surrounding the lake. Ruh really wanted to get wet so he dove in clothes and all! I brought my digital camera with me but when I pulled it out at Victor Falls none of the batteries were charged! I was so bummed. (So the picture above of Victor Falls is not by me but one I found on the internet. ) The lake was so beautiful and I wanted to take pictures so badly. The picture here is one I found on the internet. There were lots of trails up there and one also led to another waterfall. Ruh and I are planning to go back and do some hiking very soon.




Ruh's next day off was Thursday. I worked that morning from 5:30am to 1030am. When I got home I packed us a lunch and we headed out to Wallace Falls located near Gold Bar in the Cascades. I made sure all my batteries for my camera were fully charged and ready to go. So all the pictures you see here are ones I actually took. Wallace Falls State Park is not too far from where we camped at Lake Wenatchee with Ruh's family this last May. At the start of the trail there was a sign posting up the length of the different trails. To the middle falls was 2 miles and to the upper falls it was 2.75 miles. We decided to head up to the middle falls and then see if we still had enough energy to go all the way to the upper falls. Ruh forgot to bring his backpack so we were only able to carry one water bottle each. The trail wound in the woods. We really enjoyed our time together, talking and goofing off with each other. When I go on hikes I really like finding a good pace and not stopping but staying the same speed all the way to the destination. Once I find my pace I can go for a long time. When we reached the lower falls we stopped for a little but and enjoyed the view. We continued on up to the middle falls. The second half of the hike was lots of up hill switch backs. Once we reached the middle falls we decided we shouldn't continue to the top because it was getting late and I needed to be up in the morning at 4am. We sat at the middle falls for about 20 minutes. Ruh and I have decided we really want to try and hike to as many falls in Washington as we can. Ruh wants to go on a hike once a week for the remainder of the summer and for as long as we can in to the fall. We are really trying to be more active and this is such a fun way to be active. There is something about being out in God's creation that is so rejuvenating. I love it!