Baker Summit Part 1

I've had "Summit Mount Baker" on my list of things to accomplish for a few years. 

This is the summer we stopped talking about it and went for it.

 It started with a pretty big group of possible hikers, but in the end it was

me Jim Das Dane and Dan.

Roxanne and her family hiked with us to base camp. 

Dane was our guide. He had the gear and the know how. 

We rented crampons and boots and ice axe. 

Spoiler: it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Top five hardest. 

One contributing reason is because our packs were heavier than normal to carry all the gear and winter clothes. 

Stats: In 24 hours we hiked 15 HARD miles, and gained 7,000 feet elevation. 

Also spoiler: we didn't make it to summit because of a STORM. We made it to the volcano crater hole. 

Roxanne was so nice to sherpa the rope for us since she didn't have an overnight pack. They turned around at base camp.

For future (IF I try it again), I would definitely bring people to help sherpa stuff. The hike to base camp is a hard 4-5 miles depending on where the snow starts at the base of the glacier. 

The first few miles are a lark.

Of course Roxanne is fun to have on the trail. We talk and talk and she takes all the pictures of me without me knowing. haha

In the future: I insist she comes with us all the way. 

There is the mountain! To the top!

Things start getting real once you get to the ridge line. 

This is a steep drop to your right where the glacier has cut out the land. 

Sometimes it's a drop off on both sides. 

It goes UP HILL forever and ever leading to the glacier. Longest ridge line in the world. 

Theaden and Vance also Sherpa that rope. It's about 8 pounds when it's dry. 

The trail gets more and more rocky, leaving the trees and the marmots behind. 

Soon it was time for the Lochridges to leave and time for us to find a base camp. 

Here is when it took another notch up in difficulty. 

You can't totally tell why it would be so hard, but it was super technical, big rocks to pick our way over. No set trail, somewhat sketchy terrain. This last hour of finding the right spot was one of the most difficult parts physically. It wouldn't have been so bad, but with 30+ pounds on your back, it was so hard. 

We had to find a good "boat launch" where we could go from tent to snow easily considering the rope and crampons. 

For future: this winter there wasn't a lot of snow pack for Baker ski resort and the mountains in general. So it was extra tricky picking over these technical rocks looking for a good spot. I would need a winter with more snow so that we could have an easier base camp and boat launch. That hour of hard terrain killed me. 

We eventually had to swap to boots and walk through snow, but then the boots were not good on the rocks again. It's hard to explain but weirdly the hardest thing. 

Finally we found a good place to camp!

Phew, I was so happy to take off that pack. 

Another hard thing is you have to get up in the middle of the night to start the hike to ensure the snow is hard enough, not slushy. 

Slushy is like hiking through sand and wears you out faster. 

So we set up camp pretty quickly and ate a hot dinner, then tried to go to sleep by 8pm. 

I brought a mask because by the way the sky is so bright until about 10:30. 

If you think I could get actual sleep, you are wrong. I lay there and rested and tried, but couldn't quite make it to sleep. 

Base camp was so so pretty. 

It was warm and the sky was blue and you could see all the peaks around us. 

Dan brought his crazy drone and they flew it up and over Baker to scout the route. 

There's Das's tent,

Right here by our tent is where we would launch in the middle of the night. 

There are some other campers down mountain from us,

and up mountain from us is the Baker. 

See those amazing scraggly mountains? When you look at Baker from our house, you can see those peaks. And here we are, right in the shadow of them. It was so so pretty. 

Example:

See those scraggy peaks to the right? We camped behind those. 

So we ate some chicken alfredo and set our alarm for 12am...

Fall is Underway

Here we GO!!

Senior season baby. Look at what a stud. Look how much she's grown. 

Confidence, muscles. 

This year they went to Orcas Island and her team BONDED and she is loving it. 

She says she actually loves practice because her teammates have a blast.

Look at her as a freshman. I can't even believe it. 

(Get ready for me to "not believe it" all year long.)

All the freshman this year LOVE her because she treats them like humans. 

I was watching her at a football game last night and all the freshman teammates kept hugging her and talking to her. 

This is Andrew's first middle school game.

He didn't want to play but I made him. And he somewhat dreaded it for a few weeks.

But lately he is liking it. He says every game gets more and more fun.

It's crazy how much he is stretching out. Puberty is a funny thing. 

Away game. 

It's the time of year where my kids go to school, and we go explore the mountains. 

Me Jim and Lisa did Chain Lakes Loop.

This is my third time. It's the prettiest out there. 

Football games! 

I LOVE watching Evan on drums. 

And I love watching my kids doing their high school social thing. I feel like a fly on the wall. 

Friday Andrew got awarded for last year's 4.0.

Bravo Andrew!

And Friday Evan got to play snare for the first time. 

He's so good, it's so fun. 

On top of all these Fall things, Avery is:

signing up/getting ready for the SAT,

applying to colleges, 

getting ready for HOCO,

getting ready for lots of other senior things: pictures, paint the parking spot, sports banner, still waking up for seminary. 

It's A LOT. 

She says doing regular school work is a simple luxury compared to all the other senior things. 

Day 20 :: A Bad Habit of Mine

 1. I get back in bed after the kids go to school. Don't tell anyone.

2. I doom scroll. I put time limits on the apps and that helps. I hate stupid phones. 

FIVE YEARS AGO

In other news...

the grey whale "Earl" is back in Birch Bay. It's so cool!

He flaps his fin and spouts out. 

You can barely see it in the picture, dang it. 

The other night Andrew and Evan had an intense light saber match. 

Andrew told Alexa to play Star Wars music, so they even had a soundtrack.

They were sweaty and out of breath.

This weekend was so sunny. Everyone got sunburned. 

Soccer games, playing outside all day, another soccer game, golf, run. 

Day 10 :: What's in My Makeup Bag

 

This is the same answer every time: I put hair on my eyelashes, hair on my eyebrows.

Serum to grow eyelashes, Tretinoin to *get rid of wrinkles and acne scars*.

I also now have microbladed my eyebrows so that I have *eyebrows*.

I also have done some microneedling to get rid of acne scars. 

The main thing that needs added to this list since the last time I talked about this stupid topic is:

SPIRONALACTONE

The wonder drug that I take daily to stop the hormonal acne I've had all my life.

It works the best and has no side affects. It worked immediately. 

I started taking it in December 2021. 

Here are the pictures I sent Teledoc to initiate the prescription:

I know what you're thinking: 

Kelli those pictures are terrible, and I know. I actually left the worst one out, so there you go. But this was my skin three years ago, deep painful zits. 

Now this is me just a few minutes ago. 

I rarely get zits anymore! yay! 

But somehow the wrinkles don't stop. hmmmm. No magic pill for that situation. 

Here I am in the wild. 

Avery is also on acne meds - accutane - and it's amazing how much it's working already!

The banality of this question is so stark compared to the realization that we are a little blue marble floating around in the dark of space. 

*that's how I transitioned my last two blog posts of this same topic*

Let me explain:

Saturday we went to yet another flight museum. It was a super rainy day, so this was a fun indoor outing. 

This museum in Skagit Valley was founded by the guy/astronaut (Bill Anders) who took this famous picture "Earthrise":

Do you know the story behind this photo? I didn't:

The Surprise of Earthrise

Having slowed the capsule, Apollo 8's crew began recording and exploring the lunar surface. For the first three orbits, the capsule remained in its "backwards" orientation relative to its flight path. It wasn't until the fourth orbit, while Borman was reorienting the capsule, that the astronauts could see for the first time the blue Earth coming up over the grey terrain that had absorbed their attention. From the onboard transcript:

Anders: "Oh my, look at that picture over there! Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!

Borman: "Hey don't take that, it's not scheduled." (laughter) 

Anders: "You got a color film, Jim? Hand me a roll of color, quick, will you?"

Lovell: "Oh man, that's great!"

With that conversation, which conveys the astronauts' surprise and delight, and a quick film change on the part of Bill Anders, the greatest image of the 20th Century was captured.

After 20 hours circling the Moon at two hours per orbit, the astronauts had completed all programmed tasks and their scheduled ten lunar orbits. It was time to head home. 

The Earthrise image was more or less forgotten by the astronauts as the workload of the return trip overtook them. Several weeks after Apollo 8's voyage, a NASA image technician who was routinely processing the film selected Earthrise from the mission's many lunar images, realizing immediately that it was something special.

So it was by complete surprise that this iconic shot of the earth was captured. 

they realized, "we came to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered Earth." 

It made us realize how fragile and serene the earth is out in that big black void. 

Can you imagine seeing a picture of the Earth in the wild for the first time? 

So much awe. 

It puts how inconsequential we are into perspective. 

And yet "the worth of souls is great in the sight of God".

(the very thing we are studying this week in the scriptures)

FIVE YEARS AGO