An Enchanted Trail.....

.....led the way for my first backpacking trip, courtesy of my lovely sis Amber and her sweetie Waylon.  

I have been wanting to share these pics for a while, and decided that tonight was the night.  The date of these photos is 8.9.10 (August 9th, 2010)....kinda cool, huh?!?!

What are my memories of this trip?  Well, let's see.  We backpacked 2/3rds of the Ozette Triangle, and camped at Cape Alava.  The hike there was fast and easy, and I remember arriving just at dusk.  There were seals barking SO loud!  It sounded like they were everywhere, but you couldn't see any of them.  We set up camp, ate dinner in the dark and almost immediatly were surrounded by a LOT of bandit looking raccoons walking up to our fire.  They didn't bother us too much, but we kept having to shoo them away.  Silly little critters.  I slept great.  Below is the photo of our actual campsite.  It was surrounded by lush bushes and trees on all sides except for the space you can see leading up to the beach, and a small hole that we crawled through on the opposite side.....it was a little tricky with our backpacks on.....



Our view from the campsite, sitting on a log looking at the beach.....



I am pretty much a physical whimp, so thank you Amber and Waylon for carrying all the extra stuff like our tent, the bear canister, our food, etc.  Here is me being a dork with my tiny backpack..... 

I remember walking along the beach, and not being able to see the ocean, just all these big beautiful rocks.  The fog was thick and dense, and the cool weight of it felt great on my cheeks.  Being worried about my feet getting wet, I had decided to wear rainboots with cozy wool socks.  Boy was I glad I did.  This was the terrain for half of our hike.....

We climbed up the side of a cliff and followed a narrow trail for a small part of the way.....



And this is my self portrait for that day.  I was listening to my summer playlist on the trusty ipod, so you can barely see the white cords from my earbuds.  It was very peaceful, walking along the lonely beach, just the three of us, listening to pretty music, the fresh air filling my lungs with happy.....



And then we came across these awesome Native American petroglyphs.....



And here is Amber and Waylon being super cute on our hike back to the car.  I love this photo.....



Originally when Amber told me that the hike to (and from) the beach was easy because it was on a boardwalk, I had no idea that it was a trail actually made up of boards that you walk on.  It was really cool.  The wood would creak under your step, and was the prettiest shades of brown from being wet. You were surrounded by a thick, green forest with lots of tall trees that seemed to touch the sky.  All together, it made for a very romantic feeling end to our adventure.....



.....and a wonder filled summer memory : )  Thanks sis!  Even though we are hundreds of miles apart, I will never forget how beautiful you are inside and out <3

Lots of love,

Carrie