Walked around the neighborhood to take pictures of these pretty pink flowers blooming. Loving all the flowers blooming and it makes the walks more nice. Luckily, there are still no insects flying around with the warm weather. 

The path started right at the front door and is mostly flat so no elevation gain. Easy enough for any age group and definitely family friendly. The path is mostly exposed with minimal shade so definitely wear sunscreen. For those who enjoy photography, there are plenty of opportunities to take photos of flowers and birds. 

IG: @Brittanywanderlust

After completing my at home workout, I debated having my husband drop me off at a trailhead so I could enjoy the smells and sights of the forest and just get away.  

Instead I heard my mother's voice echoing deep from my conscience, "What if everyone did that?" I chose to leave my car in the garage, and slip on my cheap flip flops in order to gather-up a few cherry blossoms and pluck a few remaining primroses from our front yard. 

I seriously only walked 20 feet out my front door for hours of fun in my own home messing around with my camera, neglecting the need for the 10 essentials or packing a lunch.

When we return to the trails, the experience will be all the better. 

Thank yourself for saving a life today by staying home and staying healthy.

Good things come to those that wait.

Well last year I did my first volunteer vacation with WTA and loved it so I thought I would do another one. Let me tell you this one was a lot different!

We got to the trail head at 7 in the morning, the road was not that bad actually, a little bumpy but nothing too bad. I will say the pollen was so bad it turned everything a hazy yellow when the wind blew. There was parking for about 7 cars, but they would all be blocked in due to the poor layout of the parking area. We all headed into the two story lodge where we wound our crew leader cooking bacon for us! The smell filling the lodge was amazing - even for someone who isn't to keen on Bacon. But when we got asked if anyone wanted to help make the pancakes I knew my talents were about to blow everyone out of the water, fluffy pancakes hot off the stove. After our crew had finished their breakfast most of us headed outside to start on the projects of the day while the cleanup crew got busy with our breakfast mess.

We didn't have a safety talk, rather our ACLs taught us how to use the tools if we hadn't used them before, and showed us how to make easy work of the tasks at hand. Our first project was down a semi rickety staircase with one handrail missing - part of the top of the stairs had some rotten areas that were marked off in red so that you knew not to step there. I think someone told me that the stairs were almost 30 years old and were starting to show their age. Apparently that is on the list of projects we have to do this week. The section of fence we repaired between the trail (our backyard) and private property wasn't that hard to do. We simply took the old section out and replaced it with the new section. I love the smell of cedar wood fresh from the lumbar yard. although usually WTA will find materials on sight, these materials were brought in by the land managers. The coolest part about helping with this project was that us girls got to use the chop saw to cut the wood to the correct length. The area where the fence was, was a little over grown in places. One of our crew ended up getting the loopers out and cut back some of the over growth.

Our crew was a little lazy in making sure that the tools were not right in the middle of the trail. Sadly we left the chop saw in the middle of the trail for a while. WHOOPS! During our lunches on our 'vacation' we got to enjoy the sunshine, the wildflowers blooming, the pollen making our eyes itch. There were also a lot of dogs barking and playing in the property next to the trail we were one. And some children playing on a trampoline, and home made play set. The property with the dogs, also had a hot-tub, lucky ducks! apparently the lodge used to have one years ago but the owners of the lodge got tired of always having to fix it so they got rid of it.

After lunch I took a walk down the trail that lead to the front of the lodge. There was a tree that had fallen over and somehow the fall made the pieces break into perfect firewood size that had been so nicely stacked next to the trail. A little bit further down the trail someone clearly had an issue with a stream, as the middle of the trail was washed out due to heavy rain over the past few months. It wasn't that bad to get across though.

I finally came to my next project on the trail- sanding a bunch of alder discs for a project that we would be doing later on. Remember that safety talk we didn't have at the start of the day? I sort of wished we had... I would have been reminded to wear my work gloves. As a result some swear words were said as I accidentally decided I didn't need a finger print on one of my fingers. Apparently our crew leader was out of date on their emergency response training as there was no paperwork filled out for the pain I had done to myself.

The trail is in pretty good shape to be honest, there are a lot of birds around and some pesky squirrels that think they need the bird feed we put out. We did encounter some wild cats- they didn't like each other and were growling at each other until one ran off into the lodge.

Our last project of the week was to repair that rickety staircase we kept going up and down. We ended up pulling out all the nails and old boards and replacing them with beautiful new wood. Our crew leader ended up having an issue with the wood. It decided it did not like him and welp he ended up going to the ER to get a piece of wood out from under his fingernail. We didn't finish the stairs but the amount that we did was amazing. We left some work for the next volunteer vacation to come in behind us.

Some of my favorite parts about this trail are all of the flowers starting to bloom, and if you are close enough the spring smell that they bring out. We found a punch of worms on the trail. Being the worm girl that I am I collect all the worms in the middle of the trail and placed them in the composting dirt next to the trail so that they could have some yummy organic food. There were a few airplanes that flew overhead, but then again this trail is pretty close to the airport, and if a small plane takes off and needs to get out of the way of a larger plane it flies over the trail. The views from the top of the staircase are really pretty you can see into the private lands around our trail, and the people that live there are very friendly they'll start up a conversation with you.

I will say that this trail is mostly in the shade so you might want to bring a jacket it gets a little bit chilly  once the sun is on the other side of the lodge.

Our projects were left in safe conditions and I hear the other group has started to finish the stair project that we started.

I can't wait to come back to this trail, it was pretty short, and kind of felt like some place I could live, somewhere that I could live.

I'm not going to lie, my plan was to take the kids on an old logging road in the Snoqualmie Tree Farm that leads to a lake.  No stops, no people, no problem!  However, the boss of the house over ruled my plans.  Having a child with a low immune system actually makes agreement with the decision pretty easy but I'm not doing well with no hiking.

Instead we put more work into the garden and I made progress on the kids tree fort.  Part of that was trimming a few branches that opened up a view to snowy peaks.  We sat for a while and enjoyed the view and added to our tally of daily animal sightings: 2 squirrels, 1 hummingbird, 2 blue jays, a robin, and several bumble bees.

Happy Easter / Passover!

Started my hike from the Front Porch trailhead. The trail has a four-foot elevation drop before reaching the main “front yard” basin, spread out across several steps which can be notoriously slippery in winter and early spring conditions, so I came prepared with my microspikes. Luckily, trail crews had installed non-slip tape on each of the steps, and there was no snow on the trail, so I was able to navigate the descent without using any traction.

The main trail below the porch was in excellent condition all the way around to the “back yard” meadow (about a 50 ft hike, according to my gps), and there were plenty of early season flowers in bloom, including red current, coltsfoot, fawn lily, and trillium. The local ranger pointed me toward an almost totally flat rock outcropping that is supposedly the best spot to stop for lunch and watch for wildlife (mostly hummingbirds today, along with a few chickadees and juncos). No bugs to speak of, although I did see a few small pools of standing water that might be mosquito hotspots later in the season.

Only one tent was set up in the camp site, but there is room for a few more, and a very easily accessible water supply. I did see a bear in the distance on the way out, so bear bags or canisters are obviously required for anyone planning an overnight.