East Boundary — Monday, May. 30, 2005

North Cascades

Got together with my daughter and her best friend for an overnight in friendly Omak before hitting the trail from Irongate trailhead east of Tonasket. Lots of buttercups and bluebells blooming and beautiful weather for the start of the trip on Memorial day weekend. Hiked over Sunny Pass with mostly dry trails. On the way down to Horseshoe Basin had some snow on the trail and lots of running water and mud. Beautiful and dry at Louden lake but no flowers blooming yet except buttercups. Past Louden lake, headed toward Teapot dome and had fairly deep snow on the trail for about 1/2 mile and then nice dry hiking conditions. Camped at the little lake about 9 1/2 miles in and no mosquitos yet. YEAAA Hiked to Teapot dome the next day which is one of the prettiest parts of the hike. We decided to hike back out that day as the thunderstorms were moving in and we all decided we'd rather spend the night on a soft bed and not the hard ground in a wet tent. It was a beautiful hike and would love to go back in about 3-4 weeks when all the flowers are blooming.