Snow Lake from the rocky overlook on the trail up from Alpental, Snoqualmie Pass, WA. Sunday 19 June 2019.

Father & Child…William Dudley Bass & Dylan Blair Bass, formerly Morgan Hannah… Selfie-shot atop the ledges overlooking the lake.

Here we go!

Into the woods!

Hmnnn…looks…sharp!

Oh goodness…I know too much history, a good thing, actually, and this monster stake looming out of the woods along the trail reminds me too much of Vlad III Drăculea, a prince of Wallachia more widely known as the cruel and terrifying Vlad the Impaler during a series of horrific, 15th Century imperialist wars in the Balkans. Such memories soon receded into the dusty past as we hiked further along the trail until I’d forgotten all about this reputed originator of a certain vampire mythos. Didn’t say a word to Dylan. Why, tho, why do we humans do such things to ourselves? What is it about our species as we keep swinging from love to hate with such ferocious passion?

Beautiful yet foreboding skies as both of us contemplate so many changes happing in our lives with more changes soon to come.

Love this wilderness right outside the Great Seattle metropolis! What’s left, anyway.

“DB” contemplates life as they wait for me.

Stories in the Sky.

Dylan takes a picture of me, & while I do value the wisdom & experiences of aging, I just don’t like turning 60. Struggling to get back in shape & reclaim my health after a series of recent setbacks. Still in better shape than many my age & younger, woo HOO! Breaking in my new trail shoes, a pair of Altra Timp 1.5s.

Still alive, yo! Life kicking Death’s skinny ol’ boney ass away!

Oh, God, another one? OK, this is what I look like all washed out in the happy, happy sunshine!

We see the forests and forget the trees are such massive living organisms. Looking down thru and over so many living and, yes, even dead organisms towards the valley where our trek began.

My adult daughter forever my child. I love her and her sisters more than they’ll ever know beyond words. Grateful to spend time out in such beautiful nature! Without being inundated by ticks, chiggers, leeches, black flies, gnats, tigers, rhinos, flesh-eating bacteria, mutant fungus, great white sharks, giant asteroids, angry owls, poopy seagulls, and plastic garbage. Check out their violet hair, tho!

Mountains I’ve climbed…The Tooth at the left, Chair Peak to the right…above Source Lake down below outa sight. Denny Creek drains the opposite side. Oh, days of my youth I remember with wistful pride. A healthy practice is to allow one’s self to let go of such things both happy & sad…over & over again. New adventures & mishaps await! Always plenty to practice.

The Tooth, 1,708 meters or 5,604 feet, a popular trad climb in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness near Snoqualmie Pass. I climbed it a couple of times in the mid-to-late 1990s with the Seattle Mountaineers. Had a blast! Wanted to do a winter ascent, & it didn’t happen. Life goes on & priorities change, and that’s just fine.

The mountains of the Cascade Range are noted for their wild variety of rock stemming from a violent and turbulent geohistory along the Ring of Fire.

Snow Lake, ALW, at 4,019 ft., from a 4400-ft saddle of rocky ledges about a half-mile & 400 ft above the lake itself.

Snow Lake is a gorgeous lake and is the most popular lake destination hike in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Too popular, perhaps, with such easy TH access from I-90, yet a glorious hike deserving of its acclaim.

One can see other hikers enjoying the little peninsula down there near the water. Once upon a time the spot was private property and a cabin once stood there. All ruins now. Imagine those long ago front porch views, tho!

Aye, the water’s cold!

Efforts to protect what are now called the Alpine Lakes began in the 1920s and 30s with a designation as a USFS Limited Area in 1946. Preservation battles continued into the 1970s. They continue today with expansion efforts and controversies over land use in 2014-2015.

Explorers, old trails, & sites of old ruins.

Love! Love! Love! My daughter & I, woo Hoo! The man in the coral pink shirt in the background volunteered to shoot a few pics of my non binary child & I together there.

Action below us. We didn’t go much further, however, due to time constraints back in Seattle. Trails keep going. Gem Lake would’ve been a sweet hike, too.

First of a li’l medley of pics taken by the young man in the coral pink T-shirt. Father’s Day Sunday on the 16th of June 2019.

Daddy William & Dylan Blair aka “No mo’ MoMo!”

Cold water on a hot day! Walking by slender waterfalls along the Snow Lake Trail to the TH at the Alpental Parking Lot

Waterfalls generate a power all their own.

Winter is coming? No, Winter’s gone! Gosh, this sign, just past the trail head, is well over my head!

The busy TH parking lot at Alpental for Snow Lake & beyond.

What an awesome Father’s Day! We had a great time, my oldest & I. My younger two, Kate & Talia, would join me for a picnic at Discovery Park overlooking the Sound the following evening. What a great time!