September 24 return to Port Orchard

We're settling back in to our home routine. The grass is beginning  to

get green again since it has rained a few times.  Sonny mowed and 

trimmed while I pulled weeds in my gardens.  Good to be home!

On Wednesday we picked up our campsite, cleaned the GEM and
got ready to move  back to Port Orchard. 

Slides pulled in, hitched up and ready to roll.  Sonny planned to leave at 5 PM
to avoid traffic in Tacoma, but I wasn't eager to travel into the evening so we left
at 8:45 AM.  Luck was with us and there wasn't any traffic so we arrived home
 early Thursday afternoon.

My garden seemed to thrive on the drought.  There are still raspberries
to eat and the trees looked like they grew a foot.

The apples in our orchard,don't have as many little brown spots but they
 aren't many good enough to eat.  I'll be making more apple
sauce this week,

Overnight to Trinity

An overnight in the mountains at Trinity was on my bucket list since we
visited there last year.  We were blessed with the opportunity to have
an overnight by our friends, the Shepards and the caretakers, the Porters. The weather
was warm with clear blue daytime skies and a clear evening sky to view the stars
and the Big Dipper. I tried to get into the 112* hot tub but had to be satisfied with
only getting my toes in.  (The next day, we figured out how to cool the tub.) 

At the first gate, the guard marked our vehicles to indicate
home owners in Trinity.

The road to Trinity is closed to the public right now due to fire prevention work.
Since we were dog sitting, we had permission to pass the gates. The 25 mile road
is an adventure by itself!  We traveled  through pretty forests, past
small campgrounds along  the Chiwawa River on a level road and then a
 narrow, bumpy, rocky road with serious land slide potential. Adrianna and I
rode together on the way up.  She has no fear and boldly drove over the places that
would have me hesitant to pass at all but we made it safely!  Thank you, Adrianna!

After the ride to Trinity, Winter and Buster meet a friend
 in the yard.

One of the remaining caretaker cabins.

Adrianna tests the temp of the hot tub with her toe.  Yikes! 112*

Mountain view from the cabin porch.
Pacific Crest Trail is up there in the
pass.

Sonny has a smile while Winter is camera shy.

Winter's piercing blue eyes are questioning the camera or is she
 posing?

There are 5 cabins in Trinity, now. Such a peaceful place.  In the morning,
we walked up the road towards the water flow filter. Didn't see any
deer but plenty of tracks in the roadway.

Storage cabin.

The guys did a little target practicing with their guns.

The heavy snow causes some trees
to have weird growth patterns. Can you
see the trunk's S shape?

The ghost town has still functioning fire hydrants pumping water.

One of the deer who came out in the evening.

Leaking pipe geyser in the woods.

Hunting blind

Sonny at the hot tub. The white pole behind him is used to measure the
snowfall up to 12'.  Hoping to bury that pole this year to make up for
lack of snow last year.

Remnants of a large building from the mining days.

On our way back down to Lake Wenatchee, we passed  large equipment heading
 out from the forest cutting for the Community Protection line. Our stay in
Trinity will be on our minds for years to come. It is amazing to be 25 miles 
from civilization in the mountains.  The road closes when snow falls so the 
caretakers use snowmobiles to get down to their cars for supplies.

The Last Few Days of our Stay

The campground has few campers each night so after our regular chores. we are picking litter on the beach, pruning bushes along trails and doing a little walking in the woods.

Fall colors are coming on

Sonny on litter patrol

Vine maples go crazy with color.  They get lots more sun since the tall
canopy trees came down in the 2012 wind storm.

I was on the beach picking up litter after the weekend.  This
large upside down fish was laying along the edge.

Someone created totems along the
Wenatchee River near the boat
launch.

Multi media-rocks, sticks, moss.

Another view

Driftwood tree

Driftwood possibilities

Looking back towards the boat launch and Emerald Island. 

On our last day off, I drove up to the end
of Cedar Brae to the Hidden Lake trail head
for a little walk in the woods. Here, I was
trying to catch a view of Dirty Face
Peak through the trees.  You can see
Lake Wenatchee.

This set of pictures loaded backwards so this was actually the end of walk
returning to my Jeep.

I was trying to get a selfie
inside a big burned out cedar
tree. 

Was this rock put here intentionally or ?

This little creek waterfall was coming
from Hidden Lake.

Sadly, there is always litter in the woods. Broken bottle that
that wasn't packed out.

Hidden Lake reflections.  All was quiet and still.

It was amazing to me that the vine maple had green leaves except for
this one red one.  How does that happen??

More color

Better view of Dirty Face Peak through the trees

I was able to walk almost all the way around the lake.  There were several
little beach areas for picnics but not overnight.

Was this someone's directional totem?  I added a rock to the top.

This was once a very tall tree.

Man made dam across the stream flowing from Hidden Lake

Many trees have suffered fire
damage over the decades

So peaceful and calm.

Lots of work making bird homes
in this tree.

Amazing that this tree could still
continue growing.

Can you see that the left side of this
tree isn't touching the ground? And
yet, the tree still grows!

Doggie in the truck at the laundry mat in Plain

View from our breakfast window looking at site # 47

On Sunday morning, campers came to the beach.
The air temp was in the low 60s and this woman got into her tube to
float in the freezing water.

Camper creation on a stump.

Pretty wheel barrow garden at the Tate's home.  They invited us to
watch the Seahawks' game on Sunday afternoon.

We were invited to go on an adventure to the ghost town of Trinity, 25 miles
up into the mountains for  an overnight.  Trinity was a nickel mining town and
once had a population of 300 in the 30s. The current caretakers were on vacation so
 we were with friends on dog feeding patrol.  Our 3 vehicle caravan started
at the snow park.

 Firefighters have been clearing a 300' swath of underbrush and
trees up to 20" in diameter to take away the fuel for out of control
forest fire near Plain.

The community was fearful of the swath being a clear cut
but the woodsmen created a park like area along the road.

Our hosts took along two of their sled dogs, Buster and Winter.
(Continue to next post)