Happy Labor Day, blog-logs. I was offered the day off twice and the second time around I said OK TWIST MY ARM so here I am, blogging. Turns out that was a smart decision, because not only am I crippled with the usual 2nd day period cramps, but my entire lower body is aching from our camping trip this past weekend! Let’s explore that trip with pictures.

The challenge for backpacking is to get your pack as light as possible, and with that in mind, Joshy went tent shopping. The blue tent on the left is our old “pup” tent, and the red tent on the right is the new lightweight tent he bought. Notice a difference in size? That’s right, NOPE.

Hell if anything, the old pup tent is slightly roomier. We had to “test” out both tents, naturally. Look at that cutie Cub!

Awwww, I love this picture. Happy Maggie dog!

Sunset from the beauty room that night. We packed up everything on Friday night, so Saturday morning we could just wake up, throw everything in the car and GO.

We met up with Mike in Monroe, and from there it was a challenge finding the trailhead to Surprise Lake. Mike had some directions that were about 10 years old that didn’t help us at all, and our phones had no reception up in the mountains. We finally located the trailhead by using an old-fashioned MAP (imagine that!), and pure luck.

Finally at the trailhead, which was already full of cars (foreshadowing). We strapped Bear Schnubs up in her little backpack for the hike, holding only a pound of food. She was so excited to get out of the car she didn’t seem to mind the extra weight.

Josh and Mike at the start of the trail. Josh and I have gone camping together and Mike and Josh have gone camping together, but this was the very first time that all three of us went camping together. I was a little apprehensive, but it turned out that Mike is a lot of fun to go camping with. He didn’t even talk too much!

Some parts of the trail had stairs, but luckily most of it was just dirt and boulders. I’m not a fan of stairs on trails–the wood can get slippery.

Loved all the mushrooms growing on this tree above the sign. So Washington! So PNW!

Three excited faces embarking on a new adventure!

From the trailhead, it was about 4.5 miles to Surprise Lake. The elevation gain was 2700 feet. I was definitely panting on the way up–and Mike, who is 30 years older than me, was easily outpacing me. Heigh ho!

There were lots of little waterfalls and pools on the trail.

Sweaty selfie. I actually took off my shirt at one point on the way up to cool off. That was all about to change, though…(cue dramatic music). Turns out that wearing my glasses was a bad idea–they fogged up from exertion many times! I wore my contacts for the hike down.

Mountain Man!

Mike stopping to wait for us (well, me), with the dogs right behind him. Maggie and Bear Cub are Tuff.

So many giant mushrooms.

Look at this big fella! I wonder why so many of them are overturned.

These moss-covered rocks brought to mind the Led Zeppelin album cover “Houses of the Holy”. Without the naked girls, that is.

Hey look! We finally made it to Surprise Lake! Although the sun wasn’t out (and wouldn’t be out, the entire weekend), the lake was still a lovely teal color. I had to use my imagination to envision how gorgeous it would be if the weather was actually nice, like we had been anticipating.

Turns out there were a couple of surprises at Surprise Lake: one, it wasn’t a very big lake, with very few spots suitable for camping, and two: EVERY SPOT WAS TAKEN. Every…single…one. Surprise!

Weeeeeell, I take that back. There were actually three surprises: three, it was FREEZING. Luckily I had packed two warm hats and a warm-ish pair of gloves, but I waited too long to put the gloves on and my Raynaud’s had fully kicked in when we reached Surprise Lake. My fingers were frozen into tiny icicles.

Maggie dog, impervious to cold, hopped right in the lake. Bear Cub was a little more cautious (good thing because their food would have gotten soaked).

Surprise Lake, you are beautiful and no doubt 87% more pleasant in hot weather…and without as many people around. Boo hoo!

I let Josh and Mike scramble over boulders for a little while to scout out any possible camping locations, while the girls and I hung out. Bear Cub whined the entire time. She doesn’t like the camping party split up!

Meanwhile, I enjoyed this view.

Furry lookouts.

I took a picture of Josh taking a picture of Mike taking a picture of us. Yeah!

So what then? Well, we had to move on, of course! There was no camping to be found at Surprise Lake. “Luckily” Glacier Lake was a mere mile away! Stayed tuned for the Glacier Lake chronicles…(spoiler alert: BRRRRR)