Scorpion Mountain Hike, July 2017

Posted on July 4, 2017 by Rick Freeman

Scorpion Mountain
Date: July 4, 2017
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles / 12.9 Kilometers round-trip
Elevation Gain: 2,650 feet / 808 meters
Time: 5 to 6 hours
Location: Near Skykomish, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to a few snow patches on summit
Hiking With: Linna Freeman, Rick Freeman, Matt Kerby, Craig Schilling, Tao Song & Macho

: Purple Haze

: Valley Of Lillies

: Freeman

: The Group

: Beautiful Mt. Stuart

: Last Bit Of Snow

: Scorpion Mountain Location

: Our Altitude

: Vast Amounts Of Wild Bells

For our July 4th celebration we started our day hiking a new trail off of highway 2 near Skykomish, Washington. I usually hike the I-90 hikes out of Seattle, but when I invite my wife I know itâ€™s a pre-requisite to come up with a new hike to entice her to come out. Scorpion Mountain was a new hike for us and we were blessed with a sunny warm July 4th without the crowd. We invited our good friends Matt Kerby, Craig Schilling and Tao Song to share this quiet beautiful hike.

This is not your typical off the exit I-90 hike, it takes some driving time and effort. After getting off of highway 2, you have 7 miles of a narrow paved road onto a narrower overgrown dirt-road for another 6 miles up the mountain. We only had two groups ahead of us when we started, but managed to pass them to have full access to the summit to ourselves. This hike has a gain of 2,500 feet, but after reaching the Sunrise Mountain you descend over 200 feet to only ascend again to summit Scorpion…making this trek a bit more difficult.

Before reaching the summit of glacier lilies and a couple of large mounds of snow you get to hike through a mature forest and alpine meadows. You have a 360 view on top with Glacier Peak, Spire, El Capitan and the top of Rainier showing.

Linna and I ended our hike with some delicious Korean BBQ at Blue Ginger in Bellevue, Washington.

Bandera Mountain Sunrise Hike, June 2017

Posted on June 30, 2017 by Rick Freeman

Bandera Mountain
Date: June 30, 2017
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles / 12.88 kilometers round-trip
Elevation Gain: 3,400 feet / 1,036 meters
Time: 5 to 6 hours
Location: Exit 45, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to the top
Hiking With: Linna Freeman, Matt Kerby & Macho the Dog Wonder

: Colors Colors Colors

: Freeman In Bear Grass

: Matt Kerby Over I-90

: Lillie

: The Freeman’s

: Macho The Dog Wonder

: Mt. Rainier

: Purple Haze

: Bandera Sunrise

: Linna On The Prowl

: Freeman Retard

: Kerby & Freeman

My wife Linna made a lifetime goal of 100 sunrise hikes…after today we will only need 98 more! We met up with Matt Kerby at the local Home Depot at 2:00 a.m. and loaded everything into his new SUV. We started at the trail-head at 2:45 a.m. and reached the summit in 2 hours…which means we had actually had to wait for the sunrise for 30 minutes.

It was perfect weather through-out the morning, but the mosquitoes were so nasty it affected your movements. I put on my jacket so only my face was shown, I came down the mountain with only one bite. Matt ended up with a couple of welts on both sides of his forehead.

Itâ€™s a good feeling when you are descending down the mountain heading back to the car and itâ€™s only seven in the morning and seeing people heading up wondering…what the hell.

Granite Mountain Sunrise Hike, May 2017

Posted on May 27, 2017 by Rick Freeman

Granite Mountain
Date: May 27, 2017
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8.6 miles / 13.8 Kilometers round-trip
Elevation Gain: 3,800 feet / 1,158 meters
Time: 5 to 6 hours
Location: Exit 47, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to Snow Packed
Hiking With: Mike Curry, Linna Freeman, Matt Kerby, Craig Schilling, Tao Song & Macho

: Look-Out Tower

: Curry, Kerby, Freeman & Schilling

: Linna With Sunrise

: Magic Hole

: Sunrise On Mt. Rainier

: Matt Kerby

: Macho The Dog Wonder

: Sunrise

: Descending

Seven of us decided that getting up at 1:00 a.m. to summit Granite Mountain to see the sunrise would be worth itâ€¦and we were right. Our group consisted of Mike Curry, Matt Kerby, Craig Schilling, Tao Song and my wife Linna Freeman. This will be the first sunrise hike for most of us and probably the earliest start for a hike too.

I am not sure how we decided on Granite Mountain for a sunrise hike, but we all knew they would be a lot of snow on top left over from a very wet/snowy winter. After reading the WTA trip reports, the avalanche conditions were minimal and post holing wasnâ€™t an issue. We had to be a bit more cautious on the snow when it started to open up on top, there were numerous foot trails going in different directions, but I have been up Granite so many times I had a good feel for our direction to the summit.

Matt Kerby reached the summit in time to snap some beautiful sunrise pictures, some of the photos posted will be his art. There were many groups coming up as we were descending and by the time we got back to the parking lot it was nearly full.
Craig and Tao invited us back to their house for breakfast. Of course when we got back home Linna and I took a long nap.

Spain Trip, May 2017

Posted on May 13, 2017 by Rick Freeman

The last time I was in Spain was maybe 16 years ago….when camera’s were still using film and where my camera was stolen along with my film. We invited John Biltucci and his wife XiuYun Jiang for this short 8 day trip visiting Barcelona, Madrid and Segovia. This was their first trip to Spain…and Linna’s too.

: Segovia Aqueduct

: Fuck De Tourist

: Going For The Kill

: Life Is Too Short

: Linna Freeman

: Matador Hurt

: Matador Down

: Our Barcelona Apartment

: Aquaeduct Of Segovia

: The Matador

: The Picador Stab

: The End Game

: Picasso

: Walking Through Water

: Hanging Pork

Mt. Baker Trip, March 2017

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Rick Freeman

Six of us spent a 3 day weekend in Glacier, Washington enjoying the Mt. Baker area and the vast open country for snowshoeing.

: Winter Wonderland

: Craig & Tao

: Rick Freeman

: Matt, Shell & Freeman

: Macho

: Following The Leader

Norway Trip, February 2017

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Rick Freeman

Really? A Norway trip during the winter….just what I thought when my wife Linna wanted to visit the Lofoten area for her February birthday. We invited a couple of other friends, Mike Curry and Emelie Espling to enjoy this winter wonderland with us.

We spent two nights and a full day in Oslo before flying up to Leknes via Bodo. More than two days in Oslo would be just a waste of time.

: Salt Building

: Frozen Cod Heads

: Drying Cod Filets

: Dumping Fresh Cod

: Fishing Village

: Fresh Cod

: Hamnoy, Norway

: Hanging Fish Heads

: Borealis Lights

: Linna and Emelie

: Fishing Villige

: Our Cabin

: Our Location

: Our Weather

: Our Window View

: Our Cabin

: Village Of A

: Mike Curry Was Driving

Hex Mountain Snowshoe, January 2017

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Rick Freeman

A group of us thought we could find the top of Hex mountain….but we were a few peaks off.

: Macho & Mei

: Linna, Shelly, Tao & Mei

: The Men

Yellow Aster Hike, September 2016

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Rick Freeman

Yellow Aster Butte
Date: September 30, 2016
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 7.5 miles / 12.07 Kilometers round-trip
Elevation Gain: 2,600 feet / 792 meters
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near Glacier, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry
Hiking With: My wife Linna, Jim & Ione Darmiento, Erik & Emelie Espling, John Biltucci

: Our Altitude

: Snack Break

: Rick Freeman & Jim Darmiento

: Freeman The Exorcist

: Jim & Ione Darmiento

: Jim & Ione Darmiento

: Linna Freeman Loving The Views

: Darmiento & Freeman With Mt. Shuskan

: Our Hiking Route

: John Biltucci, Jim Darmiento, Rick Freeman & Erik Espling

: Rick Freeman On Top Of Yellow Aster Butte

: Our Wonder Dog Macho

: Heading To The Top Of Yellow Aster

My wife Linna chose this hike months before our Mt. Baker weekend and she happened to picked the perfect date for beautiful fall colors. Our group rented a beautiful house near Glacier, Washington for the weekend.