Badger Valley Loop

A day of hiking with Mom is always pleasant, and this was no exception.

There are several different trails to choose from in the Olympics and this day we chose to

head out to Obstruction Point and take the Badger Valley Loop trail.

I (intentionally) didn't tell Mom how long the trail was (4.5 miles) because she may

not have agreed to go along if I had....tee hee hee...

You have to look really close, but you can see the zig zag going down the mountain

in just about the center of the picture?  That's how the loop begins.

What goes down must come up....right?

No, it's not a badger, it's a marmot...

but he was nice enough to greet the hikers.

A shot of Mt. Baker in the background with

wildflowers, taken from the 'Obstruction Point' road.

One of the few creeks we crossed along the trail.

Yes, the trail continued to drop in elevation....

The blue sky waaaaay up there is where we would eventually end up.

Whew...long & quite steep in a few places!

Here comes Momma!!

We were huffin and puffin....but we made it up the other side!

Once we reached the trail at the other end, it was a downhill slope back to the car.

Mom did such an awesome job! I am so proud of her for making it the entire way

without a word of complaint! It was quite a strenuous hike once the climb began. She wouldn't have made it a few weeks ago. She was very proud of herself as well!

A great accomplishment and a beautiful Mother/daughter outing.