Weekend in the Chiwaukums

Here’s a few photos from an incredible weekend we spent in the Chiwaukums Fall 2016 with our friends Christian and Meredith. Highlights included our first larch sighting of the season, our first snowfall, and lots of wine-induced stargazing.

The hike up was steep, but we knew there were larches and wine up ahead. Here’s Christian and I getting used to Ely in paparazzi mode.

Lonnie the Larch! He was small but well-worth the “first-larch-encounter” selfie.

Plenty of larches up ahead!!

 A few miles into our hike, a storm rolled in and started dropping some serious snow. Ely and I were both wearing booty shorts that were not cutting it, so we threw on some layers and enjoyed the first snowfall of the season!

We finally got to our campsite destination – Lake Edna!! She’s a gem.

Once at our camp spot, we quickly set up some shelter and started snacking. Fine wine and cheese, accompanied by MountainHouse (of course).

One happy camper.

MountainHouse and REI – you can find our contact info for future modeling gigs on the about page… 🙂

 We spent the night stargazing, wrapped in double-puffys and sipping wine and hot cocoa to stay warm.

But mostly we just told jokes and giggled while Ely took epic photos.

Hello, Milky Way.

Ely woke up early to catch the sunrise the next morning.

The rest of us woke up to see frozen ground and a deserted lake. We had only seen two parties the previous day, and I kept thinking about how different this trip would have been on the other side of Icicle Creek…

I snuck out for a solo morning run – and kept feeling like something was watching me (of course paranoid that it was a cougar). I get back to the pass and find Ely and crew, who had been watching me on the exposed ridgeline for most of my run. Ely was ready once again in paparazzi mode as I climbed back up to meet them.

Christian and Meredith, lookin’ super fly.

Our hike back out brought us down to lower elevations and all the fall colors!

Winding creek.

Overall, it was a great mellow weekend trip, and a great alternative to the Enchantments. I can’t wait to come back and run these trails!!