Last Sunday I wanted to go on a family hike to celebrate my birthday, but not just any hike. I wanted it to be one we hadn't done before and I wanted a view at the summit. I picked a place, but the weather wasn't ideal for taking in the view and I decided to bump the hike to this Sunday. Then I realized today was going to be Father's Day, so I just canceled and figured we'd hike later without tying it to a celebration.
As it turned out, the kids acknowledgement of Father's Day didn't involve anything time-consuming. I was tired and wanted to spend the day reading library books in bed, but I knew I'd be glad we'd gone if we opted for the hike. So we made a somewhat spontaneous to head out to Mary's Peak, which is the highest point in the Coast Range, after streaming church this morning.
There are several trails to choose from, so we climbed about 1,700 feet over four miles. That's just a little higher than when Silas and I hiked Saddle Mountain, which was 1,600 feet in two and a half miles, but it was easier because the incline is spread over a much longer distance.
It was beautiful! We saw tons of pretty flowers, including a phenomenal amount of wild iris along the road as we drove up to the trailhead. There's supposed to be a 360 degree view from the summit, but we knew it wouldn't be perfect because the skies weren't totally clear. They were clear enough to make the trek worthwhile, though.
I told the fam I wanted two pictures, one at the start and another at the summit. So, here's the first shot.
Just one of the many wild iris along the way. This flower is special to me and it was pretty awesome to see so many today.
The trees in this picture give you an idea of how steep the mountain is. Lots of switchbacks keep it from being treacherous to climb. In fact, I passed some people on my descent who were heading up the trail on bikes. Impressive!
Other than the wild iris, I don't know what the other flowers are. However, this looks similar to the bleeding heart in our back yard. I suspect it's a wild version.
We hiked through the woods nearly the whole way up, but got this little sneak peak of the view as we got closer to the summit.
Although it would have been awesome to have clear views in all directions, this Brookings girl had to chuckle seeing fog roll in from the coastal side. Par for the course. No ocean view today, so we'll just have to climb again another time.
Turning a little more to the south, the skies started to clear and we could see other mountains below us.
So beautiful!
The summit family picture, with the Willamette Valley stretched out behind us. Despite the haze, we were able to spot some notable peaks in the distance.
One more shot of the valley, but without Ws blocking the view.
I asked Silas to snap a quick picture of Tim and I as we started to descend.
We didn't get far down the trail before everyone else decided it would be fun to run. I, on the other hand, enjoy having functioning kneecaps. So I walked. Tim did check to see if I preferred having him stick with me, but I sent him off with the little Ws. Then I enjoyed some quiet solitude surrounded by tall trees, lots of greenery, and the smell of dirt.
Such a fantastic hike! The opportunity to go as an entire family is rare, and will become even more challenging whenever our church's doors open again because Tim and Silas won't have the same days off. So I'm really glad we went.
That would have been enough to qualify as a good day, but the fun didn't end there.
Tim offered to get sandwiches for everyone at Subway on the drive home. While he went in to order, I shot a high school classmate a text saying we were in her town. She asked us to come over, so we got to spend a couple hours with her family. We'd all hung out during our class reunion last summer, so it was super fun to see them again.
I wanted a group shot of both families, but asked Tim to get one of Julie and I in case we couldn't round up all the kids. Full disclosure? I didn't realize until later that I had a massive chunk of food stuck in my braces. Good gravy.
Thankfully, we were able to get the whole crew together before the Ws loaded up to head home.
And that was that. What an awesome day this turned out to be!
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