It was another glorious night of slumber in "The Cave". Jill spent the morning taking her horticulture class final exam, which she passed with a higher-than-possible score due to extra credit. The subject was plant identification and for the rest of our trip, Jill was able to identify most of the vegetation we encountered. Scott and I spent the morning preparing for our trip to hike to the top of Green Mountain in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. We visited the great outdoor store, Second Ascent, in Ballard where I bought a used day pack for my hikes. Then we returned to REI to exchange a couple of items, stocked up on food at the grocery store and were back to the house before noon. Jill completed her exam early and arrived home as Scott and I were packing our food and gear in our bags and the bags in the car.
We were rolling out of Ballard by 1:00 PM, headed north along Interstate 5 towards the Cascade Range. For a Saturday afternoon, interstate traffic was congested, and the turn east on Highway 530 towards Arlington and eventually Darrington was welcomed. The clouds hung low for most of the way. We were rewarded with a quick glimpse of the craggly Cascade Peaks through occasional breaks in the clouds when we stopped for gas and restrooms in Darrington. The restrooms we toured in Darrington were all suspect, including the lavatories at the unfortunately named Skidders Bar. But the mocha shake I had at the Burger Barn was delish.
Darrington was the last town for 25 miles on the way to our Buck Creek campsite. We arrived in the late afternoon and were all in awe of the beautiful, deserted campground we found as Scott swung the Subaru into the 5-star campsite #9. The forest was dark, dense, wet, and lush. As the clouds began to clear, I realized that the amount of daylight under the tree cover was almost always constant due to the massive canopy overhead. I couldn't imagine the pine needle and fern covered forest floor ever drying off! We erected our tents just a few yards from the rushing creek and began to consider dinner. As we talked in our loud voices to overcome the roar of the creek, we realized that although we had 'planned' for breakfast and lunch the next day, we hadn't actually 'packed' it. Whoops! So we returned to Darrington for provisions before we got too comfortable around the campsite. Interestingly, I noticed that most men in Darrington prefer not to wear shirts, including during their visits to the grocery store.
Back at the campsite, we started a fire, prepared dinner - and eventually s'mores (yum) - before retiring late in the evening. Big day tomorrow!
We were rolling out of Ballard by 1:00 PM, headed north along Interstate 5 towards the Cascade Range. For a Saturday afternoon, interstate traffic was congested, and the turn east on Highway 530 towards Arlington and eventually Darrington was welcomed. The clouds hung low for most of the way. We were rewarded with a quick glimpse of the craggly Cascade Peaks through occasional breaks in the clouds when we stopped for gas and restrooms in Darrington. The restrooms we toured in Darrington were all suspect, including the lavatories at the unfortunately named Skidders Bar. But the mocha shake I had at the Burger Barn was delish.
Darrington was the last town for 25 miles on the way to our Buck Creek campsite. We arrived in the late afternoon and were all in awe of the beautiful, deserted campground we found as Scott swung the Subaru into the 5-star campsite #9. The forest was dark, dense, wet, and lush. As the clouds began to clear, I realized that the amount of daylight under the tree cover was almost always constant due to the massive canopy overhead. I couldn't imagine the pine needle and fern covered forest floor ever drying off! We erected our tents just a few yards from the rushing creek and began to consider dinner. As we talked in our loud voices to overcome the roar of the creek, we realized that although we had 'planned' for breakfast and lunch the next day, we hadn't actually 'packed' it. Whoops! So we returned to Darrington for provisions before we got too comfortable around the campsite. Interestingly, I noticed that most men in Darrington prefer not to wear shirts, including during their visits to the grocery store.
Back at the campsite, we started a fire, prepared dinner - and eventually s'mores (yum) - before retiring late in the evening. Big day tomorrow! 
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