Laboring Away on Labor Day

Adequate title for this post, read below and you'll see.  For Labor Day Will and I headed out scenic Highway 20, also known as the North Cascades Highway.  It was jaw-droppingly beautiful.  The mountains in the North Cascades are jagged and so huge and the rivers and lakes are a pristine emerald color green from glacier melt-off.  As we drove through the winding curves around different mountains, I thought to myself that this was the most spectacular place I've been in the U.S.  It's really unlike anywhere else.

Our first night we drove in and set up a camp sight we'd call home for the next three nights at Ballard Campground in Mazama.  The next day we woke up early and, per usual, Will became the 'man of the kitchen' and started cooking our oatmeal and making coffee.  It's nice to have a slight role-reversal when we camp.  We packed our backpacks, picked up my mountain bike, and rode the Buck Mountain trail.

After our morning bike riding, we went into Winthrop, WA and piddled around the town, ate ice cream and bought a couple of books to read at camp.  It may not be clear in the photos below, but Winthrop is a themed mining town and tourist destination.

Later that night we were having dinner and drinks at the Mazama store (notice I said 'the' Mazama store... only one in the town) and ran into two different people we knew from Seattle!  So random!  P.S. I love the Mazama store, it's like a mini Whole Foods and has lots of delicious food and local gifts and wares.  I got a locally made merino wool skirt that was made from sweaters.  One of the friends we ran into was Owen, who had just finished paragliding in the area.  We mentioned that we wanted to try paragliding and Owen knew some instructors who agreed to take us out on a tandem flight later that weekend.

On our second day in the North Cascades we mountain biked up Cutthroat Pass.  Another trail very adequately named.  I ended up hiking my rented bike up most of the trail.  It was extremely difficult to get that heavy thing up there but it was a breeze and a LOT of fun riding it down.

After our bike ride we took a tour at the Smokejumper Base.  The base we visited just outside Winthrop was the birthplace of Smokejumping.  Chris, a Smokejumper, was our guide and showed us all around the base, showed us the outfits they wear, showed us inside their plane etc.  It was awesome and these men and women are hard-core!

Their suit weighs 80 lbs!  And their packs
weigh 120 lbs or more!  Crazy fit people, they
are like the Navy Seals of firefighting.

Supply package with its own parachute.

All Smokejumpers are also seamstresses. They sew
all their own clothing and repair all parachutes.

I'm flying the plane!  Once the 'fire bell' rings,
all Smokejumpers are in the plane, totally ready
to go within five minutes!

On our last day we went rock climbing at Fun Wall.  I lead climbed the longest route I've ever climbed, 10 bolts and I felt pretty good about it :)  We also met up with Owen's crew to paraglide but after getting harnessed up and seeing Owen almost get blown into the trees off the mountain top, our guides opted not to fly that day since the winds were too strong.

Look at the top, middle of this photo and the
little black dot you see is me.

Labor Day weekend concluded with a visit to Cascadian Organic Farms for an ice-cream cone :)  I got home-made raspberry and Will got home-made blueberry.  It's a picturesque farm in a beautiful valley. What a wonderful weekend, I love summer!