Lueders Haus Blog

Finally starting to warm up here in Seattle with highs in the upper 80s forecasted for this week. But the warm weather did not make it here for the 4th of July weekend. We took Highway 20 over to Mazama last weekend. It was a bit warmer than in Seattle but pretty windy.

We stayed at the rolling huts again. There is now a new cafe right next to rolling huts along side the highway. They serve breakfast and lunch every day and dinner on the weekends. The dinner menu is Spanish tapas and Polish beer! Not what I would have expected for the middle of nowhere but we will give it a try the next chance we get. The community ski trail goes right by there.

On Saturday hiked up to Louis Lake. The trail head was down near the end of the Twisp River Road. We had never been down that way before. The ski trails don’t go down this way but there is plenty of great hiking. Even though we had lack luster snow for the ski season this year, we had a number of late snow storms and a cool spring. So most of the really high country is still snowed in. Louis Lake had a few big patches of snow in the trees in right before the lake but was clear at the lake. There was a really chilly wind at the lake so we ate our lunches quick and headed back down. Not too many hikers on the trail that day but we did see six people on horseback and two goats. Emily was okay with the goats but growled at the horses.

Just got back from another New Year’s ski trip to the Methow. The three of us drove over in a snow storm on New Year’s eve. We had about five or six inches of new snow to ski on New Year’s day. A little too much snow for the groomers to keep up with but on the second day we had some perfectly groom skate lanes.

We changed from our usual logging in Winthrop to a cabin at the Freestone Inn near Mazama so Emily could stay with us. She is not quite ready to join us on the ski trails yet. So she mostly lodge skied but she did get in some good snow shoe hikes.

Spent last weekend hiking the Northern Loop in Mount Rainier National Park. We have done bits of the loop before but this time we hiked all thirty-something miles in four days. We crossed three 6,000+ foot passes with about 9,000 feet in elevation gain. The weather was okay, a bit cool for August with light rain on Sunday while we climbed along side the Carbon Glacier. We hardly saw anyone on the Northern Loop trail but passed lots of groups once we joined the Wonderland. Hiking around the end of Winthrop Glacier was pretty cool. The views were definitely more impressive then the Carbon Glacier. If anything this hike has gotten me thinking seriously about hiking the whole Wonderland Trail soon.

Lots of pictures up here.

Headed over to Mazama for a quick vacation. This was our first trip with Emily and our new Prius and both did well.

We stayed in the Rolling Huts for the first time. The huts are located along Highway 20 about half way between Mazama and Winthrop. The hut experience is halfway between camping and staying in a motel. Each hut has a basic kitchen and a pad to sleep on. There is no running water in the huts but they have electric. There a port-a-potty at the end of each hut and shared bath in the barn. Emily especially enjoyed hanging out on the deck pretending she was a guard dog.

On Saturday we hiked to Lake Ann near Rainy Pass. We had done this hike a few years ago and enjoyed it. There was scattered thunderstorms in the area all weekend and on the way back to the car we got caught in a downpour. Which was pretty strange given how dry it has been in the northwest this summer.

I have been ignoring my blogging duties because we have been so busy skiing this year. We headed over to Leavenworth for my birthday and back to Mazama the weekend after. It has definitely been a light snow year. The See-n-Ski trail near Lake Wenatchee even had a bare spot! But on most of the trails the groomers have done well with the snow we have had. The picture is of the trail near Mazama. Our cabin was back in the trees.

While Seattle finished melting out we headed over to Winthrop on New Year’s Eve for a little ski trip. The drive over Stevens Pass was a bit too exciting. Both passes have been closed on and off for the last few weeks for rain or snow causing dangerous avalanche conditions. We got to Winthrop right before another major storm on New Year’s Day. We arrived safe but the truck’s bumper has a new scar.

The first day of skiing was a bit slow with about a foot of snow falling around us that day. But the next two days of skiing mostly clear if a bit cold. This trip gave us a chance to try out our new skate skies. After some quick lessons we were able to get around pretty good. I will need a season on them before I feel truly comfortable but Sherry is a natural.

We arrived back in Seattle on Sunday afternoon right when the flurries of a second snow storm were starting up. By 10pm were had nearly another four inches of heavy wet snow on the ground. The snow sent a few branches of our pine tree down onto our shed’s roof during the evening. By morning it was raining again. A few days later the floods closed down I-5,I-90, and Highway 2. What prefect timing! Luckily, this year we will be going back again in a few weeks to work on our skating. See all the picture here.

The snow around our house is finally melting off. No more lowland snow is in the forecast. I no longer have to 4×4 down my street. We even managed to make it out Saturday on a ski trip. We skied the MTTA trails near Mt. Rainier. It was quite the adventure getting to the trail head. We appeared to be the first ones up the road that morning. I made it halfway up the road in four wheel drive before getting stuck in some slush. We all hopped out and put on the chains while three cars waited behind us. There was no turn around spots before the trail head so once we arrived we put on our skies and headed up the trail. The trail was un-groomed and we had to break trail most of the way (we later learned the groomer was broken). We skied in mostly rain to the Copper Creek Hut where the overnighters were playing scrabble. After warming up we headed back down the to the trail head. The snow plow passed us at the trail head while we were taking off our skies. Hopefully next week’s ski trip to the Methow will be easier going.

We did our civic duty on Saturday night and watched the presidential debate on TiVo. Our mistake was to going to Brouwer’s Cafe for hopfest beforehand. By the end of the debate it was going on midnight and we were both nearly asleep. Lets just say we both found the debates pretty boring.

Sunday was a beautiful day so we headed out on the bike trail towards Woodinville. I finally got to try Armadillo BBQ who’s smell has been tempting me for so long on my bike rides home. I was very impressed. Definitely a better pit stop then Red Hook.

We spent last weekend hiking the Enchantments. I was there about six years ago and it was really fun to finally get back. We did the hike one way in four days and three nights from the Snow Lakes parking lot over and down Aasgard Pass to Colchuck Lake. We had great weather on Friday and Saturday. The hike down Aasgard Pass was grueling and Sunday night at Colchuck Lake was pretty stormy. Check out the photos here.

These new popup tent trailers look pretty cool. I could see the SylvanSport Go trailer on our family’s future road trips.