I, on the other hand, tossed and turned for most of the night, caught in a classic camping dilemma: to breath fresh air or to be eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Making friends as an adult is incredible hard and like finding a life-partner, a solid adventure buddy is a needle in a hay stack. However, a few months ago I found one named Jess.

Since arriving in Washington State, I had admired Koma Kulshan, Mt.Baker, from across the Sound. My dad and I spoke often about doing a guided climb with the American Alpine Institute.

On our way back to Seattle, after climbing Loowit, we made a quick detour to visit Tahoma.

We were alone for the first few miles of the trail, but as we broke out of the trees a conga line of headlamps belonging to those farther up the mountain was revealed.

A short and sweet collection of photos from a family day hike on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

Between bites of chocolate I yelled, hooted and hollered nonsense down the trail hoping for a reply. My calls were met only by the sounds of forest and worry began gaining momentum in my mind.

After our muffins and the first round of coffee, we took a nice morning stroll around the lake. The water was crystal clear and small trout gulped at the surface, unbothered by our presence.