Leavenworth: a lot more than a Bavarian town

When the weekend comes and the weather is looking questionable in Seattle, we oftentimes head over to Leavenworth in search of sunshine and great hiking. We have our favorite camping spots, hiking trails and nearby in the town of Cashmere is the best BBQ place we have found in the state. There are numerous times we have ventured over to Leavenworth having never even set foot into town. The Bavarian themed shops and restaurants sometimes loose their charm on the tenth, twelfth or twentieth visit, but the beautiful wildflowers, rivers and trees I will never tire of.

Getting away from it all; without leaving the state

We took off early Friday afternoon and headed over to The Sleeping Lady Lodge. Around the same time last year we stayed here and not only adored the cottages, but the beautiful grounds and the delicious gourmet food they served. Fall was finally in full force and for a moment I thought I was in New England.

The rooms were cozy and do not have televisions.

Both dinner and breakfast were gourmet buffets. This is what I call a true hiker's breakfast. If you are lucky, you do not get hungry until dinnertime.

The morning fog, gave way to glorious blue skies.

The individual cabins have a certain charm to them, but then again anything surrounded by fallen leaves does.

The organic garden, with the sleeping lady in the background. (Do you see her lying down on the mountain?)

I certainly would not mind having this for my backyard.

We were stunned to find the trailhead to one of our favorite hikes almost completely vacant. It was a cold and clear day and as we got higher the ground was even frozen. Winter is definitely on the heels of Autumn. I cannot wait to trade in my hiking shoes for snowshoes.

Every which way I turned there were oranges, golds and reds. I was in absolute heaven.

Walking on top of fallen leaves just makes me happy.

It was truly a spectacular day and one of the many reasons this is our preferred hiking area.

This view could be a painting.

I even picked up a handful of souvenirs, I was able to press once I got home. The perfect weekend with the perfect guy.

Leavenworth on Dwellable

Weekend respite

Sometimes on Saturday when the weather forecast is less than stellar, we pack up the car and head east. Usually we find ourselves hiking somewhere near Leavenworth. Come to think of it, we have made this trip monthly for the past four months. In my opinion, there really is no better way to notice the changing scenery than to revisit a place time and time again. I was hoping to capture the fall foliage, the blue sky and more tricky the drive over.

At the beginning of the trail, I was greeted by swaths of golden yellow against an azure blue sky.

As we hiked, the sun was repeatedly captured by clouds and then let free again.

With the sun beating through these red leaves I commented how they looked unreal.

Per usual, we were able to count on one hand the number of groups we saw the entire day.

I love the color stretching forth across the mountains and on the ground.

A real rarity, someone offered to take our picture. They ended up having ulterior motives (wanting us to photograph them), but at least we got a half decent photo out of them.

If I had to sum up Fall in all its glory, I feel like this picture could suffice.

 Coming in and out of the trees, make for some fun photos.

As a photographer, it is always important to look up and look down. If you just look straight ahead you are going to miss lots of great moments.

We started to loose light at the end of the trail and knew it was a good time to go and get refueled and our favorite place to eat, Country Boy's BBQ.

The drive home was visually spectacular and my only wish was that we could have had another day.

Nada Lake

Saturday we arose early to beat the heat and started up the Nada Lake Trail. It is a steady, long climb and we knew from experience that attempting it in the direct sunshine makes it feel all the more arduous. Not far up the trail two men warned us of goats ahead. Having never been close to a mountain goat before, both Cameron and I were excited. As we rounded every bend, we kept our eyes peeled until suddenly we approached a mother and her kid. As they grazed and lazily walked along the trail we quickly realized that we were now operating on their schedule. They finally stepped off the trail, which we thought meant we had an opportunity to pass. Cameron went first and was warned by the mother that passing her was not an option. She bucked her head at him and overall gave us a bit of a fright. Goats have been known to actually kill people, so we were not going to fool around. We conceded and let them go on their way. We finally reached a bridge over a river and as they went right, we headed left as quickly as possible. This would not be our first encounter of the day, but we quickly realized how the goats are king of the mountains and you just need to be alert and stay out their way.

Nada Lake is clear and pristine.

The bosses of the mountain.

A mother goat with her twins.

The little babies are adorable, as they frolic and run. One even hopped on its mother's back and one point. It was so fun to watch them, but really hard to get a fantastic photo.

We tried to stay on goat alert, but towards the bottom of the trail we thought we were done with them. All of the sudden Cameron told me to look up and a mother and her twins were standing three feet away looking at me. It was both scary and exciting. My heart wanted to whip out my camera, but my brain told me to get out of their way fast.

At the lake, we laid around on the rocks and soaked up the sunshine. We worked hard and applied generous amounts of bug spray so that we could enjoy this moment. 

Snow Lake is next on our list of Alpine Lakes to tackle. It was only an additional 1.5 miles up the trail, but unfortunately we were pressed for time and given the goat situation we were unsure how long it would take to get down. All in all, we were able to hike almost 19 miles and enjoy two alpine lakes, I would say not too bad for a two day trip.