Back to the woods

It's been a while since our last camping trip so this past weekend we went for another trip. Kate was in town last week (more on that soon) and she wanted to try a hike-in camping. The temperature this weekend was over 90 degrees so I knew we were in for a rough couple of nights. I was hoping to get up to Rainier for an overnight trip to escape the sweltering heat at the lower elevations but one disadvantage of camping on the mountain is that no fires are allowed. I pitched this idea to the girls thinking it was going to be so hot outside, surely they wouldn't mind skipping the fire. Of course, I couldn't have been more wrong in my assumptions as I had forgotten the golden rule of camping with girls - No S'mores, No camping. How could I forget! Alas, back to the Olympics we went, this time Staircase with Jim, Katie, Marcie and Kate.
The trailhead is located in the SE corner of the park and despite the name there are no staircases to be seen. There is however, a 3500 ft accent to flapjack lakes, one of the most beautiful areas in the entire park. Sites at the lakes are very limited and were full so instead, we hiked to the halfway point, Madeline Creek, about 5 miles of hiking in 90 degree heat. As a reward for our efforts, our campsite was beautiful. Nicely separated from the main trail, our spot was right along the creek with wild blueberries all around. We all jumped into the 38-degree water before jumping back out just as fast, cold but refreshing. For dinner we ate mashed potatoes and 14 hotdogs, we were hungry! Of course S'mores were also part of the feast as I spent the better part of an hour getting the fire nice and hot to fend off the freezing, upper 80 temperatures ;)
The trip was only one night long but we all had a great time, as always, especially Kate. I'm sure Marcie will write a book to cover her visit so I'll leave the rest for another post...
*Pictures*