Sorry about the lack of updates; I spent four magnificent days backpacking in the Enchantments (thanks to Tom for the permit!) and was sidelined by an injury (which is finally getting better, phew). I don’t have time to write much right now since my parents are visiting from Norway, but here are some photos + words:

Day one: Colchuck Lake. Drizzle. Heavy packs, but not heavy enough to have remembered all our tent poles. D’oh! Scott retrieves tent poles from North Bend while Jo and Ingunn get comfortable(?) with Tom in his two-man tent.

Day two: Aasgard Pass. 2200 feet of elevation gain in less than one mile. Ingunn fears legs will fall off, curses pack weight and excess blubbery poundage. Views in Upper Enchantments shut her up. Group finds excellent campsite on cliffs above Crystal Lake.

Camouflage. Ur doin it right.

Goats. More goats.

The larches are turning! Girls enjoy spacious sleeping quarters while guys marinate in own flatulence.

Day three: Sunrise.

Brr.

Menfolk leave to conquer Cannon while wimmins explore Lower Enchantments.

Gnome Tarn. No gnomes. Goats.

Goats.

Group reunites, ascends Little Annapurna, 8440 feet.

Blown away by views. Happy.

Day four: Wake up to a dusting of snow. Ridiculous sunrise.

Goats.

Pack up, hike out. Rain. Slick boulders. Ingunn pulls muscle, fears leg actually will fall off this time. Limp to trailhead. Codeine. Aah.

Good god, she scrapbooked! In an effort to keep myself occupied while being sick (when we came back from Granite Mountain I had a fever, all sorts of stuffy head cavities, and a sore throat. Lame.), I decided to tackle our Enchantments photos.

I’ve come to three conclusions about my scrapbooking lately:

1) I want to get back to making really simple layouts. I want the photos to take center stage, especially on the hiking pages. I just have this vision of looking through my album ten years from now and thinking that all the embellishments and frilly things are ugly (my perfectionism and general self-loathing will combine to ensure that this will happen). Less is more and all that.

2) Even though my pages will be simple, they need some sort of finishing touch. I really need to work on this. Maybe I’ll use this depressive downtime to learn how to use my sewing machine on paper; I love that look. Maybe I should learn to use my sewing machine in general. Hm.

3) There are way too many photos I want to include in my album (and limits to how many layouts one can make from one event), so I’ll jump on the bandwagon and use different sizes of page protectors and even divided protectors to add regular 4×6 photos.

On to the layouts!

I bought different sizes of page protectors to use in Cathy Zielske’s class, so I made a 6×6 collage of extra photos that I wanted to add – I really like the look of the different sizes together. Might add more, especially of the beautiful Upper Enchantments…*sigh*

For this one I wasn’t going to add a title at all (it’s kind of an extension of the other layout), but then I realized that this transparent title from the September CK KOTM fit perfectly over the journaling. Destination doesn’t really make sense as a title here, but it kind of works anyway. And it’s so cool and transparent. I mean, come on!

I have officially reached a new level of rambleness. Speaking of rambling and not being able to construct simple sentences, everyone must remember to watch the Vice Presidential debate tonight – it’s bound to be hilarious (in a sad, sad, really scary way)…

Sometimes there is so much you want to say but you just can’t seem to find words that will do your adventure justice. Last week we spent four days backpacking in the Enchantments, and I have no idea how to describe it. The word perfect comes to mind…In lieu of words, I’ll let our photos do the talking:

Conclusion #1: the Enchantments = heaven on earth

Conclusion #2: I love multi-day backpacking and want to go on some longer trips next year

Conclusion #3: I have a slightly disturbing love (fetish?) for alpine lakes

The weather this weekend was fantastic. We celebrated by going on my favorite dayhike so far – to beautiful Colchuck Lake (near the creepy faux-Bavarian town of Leavenworth):

See that pass on the left side of Dragontail Peak? That’s Aasgard Pass, and we have to hike up that thing in order to get to the Enchantments in September. JK could probably run up it right now if he wanted to; I have yet to see him winded on a hike. I, on the other hand, will have to devise some sort of evil, rigorous training plan in order to even entertain the thought of making it to the top (with energy to spare to explore the Enchantments and, horror of horrors, get back down again – all without coughing up a lung).

(By the way, the reason this hike was snow-free (even though it is over 2,000 feet higher than where we went last weekend) is because it is located on the magical, happy, sunny eastern side of the Cascades. But since they also have rattlesnakes and ticks galore, so I would rather live here on the we(s)tside.)

Nothing more exciting to share. I’ve been feeling under the weather and what was left of my scrapbooking mojo has disappeared. Methinks a trip to Norway without access to paper, photos or glue might be just what I need…