TNAB started last week, but between house stuff and JK being swamped at work, we’ve decided to do our own alternative weeknight hikes for the time being. We save a lot of time by driving to Tiger Mountain instead of North Bend, so for now it’s back to good old Poo Poo Point and, for masochistic evenings, the Cable Line.

Since I hadn’t hiked in over a month, I was fully prepared to feel awful the whole way up, but I guess my walks on the Powerline Trail have kept me in reasonable shape. The trail was in its usual spring state of delightful muddiness, Rainier was hiding behind a wall of clouds and the sunset consisted of darkening shades of grey, but I was elated to be out on trail with my favorite guys again. An excellent alternative to TNAB, even though we missed out on the Blue Moon recovery beers at the Pour House. *frowny face*

When I first started hiking in the Cascades, I couldn’t fathom why some people hike the same trails over and over again. Our state is full of beautiful lakes and exciting peaks, why limit yourself?

Fast-forward a couple of years into my hiking career and here I am, hiking Noble Knob, Panorama Point and Skyline Ridge for the 134th time…and loving it. I’ve come to value the tradition of returning to my old favorites. It might be due to realizing that I will never be an adventurous peakbagger, or maybe the comfortable familiarity of my happy places just makes me feel, well, happy. (Most likely, I’m just so lazy that I prefer not having to do any research before hitting the trail.)

Anyhoo, without further ado, here are my favorite hikes of 2011 – lots of repeats, but all of them wonderful.

Washington favorites:

I remember the first half of the year as a blur of rain and repetitive Tiger Mountain jaunts, but once in a while the sun decided to grace us with her presence. Tom’s annual celebration of aging at Kendall Peak Lakes was a success as always, and towards the end of January he was kind enough to humor us common folk with a non-epic snowshoe to Lake Valhalla.

More rain, more Tiger Mountain, even more rain, and then April brought a fantabulous ski/snowshoe to McClure Rock that made me forgive Washington (for the time being). In June we once again spent my birthday weekend on Iron Peak. Booze and cupcakes for all (except for Wellie, who was stuck in the cone of shame [and who probably shouldn't have booze or cupcakes anyway])!

Look, a Tiger Mountain hike made it onto the favorites list! Poo Poo Point was the perfect place to celebrate the summer solstice. The following weekend we returned to the Teanaway to summit Bean Peak and thought summer had arrived for sure.

In July we were pleasantly surprised by the charming Goat Lake trail and took our first alpine lake swim of the season – Wellie too! The most unique sunset of the year happened below us on a night hike of good old Bandera Mountain.

Late July and early August brought so much sadness, and the hikes we went on helped keep me going during that period. The day after the attacks in Oslo, we carried the Norwegian flag to the Thorp Mountain Lookout. After returning from Norway in August, we said our final goodbyes to JK’s dad on Noble Knob.

We kept the hiking therapy going on a relaxing swimming trip to Lake Valhalla and a much-needed night under the stars on Skyline Divide – a new trail for us but one we’re definitely adding to our repeat list.

My favorite hike of the year was my solo backpacking trip on part of the Wonderland Trail in September – it was a great confidence-builder, and I had time for lots of soul-searching about what I hope to achieve and experience in my life. Later that month, Dani and Tom took us on one of their repeat favorites, Hidden Lake Lookout.

In spite of (because of?) all my soul-searching, Josie and Karen had to come dig me out of my little depression hole with the promise of beer and rafting at Snow Lake. Still not feeling quite human, I decided not to join them on the Grand Enchantments Larch Expedition, but I got my own golden tree fix (along with the rest of the Washington hiking population) at Ingalls Lake in October.

In November JK and I took our Norwegian guests to Panorama Point to show off our magic volcano before finishing our hiking year off quite nicely in December with a Christmas cross-country ski trip to Chinook Pass.

Out of state favorites:

Aah, our trip with friends to Hawai’i in February could not have come at a better time. We left Seattle in a snowstorm and spent 12 glorious days on Maui, snorkeling with turtles and drinking mai tais. We had time for some hiking as well, most notably the Sliding Sands Trail on Haleakala and the mystical bamboo forest on the Pipiwai Trail. How did I never blog about this??

In May we flew back to Norway to attend my best friend’s wedding. We added some adventure to the trip by traveling up north to Lofoten to hike and camp. The weather was absolute shite and I was pretty miserable with a sinus infection, but I still have fond memories of sleeping in a tent on Bunes Beach in the howling rain.

Our September trip to Santa Barbara brought more sunshine, and even though it can barely be called a hike, I loved visiting Anacapa Island in Channel Islands National Park. I notice I haven’t blogged about these trips either, because I suck.

After a couple of years away from red rock canyon country, in October Josie and I returned to the southwest for Karen’s epic surprise birthday trip. It’s hard to pick my favorites from this vacation, but I’ll go for the freezing hike through the Zion Narrows and the otherworldly sightseeing in White Pocket. Have I blogged about either of these? No, of course not. I’ll post 17 trip reports of rainy runs in the Issaquah Alps, but nary a word about the most beautiful places I have ever seen. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!

JK’s non-Ingunn favorites:

I know, that’s preposterous, right? While I would like to think that any trip without me would contain only hardship and misery for JK, he claims to have enjoyed his disgustingly sunny ski tour in the Baker backcountry and his solo ascent of Reinebringen in Lofoten. Sure, whatever you say, JK.

There you have it, another year of adventures big and small, old and new. Time to delve into 2012!

A while ago, I came across a video clip about baby language and immediately forwarded it to Carlos and Deb. The theory is that “across cultures and linguistic groups there are five sounds, each with a meaning, that are used by infants before the language acquisition period.”* As it turns out, Nathan is fluent!

Carlos invited me to join him and the little talker for a hike where I could see (well, hear) it for myself. It really is incredible, hearing that seemingly helpless little human tell us exactly what he needs. “Neh” (feed me) and “eh” (burp me) in particular are unmistakable.

As for the hike, I had never been to Wallace Falls before and I was surprised by how lush and pretty the forest was, but this is one of those hikes I’ll remember for the company and the conversation (including all the nehs and ehs), not for the views. Thanks for a most excellent afternoon, Brazilian menfolk!

*Wikipedia article on Dunstan Baby Language

…but wait, Norwegians don’t give a rat’s ass about handegg, so JK and I took advantage of the fact that most people would be glued to their TVs and went to a place that would usually be chock full of people on a sunny(ish) Sunday – Paradise. Aaah!

Ok, so it was still crowded, because Paradise on a weekend is always crowded…and for good reason. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve hiked up there, but we just never get sick of it.

Once again it hit the spot; it was the perfect short hike to loosen up my legs which were still magnificently sore from Friday’s run and Saturday’s cross-country ski trip.

We had a picnic (stroopwafels and a Subway sandwich – I needed a banana pepper fix) on Panorama Point before skiing/glissading back down the hill. JK impressed me by staying upright on the icy crust (while I got borderline frostnipped butt cheeks).

It was nothing new, nothing adventurous, just another beautiful day with my favorite person in one of my happy places.

As we drove back down the winding road, mindful of errant foxes and slick patches of ice, Mount Rainier kept changing color.

We arrived at Longmire just in time to run out of the car and admire the pink alpenglow. The perfect end to the best weekend of 2012 (well, so far anyway). There’s nothing better than feeling exhausted but relaxed and content.

(Yay, I finally learned how to do fun things with our GPS tracks – thank you for the tutorial!)

(Yes, there’s an infant swaddled safely somewhere inside that grey blob.)

Given all the trail miles he had logged in utero, at ten weeks old it was high time Nathan went on his first snowshoe. Until he can walk on his own (and use these amazing Snowpaw Snowshoes), he’ll get free rides with his parents, marsupial-style.

Carlos and Deborah had the perfect destination in mind – the Grand Junction Warming Hut, part of the Snoqualmie Nordic trail system. We hiked from Silver Fir, past Hyak Lake, over the river and through the woods to the hut.

Perfect destination indeed. The hut was heated by a wood-burning stove which allowed Nathan to escape from his snuggly cocoon for all his feeding and changing needs.

This was at the tail end of the Snowpocalypse, but the little nugget slept through the whole trek though the snowstorm. At the hut, he wasn’t fussy at all – but then again he is the most laid-back baby of all time. He just sat there wide-eyed and cooing while JK and I perfected our baby-sniffing technique.

Once Nathan was bundled back up in his adorable snowsuit, we ventured out into the deep powder (I know, deep powder in the Cascades…whaaaa?) and retraced our steps back to the Silver Fir parking lot. An excellent outing for children big and small!