Well our hiking season up here in Washington State goes on year round...we just switch to different modes of travel as the snow gets deeper.

Here are some images from our hike yesterday.  My son Travis and I hiked into the ice caves at Big Four Mountain.  That's located in the North Central Cascade Mountains, about 15 miles east of a little town called Granite Falls.  I feel very fortunate that the travel time from my driveway to the trail-head is just about 1 hour.  We picked a great weather window because there had been a hail storm the night before but it was clear (cold and foggy) in the morning.  As we drove up into the mountains the sun started to burn through revealing bright blue skies and puffy white clouds...We were sportin' our sunglasses, just like a trip to the beach.  Then by the time were hiking out the heavy gray clouds were marching back in between the craggy mountain peaks.  The cheerful mood of the mountain was changing...

The Big Four Ice Caves are a wonder.  Some years almost non-existent, some years speculator!  Every year a little different.  This year - Fabulous.  I hope you can get a sense of the scale of the cave when you see that image I took from a distance.  That little speck of a hiker is Travis approaching the mouth of the beast.  WOW.

Well that's it for now.  Thanks again for the great podcasts.  Take care, Kat