Lake 22 Hike, May 2013

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Rick Freeman

Lake 22
Date: May 19, 2013
Difficulty: 3 out of 10
Distance: 5.4 Miles / 8.7 Kilometers Roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 1,500 feet / 457 meters
Time: 3 to 4 hours
Location: Verlot, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Leashed Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Wet to Snowpacked
Hiking With: Rick Massie, Jacky Cao, Linna Freeman & Macho the Wonder Dog.

I hardly ever do the same hike back to back, but we had a good friend from China that we wanted to share this beautiful hike with.

: Massie and Cao

: Group Shot

: My Calorie Burn

Lake 22 Hike, April 2013

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Rick Freeman

Lake 22
Date: April 27, 2013
Difficulty: 3 out of 10
Distance: 5.4 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 1,500 feet / 457 meters
Time: 3 to 4 hours
Location: Verlot, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Leashed Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Wet to Snowpacked
Hiking With: Linna Freeman and my fearless dog Macho

: Panoramic Shot

: Rainy Hike

: Linna Wei

: In Awe

: Freeman Break

: Rick Freeman

I forgot to bring the Nikon camera and we just had the iPhone which didn’t give this beautiful lake justice. This was my first time on this trail and I will be back on a sunny day with a real camera to capture the real beauty of Lake 22.

Most of my hikes this year have been in rain…and this hike like many others I want to make sure I hike them on a summer day; especially when the snow has melted off this lake and trail. More to come….

Denny Creek Snowshoe, January 2013

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Rick Freeman

Denny Creek Trail
Date: January 26, 2013
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 9 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 2,300 ft
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: I-90 exit 47
Users Group: Hikers & Leashed Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Packed Snow to 8″ to 12″ Of New Snow
Hiking with: Linna Wei (wife) & Macho (dog)

: Rick Freeman

: Linna Wei

: Beautiful

: Rick Freeman

: Calorie Burn

: Korean Dishes

Linna Wei (wife) and I decided that we needed to get our overly active dog Macho out for some serious exercise and taking him out in the snow will wear the overbearing terror out every time. We had a late start today so we didnâ€™t make it up to Melakwa Lake, but our objective today was to get out of the house, exercise Macho and do some snowshoeing…goal accomplished.

On the way back home (Seattle), we stopped at Blue Ginger in Bellevue for some hot Korean soup. When I am with my wife we usually will stop at a Korean or Chinese restaurant after hiking or snowshoeing, but when I am with my homeboys we normally hit the North Bend Bar and Grill in North Bend, Washington.

Chile Trip, December 2012

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Rick Freeman

After my summit bid on Aconcagua in Argentina, I met up with my wife Linna Wei in Santiago, Chile for another nine days. The weather was sunny and warm…near perfect for me; oppisite of what Seattle was getting, rain and cold. We stayed in Santiago for three days visiting the various neighborhoods and dinner spots before driving down south to Santa Cruz and northwest to Valparaiso.

Our first night out we hit a fabulous dinner spot in the Providencia neighborhood in Santiago, called Astrid & Gaston www.astridygaston.com serving up delicious Peruvian entrees. We found ourselves heading back to the Providencia and the Bellavista areas for lunches and dinners during our stay in Santiago.

Everyone knows that Chile is filled with wineries and we chose the Colchagua Valley south of Santiago for a little wine tasting. We stayed in Santa Cruz, a couple of hours south of Santiago…the epic center of Chile’s winemaking. Between wine tasting, I totally recommend visiting the local museum in town, Museo Colchagua www.museocolchagua.cl.. This museum is small in area, but is so equal in quality and history to any large museum.

A few minutes outside of Santa Cruz is Viu Manent www.viumanent.cl. winery known for their reds…Malbec’s, Cabernet’s and Carmenere’s. Don’t be surprised if you buy wine at the winery or somewhere in Chile and you find it selling cheaper in the states, this is because of taxes are higher in Chile.

We finished our trip in the colorful seaport town of Valparaiso. Like many others, we enjoyed Valparaiso more so than Santiago. We stayed in a lovely 1870 hotel mansion influenced by European architecture called Gervasoni www.hotelgervasoni.com., our room had a panoramic view of the gulf. Gervasoni is located in the concepcion area, filled with city’s best cafes and restaurants. Just a block away from our hotel is La Concepcion www.valparaisochile.cl/laconcepcion.htm. long regarded as one of the best restaurants in Valparaiso with superb service, views and great local cuisine.

Beware of dog shit through-out Santiago and Valparaiso…there are hundreds of stray dogs that clutter the streets and sidewalks; many of these dogs could be potentially roaming around with rabies.

: Rick Freeman

: Linna Wei

: Tapping the Tank

: Happy Freeman

: Dining at La Concepcion

: Linna’s New Earrings

: Wine Tasting

: Linna Wei

: Hotel Gervasoni

: Virgin Freeman

: Santiago, Chile

: Pussy Graffiti

: Graffiti Art

: Graffiti Everywhere

: Rick Freeman

: Freeman Graffiti

: Local Cafe

: Carriage Ride

Mt. Si Hike, February 2012

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Rick Freeman

Mt. Si
Date: February 11, 2012
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 8 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,400 Feet
Time: 3 to 4 hours
Location: Near North Bend, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Wet to packed snow on top
Hiking with: Rick Massie, Andrew Whitford & my wonder dog Macho

: Andrew Whitford

: Andrew Whitford

: Korea BBQ

I and two other co-workers, Rick Massie and Andrew Whitford from Ipswich, UK decided to hike Mt. Si. It really didnâ€™t matter what hike or peak we chose, there wasnâ€™t going to be a view due to the soupy cloud cover. We met at our usual spot in North Bend, Washington and then headed to the trailhead. As we all know, Mt. Si can be quite busy on weekends, butâ€¦.it wasnâ€™t so bad this morning. I parked in my usual spot near the service entrance and we got geared up.

For February, it was actually not so cold; I just wore a dri-fit shirt to the top. Near the summit it started to snow, but only for 10 minutes. This was Andyâ€™s first Northwest hike and I think he was exhilarated by all the spiraling trees, ferns and moss. At the top I boiled up some water for some instant Starbuckâ€™s coffee, the hot coffee reduced the wet chill in our bodies.

At the end of the decent, I gave Macho the wonder dog a bath in the creek near the trailhead. After getting out of our wet gear, we met with my wife Linna Wei at Blue Ginger in Bellevue, Washington for some Korean barbeque.

Church Mountain Hike, June 2011

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Rick Freeman

Church Mountain
Date: June 4, 2011
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8.5 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,750 feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near Glacier, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: No Permits Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to Packed Snow
Hiking With: Linna Freeman & my dog Macho

: Moss Covered Trees

: Linna Wei

: Macho Man

: Mt. Baker

My wife Linna and I spent the weekend in Glacier, Washington….the last town on highway 542; the highway ends at the Mt. Baker Ski Resort. We decided to hike up Church Mountain on a beautiful Saturday morning, it was close to Glacier and close to where we were staying. We had to drive 2 1/2 miles on Forest Road 3040 to reach the trailhead. Looks like they just installed a new bathroom this year, which means this trail gets busy, but…even though it was a warm sunny weekend, we were the only ones there. If this trail was near Seattle, it would have been packed.

As we got started, there were posted bear warnings….hmmm, at this moment I was thinking it would have been nice to have my .45 Kimber on me. The trails starts off on a 1/2 mile gradual grade on a nice wide trail enough to fit 3 or 4 people wide. Soon after that 1/2 mile the trail narrows and it gets much steeper. Even though it was steep, the trail is quite nice to hike on….no rocks or tree roots to worry about.

The higher we got the older the trees were, it was very sunny so I appreciated the old growth canopy to protect my old skin. Every once in awhile you could see the North Fork Nooksack River….which was roaring with the June snowmelt. Most of the trail is on the Southern slope, which is why there wasn’t any snow; as soon as we traversed around the mountain heading North…we hit snow and a lot of it. We lost the trail and we decided to head up the mountain making our own tracks. The problem was the deep snow and I left my trail map in the car. We finally turned around 4,600 feet and called it a day. We knew we missed the beautiful view that was waiting for us at the top.