It's been 90+ degrees since Friday around here... Saturday morning I woke up to a beautiful day and decided a hike was the only responsible way to spend it. With a bit of a late start, Matt Hessler and I hit the road around 10:30, heading north of Olympia, east of Seattle, and east of Snoqualmie pass to Rampart Ridge trail - about a 2-hour drive from Olympia. I haven't done any hiking past Snoqualmie pass, so it was cool to be in new territory.

There were two downers: 1) was that there was broken car window glass in every parking space at the trailhead, because someone had recently busted into everyone's cars while they were off enjoying a beautiful dayhike... and 2) because there was still a lot of snow and it was hard to find the trail at times. I was a bit nervous leaving the car there and also unsure of how far we'd make it through the snow. The trail was great - it followed a creek with waterfalls every few hundred yards. If we couldn't find the trail we just stayed near the creek.

Matt and I both made it across this shaky log... probably against better judgment.
With tons of snow this past winter and the hot days recently, there were quite a few waterfalls on the hillsides surrounding us.
Matt documented me doing a face-plant on this log... which transitioned into a nap... or a coma?Nice views from the valley we were following...

The height of wildflower season is still to come... but there were a few coming out...

We ended up only being able to go about 3 miles in since we lost the trail... Rachel Lake was our intended destination (about 4 miles in). It was a great time anyways...