02.22 Squawk Mountain

What was planned was a day of snowshoeing in the 30-degree sunshine around a pristine mountain lake, Gold Pond for 10 in our family.

What happened was completely different. As the date drew near it was obvious that Mother Nature had plans of 42 and raining up at Snoqualmie. Plan B and my weather shield was put into place.  An easy 1 mile, 50' elevation gain walk around Squawk Mountain State Park and brunch at the nearby Issaquah Cafe.

Even plan B didn't turn out exactly as we thought. The 4 brave souls started to walk the muddy and damp trail but no rain. We soon learned there was a trail race which meant we shared the day with a few runners. Not really a big deal.  As we walked began to realize we were going up a lot more than 50'. That was fine we were soaking up good energy of the forest and our Parkinson's family. Long the way we see a family on horseback that lives on the edge of the forest, take another trail up the hillside.

We kept going, following Google GPS of the trail, crossing a forest road a couple time helped keep our bearing and taking what we assumed (we all know what that gets us) was the flattest route. At about 2 miles nearing the top of our unexpected climb. we stopped and discussed whether we turn around our stick it out. In the midst of that discussion what comes running down the trail is NOT an athlete in spandex but a riderless horse! We dodge to the side of the trail and the horse passes us at a trot. The adorable Moxy barks and the horse picks up into a full gallop as we watch him go down the switchbacks we had just come up. A minute later a lone guy in jeans and a t-shirt comes running down the hill calling for the horse and asking if we'd seen the trusty steed? We continued up the trail and about 10 minutes later comes along his wife with 2 children, 2 dogs and a chainsaw asking if we'd seen her husband and a horse. We let her know that horse was probably back at the stable by now and there was no way her husband was catching him. Soon after we got to the forest road starting the decent of our 800'-foot climb. Right when my rain shield failed. At least we had gravity on our side. Finishing our 4+ mile, 3-hour trek, wet and ready for brunch. Arriving at Issaquah Cafe 5 minutes before the 3pm closing.

We had a great breakfast and relived the day's adventure. The day taught us we could handle the unexpected and accomplish more than we thought could. While making friends and dopamine. Being stronger together.