A solo day trip to the north cascades (two hikes, one day ¿¿)

It's definitely a slightly moodier morning than I was expecting, but it's adding to the dramaticism of the landscape, so I'm all here for it. It is meant to clear up later though, which is why I'm here this weekend. This was originally going to be a camping trip. I was going to bring my parents and Minnie. I had it fully fitted out with like a makeshift bed in the back. I was going to come up here and make a weekend out of it, but I woke up this morning at 4 a.m. ready to rumble so i figured my stuff was all together i'm just making kind of a longer day trip so here we are the hike i'm doing is one of the most if not the most popular hike in the entire park which is also why i figured i'd take advantage of the 4am wake up this morning figured i'd get here early get a head start and it's seven or eight years since i've been up crazy how time flies so i also thought i'd make the full day out of it work my way back slowly stop all the viewpoints maybe go to Winthrop because i've actually never been to Winthrop which feels a bit blasphemous as a washington local but what can you say i really wanted to make it out i really wanted to make it up here throughout the summer because it's just kind of a part of Washington much of but with the wildfires this year and all the smoke it just never was quite a good time to come up so it was meant to be nice this weekend figured here we are and i'm getting really close to the trailhead i'm only about like fifteen so i'll get a park make a slower start and see where the day takes me it was full at 7 40 in the morning so I parked at another trailhead and put on some heavier layers because my car said it was 35 degrees which is like one or two degrees Celsius so literally freezing really starting to feel like autumn I whipped out the gloves we're ready to go it's already so beautiful though even just walking across the street to get to the proper trailhead you could see the fresh dusting of snow in the mountains which is making me very excited for winter I know I'm going to shed these layers immediately but as of right now it's cold so I'm glad I have them I wish I was in that but viewpoint one clouds are definitely starting to lift a little a little I didn't say a lot snowing first snowfall of this season for me at least and let me tell you solid core yesterday was out of boots and I can definitely feel it but I'm trying to take it at a little bit slower pace than I normally would just because I want the clouds to kind of burn off by the time I get to the main viewpoint and I think I'm not that far off so I might just sit chill for a little bit see if the clouds burn off this is why I brought my layers but it is absolutely beautiful it is like proper snowing now there are flurries I'm kind of you know I'm embracing it it's winter now guys Guys, September 25th, start of winter, apparently. Okay, so I've made it to the main elevation point and it's definitely wet. I don't know if you can tell by my hair, snowed quite a bit. So I quickly put on my layers to trap in my heat. However, I did make a mistake I am an ice water person through and through. So that's what I brought on the hike Don't really want to drink that right now. So I'm just not drinking any water and I have an electrolyte packet in the car So I'll drink that when I get back, but don't think ice water is in my trajectory for the day. I did not last very long before I got too cold and it has not cleared up. It might've gotten worse. There's no snow on my eyelashes, but heading all the way down, there's definitely a lot more people coming up now, so it's taking a little bit longer, but I'm kind of trying to go fast because I'm cold. The sun is out and the autumnal colors are here right at the very end of the trail. Well, actually I did it counterclockwise, So this is definitely like the start of the trail, but I did it in reverse. I suppose moral of the story today is that the early bird does not always get the worm, which is fine. I got a good workout in. It's still pretty early. And I think I'll get all my views in on the drive back home because it is one of the most scenic highways in all of Washington. But now that I'm back in the car, it is only like 11.20, I think. So still pretty early in the day. I managed to do the whole loop in about two hours and 45 minutes, I think, including breaks. but I need to chug my water I didn't have a single sip of this and I actually ended up not really drinking that much of my coffee this morning because by the time it was ready I accidentally made it too hot and then at that point I was ready to go and was kind of antsy to get started so might reheat that tomorrow but in the meantime gonna go head over to Mazama and maybe Winthrop to explore the towns a little bit maybe grab a coffee there because I still have kind of a full day ahead of me of driving and exploring but yeah I brought a cute cozy sweater and a change of pants so I'm gonna put these on so I'm not wearing my hiking dirty garb as I'm walking through the town but let's go Well, I'm running, I'm running like my hands on fire, and I don't tend to stop, and my legs grow tired, and yes, I'm stumbling, I'm stumbling on my peace of mind, and there's regret in my soul that I did nothing by, and I've died. Oh my goodness, what a day! This beautiful weather now, I'm having a hard time conceptualizing the fact that I was covered in snow less than two hours ago but i will take my wins where i can it is beautiful outside i was kind of thinking i was going to get lunch or like a snack in winthrop but i ended up just walking around and was not super hungry probably because of the whole milk latte that I just had but walked around for like an hour and I'm now just starting to head back so I'm going to do all the scenic stops I do have my sandwich that I had packed for myself for the hike so I'll probably stop and eat that at some point but time to go see some scenery and this fake looking blue sky day I still cannot comprehend that this is the exact same day that I had this morning Because there is a place that I like to go and I don't care to listen to judge on my soul Please, oh, please don't let me go alone I'm not a secret and I do not intend to keep it I've decided to hike it again. So part two, good views, hopefully. I was driving down the highway and it is so clear and I have all my stuff. I'm up here anyways. I'm sore, but I'm not so sore that I can't do it So I figured why not might as well get full day out of it. I'm not gonna do the full loop I'm gonna go clockwise this time and just hike up to one of the first few points and then call it a day But the fit is back on and we're going back up. I know it's not white on white is the most impractical Hiking outfit, but do I care? No Okay I think I'm capping myself here. I've been hiking for like 55 minutes and went past the original viewpoint that I was just aiming for but capped myself at an hour. I was like I can't go past an hour. I do still have a full drive to do on the way home but this does not even look like the hike I did this morning. Totally different. It's beautiful. I'm happy I came back up and look that successful day time to keep hitting it actually no i'm gonna have some water first and some of my sandwich otherwise i'm probably gonna pass out just let us be let it be