Rouse Family Adventures

The first day's ride was from rattlesnake lake trailhead out of North Bend to a campground in Eaton just off of I-90.  We biked uphill on an old railroad grade until we were knackered, finally ready to stop... it turned out we were actually already at the top of Snoqualmie Pass.  At this point there is an old railway tunnel two miles long.  Complete darkness and temps in the 40's, its safe to say we "couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel"! Snoqualmie Tunnel Time  Brandon and The Girl gearing up We grabbed the first hiker/biker walk-in site, which are first-come-first served and not reserve-able ahead of time, they're just our style!  Our base camp was setup at Eaton Campground by early afternoon and Annabelle played in the tent like a big enclosed playpen, jumping on air mattresses, and such.   Annabelle is working on a bouldering project Just checking out the accommodations   The highlight of our day was a random bathroom trip -where we ran into Ann

On May 8 th , we celebrated Annabelle’s Birthday by getting her jacked up on her first carrot-cake cupcake. Turns out babies like cake. My parents were visiting from Wisconsin and agreed to watch her for the night so Brandon and I could have our first baby free adventure together since she was born. Since we both have only skied a handful of times…  we thought Mount Baker would be an appropriate objective. " I'm ready to get jacked on cupcakes guys!" Baby Free is the way to ski!!!  We headed out to Baker Lake road super stoked –and with a van stocked with some beers, a tub of ice cream and a bunch of other technical crap we thought we might need. We were surprised to run into snow right away and parked at 2,800 feet. We knew it was going to be a long haul.  When the alarm went off at 2 am we second guessed our decision not to go to a spa, or out to eat, or stay at a fancy hotel, or really do anything else. None the less, we got up and were moving by 2:45 am and started sl

Welcome to Washington Ass   Pass Since 2013, Brandon has always wanted to ride highway 20 before it is opened to traffic- but somehow we've never done it.  It's the weekend before highway 20 opens up to traffic-the weather looks amazing and four of our friends are riding - it's time to make it happen.  As we left the Ross Lake Dam gate, Brandon looked like a total bad ass hauling the baby trailer up and we ticked the miles surprisingly with ease. We sleighed the elevation gain and got to Washington Pass- descended the hairpin and dragged the bikes a cross a slide that still needed to be cleared. We road back up to Washington Pass and enjoyed the good vibes as other bicyclists reached the pinnacle of their journey. Since there was no traffic we let Annabelle run around and play naked on the double yellow lines in the middle of the road. She was quite the greeter as people made it to the Pass.  All smiles at the top  Avalanche debris won't stop this trailer The ride back

Expedition Ready Baby   You can still back country ski with a baby. Annabelle is fully outfitted for baby winter expeditions in a  Patagonia puffy onesie-souped up by her engineer Dad. Her outfit is heated with the innards of a mini electric blanket which connects to an external battery pack-providing three levels of heat all day long. Just plug in the baby and go.   Picking destinations is sometimes a challenge- you want green runs that are mostly a slog, and pretty much undesirable to anyone really wanting to ski.  Circumnavigating Table Mountain turned out to be a perfect spring baby skiing choice.  The day started out with an excellent run off the back side of Herman's Saddle. Brandon's hoots, closely followed by Annabelle's hoots echoed throughout the valley.  As we trudged on around Table Mountain towards iceberg lake we lost some visibly. I took the lead traveling by sense of smell so Brandon and the girl could use me as a canary in the coal mine for any weird terrai