Ms Frizzle to the Rescue (Winchester Mt)

I used to get all my hiking inspiration and information from a single book -- "100 Classic Hikes In Washington" by the late greats, Ira Spring and Harvey Manning. Things were so very different 26 years ago! I've marked off many of those 100 hikes, but when I went to Twin Lakes in 2017 we chose the High Pass Trail instead of the classic Winchester Mountain.

Of course I meant to return sooner, except that road is quite the deterrent. But when the idea to go back popped into my head out of the blue last week, my first thought was, "Ms Frizzle will be up for it."

Naming cars is a thing of mine, therefore that is the moniker I christened Heidi's giant yellow-ish Toyota FJ Cruiser as soon as we met, because it reminded me of the Magic School Bus. And I know Ms Frizzle had a blast on those last two miles to the Twin Lakes trailhead...I could almost hear her say, "I was made for this!"

I swear our color coordination was pure accident

We found the huge parking area much less full than I did last time, though still plenty of folks were there with cars that were definitely NOT made for it. 

I'm not going to give my usual "Things to Know" list, because besides that horrid road, there is not much to tell. Though maybe a word of warning that there are a couple of small sections of the 3.5 mile trail that might be problematic for those with a fear of heights.

Oh, there is one thing I found interesting that I will mention. When I was gazing down on the far away road leading up to Artist Point (it was cool to be able to see it so clearly) it suddenly occurred to me that this must be the lookout Adam and I were seeing shining like a beacon as we were finishing the Chain Lakes Loop a few weeks ago. When the shutters (not sure what else to call them?) are open and the sun is hitting the windows, it creates quite the floodlight! 

The really zoomed in pic I took from Artist Point 

I will leave you with my YouTube compilation of small video clips along with my trail blessing of happy "one more classic hike off the list" trails. 

My well loved book...it has missing pages because I ripped them out to use as maps! Things really have changed in the last decade

P.S. One more thing, if you want to know more about my hiking partner Mama Walker, she will be featured on an upcoming episode of the podcast ElkShape and she is also a contributor on the documentary series The Curious Case of the Doomsday Cat Cult  as well as the podcast series The Opportunist. She's kind of a big deal!