This has been such a fun year to watch the wild rabbits that live in our neighborhood. As I sit in the living room with the windows open while reading a book, I occasionally will hear the sneeze of a bunny. That is my cue to grab my camera that is handy and head out the front.  Carefully I locate the rabbit, adjust my camera settings and determine where I would like the light to fall.  Sometimes I have a choice and sometimes not.  Then without looking at the rabbit I make my way to the plants. Slowly I sink to the ground, carefully laying on my stomach and take a few shots of the rabbit. Army crawling ever closer at a snails pace, I will continue to snap a few photos.  Sometimes I can get within 3 feet of them, often times they turn tail and run. It has become my summer challenge.  

This maybe my favorite hike along the Mount Baker Highway.  After quickly ascending through dense forests you come to the top of the ridge. As I hike along the top I can understand the name "Skyline Divide" since it divides on drainage from the other with unlimited 360 degree views and the dominate Mount Baker.  Early in the season being July, we encountered snow along the trail both within the shadowy forest and along the upper portions of the trail. My dream is to hike this trail and make camp so that I can photograph the sunset and Mount Baker in pink and orange light, then to see the stars above, and of course the early morning sunrise as well.  That is still a dream. Yet on this hike we accomplished something else that I've wanted to do for a long time as well: hike as far along the trail as possible, or at least as far as I can go.  When we arrived at the ridge line the trail goes both north and south. I haven't hiked the northern portion yet and usually head south. This was the direction we went this time as well. Mount Baker is such a dominate and majestic feature of this hike as well as a challenging destination that I am drawn towards that direction each time. We passed the knoll that provides a great view and skirted the side of it always hiking towards the mountain.  We climbed up to another ridge and continued along that ridge line as well. There were perfect little campsite hidden among the bushes and trees that were so inviting that we stopped at one for lunch.  We continued for another few miles after and were passed by a runner.  I was putting forth effort to make it this far and he blew passed me as if he hadn't even broken a sweat yet. We continued farther than the trail was indicated on the map and I was happy.  We may haven been able to go further but I knew we had the return trip to do as well.  For me going up is easier on my knees then the descent and so I choose my hikes carefully for that reason. This hike though mostly flat once on top of the ridge, there is still a couple of miles of down hill.  Still the views are outstanding and though we were too early for many of the wild flowers there were still some.  These two reasons why this hike is so popular and why I try to go at least once a year.