When to Go.

So, one of my Type A daughters, Corinne, is enviously reading these posts and is trying to figure out how to work it into her schedule.  You see, she's graduating from Carnegie-Mellon University in May and is one of the lucky graduates that have a job lined up.  However, before she joins the rat race, she wants to see the world (some more).  She's scheduled a trip to Scandanavia and Scotland for the month after her graduation, returns home for a month, then is planning on travelling with Gail and Valerie to Italy and other European destinations this summer.  She talked her new employer into not letting her start until August so that she can have her cake and eat it too! 

She'd like to come with me, however, it only fits into her schedule if we go during the first half of July.  I'm a bit nervous about hiking at that elevation that early in the summer because there is still snow at many of those elevations, making life a bit more challenging.  Two of the ranger stations along the route, Mowich Lake and Sunrise, don't open until the beginning of July.  If this year is any measure, it's been a pretty wet spring, particularly in the mountains. 

So, I need to do some more investigation, for although I'd love to spend a couple of weeks with my daughter, I also would hate for it to end up in a helicopter rescue from a freak spring snowstorm. 

(Note, for those of you who are not used to a Mountain climate, July may seem pretty late for spring to arrive.  The flora and fauna up in the mountains are used to a flurry of activity virtually as soon as they detect sunlight.  I would strongly suggest that you put a trip to a mountain meadow on one of your summer trips, the floral display at times is stunning.)