Hiking down Crystal Mountain

The view of Mt. Rainier looming over us in Maple Valley never gets old. Seriously. We have been here for almost two months now and I just can't get over how majestic it is as the backdrop of this beautiful, green place.

Before we left for my sister's wedding, we were on a quest to get closer to its gloriousness; we had heard about the gondola ride on Crystal Mountain so we thought we would give it a try.

It's a little pricey in my opinion, $22 for adults and $12 for children 4 and over, but it was well worth the hike down. They allow dogs to come along too, which is awesome!

We packed up a backpack with snacks, sandwiches, 4 large water containers and some treats to entice the kids to keep trekking on the 6-mile downhill trek...

Pretty amazing and so fun! In the winter, the mountains are actually ski runs, so there are tons of trails down. However, the gondola is the only line that functions in the summer.

Whooooaaaa...it's a long way down!

Up, up and away.

And then BOOM shakalaka. That's what you see at the top. This view, I tell ya, is so amazing. The mountain ranges that surround Mt. Rainier are pretty awesome too.

I could literally stare out at this mountain for days and days. I seriously don't understand why I'm obsessed.

Apparently it was bright up there.

Dis goober.

Love these boys and their adventurous hearts. It makes living here that much more fun.

Hi Adrian's thumb in the corner.

So now this was the hike we were about to embark on.We took the Suiceway trail down to the srevice road. I'll get to that.

Okay, so I'm a bit of a control freak. I'm also prone to a little anxiety and overreaction. So perhaps when Adrian suggested we scale the side of a rocky, slippery mountain to hike down, I'm sure you're shocked to hear that I wanted to stick my heels in the dirt and say uh uh, nope. Not doing it. But then of course, Gabriel starts to feed off of my fear and decides he's too scared to go.

So we trekked on. We held hands and the backs of shirts and however scared we both were, we walked. And they both did awesome! They were major troopers.

And the view didn't hurt...at all.

Jonas struggled early on and so -- I'm not proud of this -- we bribed him with packets of fruit snacks all the way down. Hey, you have to do what you have to do!

Gabriel needed no encouragement though.

After you wind down the side of one mountain, you get to one of the off-season lifts before you set onto the service road. It's the perfect place for a meal before you do the 4 miles or so that is left.

Cheesy, cheeseball!

Let's just say we took a lot of breaks like this in the shade. This was a pretty sunny hike with only brief moments of tree cover depending on which direction you were walking.

The kids loved that we kept crossing over this stream as we walked down the mountain and of course Bella liked to jump in every time.

More resting...resting...

Gabriel said that we were training for Mt. Rainier with this hike. I told him I thought we probably have a bit more training to do.

Getting closer to the bottom!! The kids at this point were...ready. I have to say, I was so impressed that they were able to go 6 miles, even if it was downhill.

Straight flexin' at the bottom of the hill and pumped to be DONE.

And of course, since Jonas was sulking during the flex pose, and he is not one to be left out -- we had to take one for him too.

And that was that! Our next adventure will be to Pete Lake, where we are planning to do a 3-mile hike into camp for two nights. The boys are excited about the idea and of course, Bella will join us too!