Conquered Cougar Mountain

Awhile ago, I bought a great hiking book for trails in the Central Cascades and on Saturday, Joe and I decided to give one a shot. Due to a little bit of a late start, we opted for a quicker, closer hike on Cougar Mountain. After a couple miles uphill hiking, seeking the peak of Cougar Mountain, we finally made it to the end of our hike.

The end was in the middle of the woods. With a bench. And a journal. That's it. No viewpoint. No waterfall. No cliffside. A bench.

BUT, I'll admit, it was still a great hike - a little cardio mixed in with the great outdoors. I think the best part was actually reading the locked up journal where people write about their hiking experiences. As you can see, we were a little snarky because we expected a little more, but I'm sure we just wrote what everyone else was thinking.

We're working up to Mailbox Peak (I don't think Joe knows this yet). It looks beautiful and it's so cute they have an actual mailbox on the top. Don't you think?!

Us with the bench.