Hiking Table Mountain

Bagley Lakes and Artist Ridge are great hikes for kids. With beautiful views and little to no elevation, kids can run free and parents feel like they've gotten the new perspective they needed. After conquering the easier hikes, we decided it was time to challenge ourselves. Table Mountain (below) doesn't seem too intimidating when you see it from Bagley Lakes. Butletmetellyou, it was a challenge! The perfect challenge. It's 3 miles round trip with cliffs and drop offs the entire way up.

We basically climbed steep switch backs 560 feet up the face of that rock mountain behind Dan in the picture below.

The views of Shuksan were incredible. You can see the parking lot with the "toy cars" as the boys like to say.

The views of Baker were even more majestic.

Elijah was amazed at all the trees growing out of the sides of rocks.

So much stone!!

 We got to the top and it's completely flat. One gigantic rock playground with cliffs all around. You could see Baker, Glacier Peak and even the top of Mount Rainier!  We all just looked around for a while saying "wow!". Being up so high, surrounded by such huge mountains makes you feel pretty small, but in a good way.

There were thousands of flat rocks. It was fun to look around and see the various cairns created by other hikers.

The boys decided to make one of their own.

On the way up, another hiking family gave us some bubbles and Elijah put them to use.

You really cannot beat playtime in the mountains.

On our decent, we took a break while Elijah did some rock climbing. He's really found a passion and he's good at it, too!

Coming down is just as glorious as going up. The challenges are slipping on loose rock, so lots of opportunities to fall off the edge, yikes!! BUT, with the sun setting, it was a glorious time to take things slow and enjoy the views.

As a parent, you take great joy in watching your children learn new skills. I want my boys to be challenged, to try new things and to have confidence and not be afraid. It was amazing to see my boys push themselves. They felt so proud to make it to the top and to literally see the fruits of their labor. I also love that they love being with us, exploring the world and trying new things. 

One more thing: we met a photographer on the top on the mountain and he offered to take a family photo. I think this sums up our life in Bellingham!