“Do you want to do the Birthday Tour? We are going to bring Pedro.” Pedro was Sarah and Grant’s new pup, just adopted from Hawaii. Like very just adopted, like it had been in Hawaii the week before. It was Saturday, I was already three hours from home and needed to get back before work on Monday. Doing the birthday tour would mean at least an extra 5 hours of driving, on an already long driving weekend. But it was the Cascade classic Birthday Tour, and I hadn’t seen Grant and Sarah in a while, and I needed to meet Pedro.
So I headed out Saturday night ish to meet them at camp. I had brought some jello shots to share around the campfire, and to win cool points as the newcomer. The next morning was pretty early, setting up a shuttle for our route and trying to empty our bowels before starting, hoping not to have to carry out undesirable items.
The first ascent was still pretty shaded and icy when we started, which didn’t help the already disoriented Pedro. We were all slipping around a bit. It eventually softened up before we reached the first ridgeline.
Our first descent was spectacular, and Pedro thought so too. He sprinted down after all of us. We were a little concerned for his joints and how deep his legs were going into the snow. Thankfully, the Hawaiian Pup was able to adapt. We found a place to stop for charcrutski, and witnessed the largest avalanche I have seen, across the valley.
Pedro fell asleep while we were eating. When we started to make moves, he didn’t seem too excited to join. So Grant put him into his backpack and toured with him the rest of the up hill. The Birthday Tour is a very popular tour in the North Cascades and usually is only accessible and skiable for about a month, due to seasonal highway closures and snow melt. So there were a lot of people on the trail, who found Pedro in a backpack to be very cute.
Back at the shuttle, Pedro came to life again. Happy to see all of the Seattlites who had also come to do the tour. With the 13 mile bike ride Pedro had done a few days before and the tour that day, he was given the spa treatment the entire next week. I have seen Pedro many times since, he seems very happy to be in Grant and Sarah’s cabin in the woods, in the PNW.
for my friends who are moms 