I figure I would try something new. On Thursdays, since it is "Throw Back Thursday" I thought it would be cool to reminisce on some old posts that used to be on our (me and hubby's) old web site "hanks-hikes.com". It was discontinued when we had our first child and after we moved to the East coast. We just didn't have the time and didn't want to continue paying for the domain.

So, now that I have this blog and a portion of it has to do with hiking, I will be adding many of those posts here on Thursday's. It would be a waste to leave these cool hikes just in files on our computer, and better for the world to see and share so many amazing places we have been.

The first one, I would like to share is of the Proposal. It's pretty special as it was the backpacking trip where Hubby proposed to me. It was 7 years ago this week. These posts are written by Hubby. I guess you can say he will be the guest writer of my blog on Thursdays. Enjoy! :)

Enchantments Proposal, July 7th weekend, 2007

I obviously wanted my proposal to Sharon to be a special. So, I needed the right setting. The Enchantments seemed perfect. This was the location of our first backpacking trip together, and it is probably the best place to hike/backpack in the state of Washington, offering solitude and beautiful vistas around every corner. What a great place to share such a special moment.

This is the view across Colchuck Lake towards Aasgard Pass from our first campsite. The pass is the route we took up to the Enchantments.

The view back towards Colchuck Lake as we are ascending the pass. The pass is very steep and we were carrying alot of weight (unbeknownest to Sharon, I had hidden a bottle of champagne in my pack), so we went up slowly.

After crossing over the pass, we set up camp in the upper region of the basin and set out for the summit of Little Annapurna. That's where I planned to propose. I was getting very excited!!! (This photo was actually taken the next morning and if you look carefully, you can see a bunch of goats just behind Sharon in the rocks.)

The hike up was on both rock and snow. We pulled out the ice axes for the snow sections. We had blue skies around us and as we went up, it became clear that we would have the summit to ourselves. Everything was coming together perfectly. :)

The summit of Little Annapurna is covered in these stonehedge-like rock formations. This is a view towards the highest point. I wasn't sure how I was going to get the ring out without Sharon noticing, so when got to the summit, I pretended to point towards Mt. Hood (even though I knew it was too far away to see) and asked Sharon if she could see it. While she searched in vain, I pulled out the ring and got down on a knee behind her. She was still looking! ;) I wanted her to turn around then, so I asked her to and poked her from behind. We were on the edge of a cliff, though, so she wanted to know why I was poking her and braced herself before finally agreeing to turn. That's when she saw! I told her how much I love her, how happy she makes me, how lucky I feel to have her in my life, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Then, I asked the question. She said yes immediately. :)

Our first picture together afterwards on the spot where I proposed. I am a lucky man!!!

Afterwards, we stayed on the summit a long time and just savored the moment. We had beautiful views in all directions and really couldn't have been happier. :)

When we got back to camp, I revealed why my pack was so heavy: a bottle of champagne. We put it on ice and enjoyed it that evening.

Perhaps it was a mixture of the champagne, elevation, and elation getting to me, but I swear Sharon had an angelic glow all evening. ;)

We awoke the next morning to the sounds of footsteps all around us. Looking outside the tent, we saw that we were surrounded by goats!

More goats. See if you can find all 10 in the picture. At one point our tent had more than 20 goats surrounding it.

After the goatfest, we set out downwards for our next camp. We made sure to enjoy the views along the way. This one is particularly special because it is the peak where I proposed.

And here is our camp. The Enchantments are filled with beautiful lakes. The rest of the trip was spent wandering around them and just enjoying ourselves as we made our way towards the Snow Lake exit.