• 76 days of adventure (-16%)

  • 41 days of adventure with kids (53% +2%)

  • Treen 51 (-26%)

  • Henry 36 (no change)

  • Lilly 32 (+28%)

  • Clara 25 (-16%)

  • Amy 11 (no change)

• 375 miles (-9%)

• 127,000 feet of elevation gain (-21%)

Respectable, but certainly not record-breaking. (For the record, the record breaking took place in 2012.)

But forget about the stats and percentages and the fact that I track everything in a wicked awesome spreadsheet. Instead, let's talk about what we learned this year.

I learned that people love reading my advice about adventuring. Beats me why, but they do. The most popular posts all year were tips on Raising Backpackers, the East Side of Mount Rainier National Park, how to turn non-hikers into hikers, taking kids hiking after work, taking kids fishing, and how we're helping one of our junior adventurers come back from a gnarly injury suffered in... ballet.

I learned that Tubbs and TurboPup weren't one-shot wonders. Deuter took us on as family ambassadors and set us up with new packs all around. (You'll notice them in the pics starting about mid summer.)

And I learned that the kids and Amy don't necessarily think the adventures I prize are their favorites. I really don't get it, but here's their favorites. (I asked them each to pick one adventure and one photo.)

(These are thumbnails just like at the top of the page. Click them and you'll see the bigger version.)

Amy "I'm the Mom so I can pick as many photos as I want"

Favorite adventure: Boston and the Freedom Trail

Favorite photos:

Clara "I'm good at following directions"

Favorite adventure: Haystack Rock

Favorite photo:

Lilly "But I just can't decide!"

Favorite adventure: Boston and the Freedom Trail

Favorite photos:

Henry "I love the tutu!"

Favorite adventure: Boston and the Freedom Trail

Favorite photo:

Me "I'll do what I want"

Favorite adventures: Skyscraper Mountain and The Enchantments

Favorite photos:

So now that the family has had their say, here's how I thought the year went.

Our year started as they all do with a first-day hike. This year we put in the miles and drove to the Big Four Ice Caves. The kids have seen towering mountains and the pseudo-alpine plenty, but we brought the Kentucky cousins, too, and they were blown away. My job as Adventure Uncle appears to be done.

Throughout the Fall and early Winter I sported a fancy pink mountain tutu to raise awareness for breast cancer. This culminated in the Romp to Stomp at Steven's Pass. Unfortunately, that was the last Washington Romp, but you can bet you haven't seen the last of the tutu.

Winter pretty much sucked. I don't let my kids use such crass language, but it was really, really terrible. Luckily, we had a couple of winter-saving adventures.

Lilly, Henry, Treen, and I camped in the car at the Mount Baker ski area and snowshoed up to Artist Point in the morning. Even though there was literally no snow on our local ski area, there was a solid six feet at Artist Point.

When the road over Chinook Pass in Mount Rainier National Park opened (early, of course), Henry and I snowshoed around Naches Peak. As good as I thought it was along the back side my mind was blown when we turned the corner and Mount Rainier herself made an appearance. Plus the snow was glorious.

Our final real taste of winter was a short trip up into the Ramparts. We walked on lakes and saw the rolling meadows buried deep in snow like it was a real winter. (And yes, technically these last two were in Spring.)

Since one of the most important pieces of safety gear in the mountains is an ice axe and my kids are mountain kids I decided it was high time they learned the basics. And we had to hike to Lake Lillian to do it? Oh, the horror. BTW: It turns out all three kids are pretty good with my ice axe. Clara even claimed she wanted one for Christmas.

It's no secret that the mountains are my church. There's a really good reason I spend as many Sundays as I can there. As John Muir said, "I'd rather be in the mountains thinking of God, than in church thinking about the mountains." And with any religion there's faith. Sometimes it pays to have faith and watching the clouds clear on the summit of Mt. Defiance was one of those times.

Granite Mountain is almost always a great trip and it really started the Summer hiking season well. Blue skies and blooming flowers. Never mind it was supposed to still be buried in snow in June, it was still wonderful.

But sorry, Granite, not as good as trip to the flower show that is the Naches Peak Loop in Mount Rainier National Park. Wait. Didn't I already call out a snowshoe there as awesome? Yup. Sure did. This was a different kind of awesome that resulted in Lilly kissing flowers.

Even before July 5, when Summer officially begins in the Northwest, it was wicked hot. Like 90F in the mountains. For reference, my melting point is 69F so this was a hard time for me. Nothing like making it harder in the name of TNAB: Mt. Roosevelt. Roosevelt isn't a peak anyone from TNAB had climbed and that's still the case because we had to call it quits before we got to the top. There's always next summer, hopefully when it's not as hot.

Thanks to the lack of snow over the winter and a warm spring and summer, Sunrise in Rainier opened early. The kids and I tackled Skyscraper Peak and found both snow (barely) and goats (including a baby!). Also: flies. (Boo!)

I continued my flight from Mailbox Peak to more worthy destinations like Rampart Ridge. I don't think I could cram 28 trips up there into a single year given it's inaccessible due to snow for half the year, but if I did I wouldn't hate it nearly as much as I do Mailbox.

And speaking of the Ramparts (yet again), Alta Mountain shares a significant part of the route, but where Rampart keeps going up, the Alta route drops down to the gorgeous Rampart Lakes and then climbs higher than Rampart Ridge. Ouch. And on a TNAB no less.

Perhaps the only thing wrong with the Alta trip was that it was only a few days before through-hike of the Enchantments. Not familiar with the Enchantments? Good. Don't go there. It's terrible. That must be why camping is strictly limited by permits issued via lottery. And why there are so many goats. And why the tiny little lakes sparkle like sapphires against the snow and granite. And why I'll definitely be going back as soon as I can. But... er... you shouldn't go. Terrible. Terrible.

Of course, not every trip can be up into the alpine. No, sometimes you have to go to the beach. It's not my favorite place, but Oregon beaches aren't like other beaches. They have big rocks like Haystack Rock that tower over the beach. At low tide it's a magical place full of sea stars and anemones.

Don't worry. I'd still rather be in the mountains. Places like Red Mountain just in my home court. The approach is through the Commonwealth Basin full of streams, big trees, and blueberries, but the final stretch is up steep rock that requires a helmet and sure footing. But me? No, not me. I'll do it in a pair of sandals. (After I've forgotten my boots at home.)

August is the time for backpacking trips with the kids. As usual, the girls went to Girl Scout camp so Henry and I headed into the mountains. I'd had such a magical terrible time in the Enchantments that I figured the Boy and I would go to the Little Enchantments. Needless to say, Tuck and Robin Lakes was really great and even had some goats, too.

Not to be left out, the girls and I climbed into Gothic Basin. We only had a single night, but made the most of it in the glorious rock-filled landscape in the North Cascades.

And then... family. Curse you family! Make me put away my hiking gear for a wedding. On the east coast. Except we turned a weekend wedding into a week and a half visiting National Parks and tagging the state high points of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. (I know! I didn't think there was a high point of Rhode Island either!)

Nothing against the "mountains" of the east, but I needed to get back into the highlands at home so I turned back to the Ramparts for a spectacular dose of Fall color. And wouldn't you know it? GOAT!

October is when the weather turns and the days start being noticeably shorter. We scouted a new destination for TNAB and found it well worth the trip. Crazy beautiful tarns where you'd be forgiven to think there should only be brushy holes. Sorry, can't tell you where they are without killing you after. (It might be worth it.)

Nobody else likes Denny Mountain so Treen and I went by ourselves. It's a great hike in either Fall or late Spring right before or after the ski season. As long as you avoid seeing the ski lifts it's an alpine wonderland.

And speaking of ski lifts, we had a killer day with the cousins on Mt. Hood in spite of the ski lifts. (And if you're thinking the little cousins we started the year with you're wrong. These were Amy's cousins who should have known better than to go adventuring with me.) Since we were close to the ski patrol's first aid station I took the opportunity to slice open my hand, satisfying my quota for blood loss on an adventure for the year. Good thing, too. The year was almost over.

Even though we had tons of new adventures, some of the best are those grounded in tradition. I spent the day after the Winter Solstice slogging through chest-deep snow with TNAB. It's great to actually have a winter again after the year before.

And since we had snow (and lots of snow) we ended the year just playing in the snow, enjoying how a freeway exit could become a winter wonderland with just a few feet of the white stuff.

Already this year we've had a couple of epic adventures. I can't mention them here, because this is all about last year. Of course, you could just read the latest on moosefish.com. Or you could wait until next February, but where's the fun in that?