Rainy Excelsior Ridge

After spending almost three hours in the dentist's chair yesterday, I wasn't at all sure I would be up for the hike today. But after a good night's sleep, with ibuprofen to help, I woke up this morning, if not raring to go, at least willing to give it a try. (No root canal, just an old crown removed and a temporary in place.)

Thirteen Senior Trailblazers met at the Senior Center with light rain showers to accompany us, just like last week. But we are nothing if not hardy, and after it cleared off last Thursday and gave us a good hike, we set out with high hopes for the trailhead to Excelsior Ridge off the Mt. Baker highway. Beginning at 1,800 feet elevation, we thought we would just keep going up until we were turned back by snow. The weather forecast looked promising for afternoon clearing, but it was not to be.

We stopped for lunch after a little more than three miles of uphill climb, when the trail began to have more snow covering it than not. It was still raining, as you can see by our lovely lunch spot, and we didn't linger here for long. After getting our lunch out, finding a semblance of comfort (with a cold stream running right through the middle of our clearing), we ate hastily and headed back down. We had climbed up 2,300 feet, keeping us pretty warm until we stopped for lunch.

Here's a picture of my lunch. Notice that it is being cooled by snow and water, and it wasn't easy to use those chopsticks with gloves on, but I persevered. All the food is soft so that it wouldn't hurt my tender jaw. After a quick twenty minutes, we were all very cold and ready to head back down.

On the way down the trail, I yelled to the others to stop for a minute so I could get a picture of something, since this was not what you would call a picturesque hike (no views and a wet, muddy trail). However, as you can see, sometimes it was still quite lovely, with all the rain lately everything is so green. (Click any picture to enlarge.)

While stopping for an equipment adjustment, I caught this picture of Amy and Mike having a conversation. He is always so unusual in his gear, but I must say that umbrella looked pretty good to me today. As you can see from Karen's blue rain cover on her pack, it's still raining, and we are almost back to the trailhead.

Last week, there was only one day when it didn't rain, and it was Thursday afternoon, just perfect for last week's hike. So to say that we in the Pacific Northwest are ready for some extended sunshine is an understatement. But many of us hardy Seniors wouldn't stay home if our friends were heading out without us! We give it a try, rain or shine.
:-)