Thursday, April 28, 2011

Magical day at Cornet Bay

Marjan at lunch break
Only nine hardy souls showed up at the Senior Center today for our usual Thursday hike. It could have had something to do with the headlines in the Bellingham Herald yesterday: "Possible snow, hail, and thunderstorms on tap for Whatcom County," with the warning that we could wake up to snow here in Bellingham this morning. I looked outside and shook my head at my folly as I woke to rain but headed out anyway. We decided to forget our scheduled hike to Stewart Mountain and go to the Hoypus Hill trail system in the Deception Pass area. It starts at Cornet Bay and winds through the forest.
I was thinking we were a bunch of crazy seniors as we drove south through the driving rain to our trailhead, windshield wipers at full strength and thinking that driving thirty miles to hike in the rain was going to be one of the least pleasant hikes I could imagine. But as we approached the Deception Pass area, the rain lessened, then finally stopped before we left our cars to start the hike. And yes, it was a truly magical day, with us winding through the green forest with sun and clouds. It was a bit on the muddy side, since the area had received a lot of rain.
As you can see from the picture, my boots and gaiters were well used as a patch of sunlight illuminated the situation. Although the clouds came and went, it wasn't cold and the mud was navigable. There were even bike tracks through the worst of the mud, as those mountain bike riders wouldn't let a little thing like MUD stop them! The trails were well marked, with whimsical names marking the way.
Al had downloaded the trails onto his GPS system from a website, and he was able to keep us from getting lost. The trails wound gently uphill and downhill, nothing like our usual elevation gain. But we did see that the trails were sometimes overgrown with fresh nettles. Last year I brushed against one of these and my hand burned and tingled for days. The fresh greenery around this tree is a very healthy patch of the stuff.
It makes me itch just to look at that picture! But we were careful as we wound through the thickets of nettles and nobody made the mistake of touching any. Even Mike who usually wears shorts was covered from head to toe on this hike. When we reached our starting point, we had traveled eight-and-a-half miles and gained and lost a mere 750 feet. But the entire day we never had a raindrop fall on us while we were hiking, although we certainly did on the way there, and on the way back we also had rain. So, it was indeed a magical day. I will leave you with a picture of Cornet Bay, showing the Deception Pass double bridge. Nine happy seniors headed home after a fine hike!
:-)

26 comments:

  1. ha. not a single drop...nice...i bet you did think you were crazy setting off when they were calling for it...that first pic is really cool...love the depth of it...

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  2. Lucky you going ahead with the hike. It turned out splendidly and so pretty. Nice photos.

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  3. A truly magical day and some wonderful photos. Thanks.

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  4. Great names. I like the hemlock one!
    You folks are truly hardy souls.

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  5. You were pretty lucky. In your photos it seems you might see a hobbit house around the bend...it sort of has that look for me, especially in the photo with the whimsical signs. Supposed to be a plant that grows next to most nettle plants that counteracts the sting of Nettles. Maybe curled dock or jewelweed.
    Nice that the weather cooperated. Unlike here...very rainy and gray. But at least we didn't get any tornadoes...I feel for the folks down south.
    Hope you're having a restful evening.

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  6. Your photo even made the stinging nettles look lush. Too bad that was a look but don't touch area, that would have been a good one to sit in for a photo!

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  7. I thought of you this morning, wondering if you were going to hike. I was wakened by a ferocious thunderstorm just a little while before I had to get up anyway. I just closed my eyes and listened, hoping that it didn't waken anyone else (Jordan is scared of 'understorms'). It crossed my mind that the opposite side of the country had been having this kind of weather for awhile and I don't know how you've kept up the hiking! As I took the kids out in the downpour later I acknowledged that you must be a glutton for punishment in voluntarily hiking through the rain week after week!!! I'm glad for you that today wasn't one of those days. I'm also glad you avoided the nettles:)

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  8. We expected rain today here in SeaTac and never got it. It stayed cold though.
    I'm so glad you had a beautiful experience.

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  9. Looking at these pictures, I'm reminded why I love the Pacific Northwest so much. It is truly beautiful.

    Watch for those nettles - they're horrid!

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  10. Glad to hear the rain backed off and your hike went well. This place does look magical with all the moss and ferns. Stinging nettles are nasty, glad they didn't get anyone today.

    I love your first photo DJan, it is enchanting.

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  11. So beautiful...seems you are so deep in the woods...do you ever see wild animals??

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  12. That first photo really grabs you...very magical looking...an enchanting place! I've had a brush with stinging nettles in the past, learned the hard way!

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  13. The lushness of the stinging nettle bush amazes me. I love your Thursday posts!

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  14. The GPS is fabulous. No excuse for getting lost. I took a wrong trail one time and crossed a chest deep river five times before correcting the error. We had taken a horse trail instead of the hiking trail.

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  15. Beautiful green once again..what a nice hike..thanks for taking us along:)

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  16. I enjoy getting my weekly northwest coast and mountain fix. Beautiful and rugged.

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  17. I believe in the power of positive thinking...just like you!

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  18. Blogger prevented me from posting a comment earlier. Let's see if it works now.

    If it had rained, would you have been able to use your camera? Is it water proof? My home appraiser used a water proof camera -- a Canon. I thought of you and your hikes when he showed it to me.

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  19. Every one of your hikes turns out to be an adventure. Joining you via your blog is the next best thing to being there.. almost.

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  20. You will catch your death of cold...

    Mom used to tell me that because I was susceptible to catching colds in the summer if I got my feet wet.

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  21. Wow! That was a serious hike! You must be in amazing condition. I'd heard about those stinging nettles, but didn't know how bad it could be until I brushed up against one on a hike. Yikes! Loved your photos!

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  22. sigh....reminds me of Redwood Creek State Park....

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  23. It definitely looks like a magical (and muddy)forest adventure!

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  24. Don't you love it when a day turns out that way? The first picture seems to capture it perfectly. So glad you had another great hike.

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  25. That looks like an enchanted forest and I loved the signpost. I don't envy you having to clean those boots though.

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