Thursday, March 29, 2012

Goose Rock 2012

Rosario Strait from West Beach, choppy sea at high tide
Eight Senior Trailblazers met at the Senior Center in a light rain and howling wind to drive south to Deception Pass State Park and hike up to Goose Rock, a fairly easy hike on a not-so-nice day. Since the weather forecast gave us a 100% chance of rain, we decided to take our chances and hope for at least some time out of the rain. Once again, we were fortunate indeed. Although it was still raining lightly and the wind blowing pretty hard when we arrived, it had moderated quite a lot in the hour it took for us to get to the West Beach parking lot near Cranberry Lake.
The well-marked trail around the perimeter of Goose Rock has lots of madrona trees (like the one with the odd bark on the right) and red currant plants in bloom. Still no rain and the temperature was pleasant, as long as we kept moving. As we ascended up to the summit, I saw this immature eagle (I'm pretty sure) lazily circling in the air above us.
We could hear bird sounds in the distance, and several times the unmistakeable call of an eagle, along with gulls, varied thrush, wrens, and others I couldn't identify. It was a very pleasant experience as we made our way to the top. Once there, the wind was fierce, so we donned our coats, which we had shed as we hiked in the shelter of the trees. I asked for a photo, with all of us bundled up in the cold. Almost all of us.
Steve, Al, Jim, Frank, Karen, Marjan
I asked Mike to stay out of the picture because he really does look like he was on a different hike! It was either two photos or let everybody think I had photoshopped him in. He's not like the rest of us; although he carries all the same gear, he rarely seems to need anything but a hat and gloves. In the summertime, he carries enough water to continually douse himself.
Mike on same hike. How does he do it?
I also asked Al to take a picture of me on the top of Goose Rock, showing me in my best imitation of the Angelina Jolie Oscar stance. I'm wearing my wonderful REI jacket that cost me an arm and a leg (but I still seem to have enough of each) and my new North Face pants, getting their first workout.
It was way too windy and uncomfortable for us to have our lunch here, so we decided to hike on back to the picnic shelter at North Beach. It is covered with a thatch roof with a great view of the ocean, but the breeze kept us from staying around for too long. And then... it began to rain. We only had about three-quarters of a mile back to the cars. Since the tide was going out, we thought we might walk along the beach, but the rain changed our plans. The trees protected us from the worst of the rain, and we still had a nice view of the beach. You can see it got soggy all of a sudden.
By the time we reached the cars, we had covered 6 and a half miles with about a thousand feet of elevation gain and loss. It wasn't one of our hard hikes (that's coming next week), but it was very pleasant and relatively dry. Once we pulled out of the parking lot, the rain began in earnest. We congratulated ourselves again for our good luck, and Al stated that he planned it that way (yeah, right). We were finished at an earlier time than usual, but it was a really good day, once again.
:-)

23 comments:

  1. first, that is the COOLEST tree!
    second, your hot-blooded friend mike is CRAZY!
    third, you made me LOL with your angelina stance! ha ha!

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  2. What great pictures DJan !
    You really do have so much fun together, hot or cold, smiles all around.
    Love your AJ stance, made me smile :)
    ~Jo

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  3. AJ has nothing on you kiddo - she should wish she is doing what you do if she gets that far :) WOW, you sure do have the best of luck with weather most times. Great photos and love the immature eagle and All Weather Al - how does he do it?
    Love your stance - I think you could be a "Saucy" :)

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  4. That sounded really nice. Loved all of your pics, as usual. That Mike is amazing, isn't he!

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  5. Wonderful photos. I love the jacket and the pants! I would like to get some pants like that. I thought of you today as we were in Zion National Park. I actually "hiked" today. Well, to be honest, I walked along the paths, but for me that was a huge accomplishment.

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  6. I love your Angelina pose!

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  7. Love that shot of the madrona tree, I miss seeing those. Your Angelina imitation is spot on. I'm like Mike, if I'm hiking I would rather wear shorts and have the extra gear in my backpack just in case.

    We had wind here all day and then the rain came in late. Maybe soon we will both get a little break from that.

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  8. Gorgeous photos. I think I could take this hike!

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  9. Loved seeing the red currant in bloom. Are you sure that wasn't a vulture rather than an eagle circling your group? Sounds like you have another good hike under your belt. Good work.

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  10. I'm amazed at your friend, Mike. I'm wondering how he does it too. He must burn a lot of adrenalin.

    I LOVE that great Jolie photo of you. You are much more fun to look at. Thank you for the smile as I stress out the day.

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  11. Great pictures! Especially your leg stance shot! And Mike....he's funny. I bet you all have a great time together. Thanks for virtually taking me along.

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  12. You guys seem to have such a good time together! What a blast to have such like minded friends to hang out with!

    The photos are great. I have students like Mike . . . they wear shorts and no coat all year long. It can be pouring down rain and they are happy as larks. One boy showed up on a snow day with shorts! Brrrr!

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  13. LOVE the photo of you in your new North Face Pants!!! You could be a model, hands down!!!

    Now, Goose Rock, and Cranberry Lake...I'm feeling quite hungry.

    I would love to have something like this group where I live....hiking together. But I fret, we don't have the beautiful scenery like your group does.

    Happy weekend...[and yes, I couldn't visit and leave comments yesterday either]

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  14. You are so lucky to get the eagle photo. And it turned out good too.

    Love your cute self out-doing Angelina.

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  15. Thanks for trying, DJan. Strange about the commenting problem. So far, I'm only having trouble with Wordpress blogs. Could it be because we both have Wordpress back-ups? Hmmm.... Well.... this is it! I'm off for the airport. Please don't worry about commenting for me. I know what a headache it is to fight technology.

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  16. Looks cold to me. Don't know how you do it.

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  17. That's funny how Mike can hike in shorts with no jacket! He must be really hot-blooded, eh? Looks like it was a workout and chilly out there...except for Mike, of course. ;)

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  18. Dear DJan, . . . I just so enjoy "accompanying" you on these hikes and your photographs so enhance the journey. Thank you. Peace.

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  19. I love that Madrona tree the bark is so very pretty. I think Mike must have metabolism different from the rest of you.
    Another good hike..thanks! Ah yes you look better than some old actress:)

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  20. LOVE the Angie pose and your sense of humor :-)
    xo jj

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  21. What a delightful hike. The cloudy-rainy is what I would expect for the Pacific Northwest. Great pic of what I also think is an immature Eagle.

    I figure I'm doing well if I can walk a mile, and go up and down about 50 feet of elevation. I'm in "recovery" mode, and expect to be there (or here) for some time. Thanks for taking me on your adventure; it was more than I can do!

    Angelina Jolie? I think not. You look much better!

    Blessings and Bear Hugs.
    Chrome on the Range

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  22. I enjoyed reading all your back posts. That exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum must have been something – I’d love to see it but it’s a bit far. Your grand-niece Lexie is a sweetheart for sure. I also wonder what life will be for these young ones – I worry too. I just spent 8 days with the grandsons – wondering about their future too.

    It was so warn in Tennessee, warmer than Georgia even, and flowers everywhere. I don’t know what I am doing wrong on my blog – this is the 3rd time that a post does not update in Reader. I had scheduled my post last week since I was away and it came OK, so now I am thinking about not publishing my posts immediately but scheduling them for a future time and see if this works.

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  23. Looks like a nice walk, even in the rain.

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