Thursday, September 27, 2012

Yellow Aster Butte 2012

Today twelve Senior Trailblazers headed up to Yellow Aster Butte, one of our favorite hikes of the season. This hike starts at a pretty high elevation and gains around 2,500 feet in about four miles of climbing. We get spectacular views of Mt. Baker (such as the one above) and the surrounding mountains as we ascend. Today it was another blue sky day with haze caused by the forest fires still burning in the east. As the day wore on, our view of the mountains became more and more obscured, but the picture above was taken fairly early.
It is late enough in the season that the fireweed plant has created cotton instead of pretty purple flowers. You can even see it rising in the breeze. As we headed up toward the summit of Yellow Aster Butte, several of us discussed the possibility of making a loop rather than returning down the same trail. Of course, this would mean that someone would need to get the cars from one trailhead to the other. This next picture shows the loop:
All twelve of us navigated the green section of the map. Once we got to the end of the green, some decided to stay and have lunch, and others hiked to the Yellow Aster summit (I went along with them). The higher we climbed, the more breeze we encountered, and because of the months of dryness that we've had, there was quite a lot of fine dust in our faces, as well as in our lunch.
I followed these hikers as we made our way to the summit. You can see the fall colors and the dryness around us. But even so, it was a beautiful hike, a very special kind of day when we could all follow the trail towards which we were drawn. I caught the picture below near the summit; the person in the left is someone who believed she was all alone in the vast expanse around her.
I love the beauty of these mountains; every time I come up here I am reminded again of the grandeur of this environment. We headed back down to consider our options. We gathered in this place, a light breeze in our faces and Mt. Baker and the surrounding mountains beginning to be obscured in the haze from the forest fires.
This is the last time all day that we were all together. Five of our hikers decided to follow the trail marked on the map in red, called the "Keep Cool Trail," to the road. We decided that we would drive two cars to meet where they would come out on the trail, and the other driver piled five people in his car to head back down to Bellingham earlier than the rest of us. I drove one car, and Ross drove the other, and we met our cohorts a few miles down the road. Here's three of them as they emerged from the trail.
As it turned out, we only had to wait twenty minutes or so for them to appear from this trail. Everyone was extremely happy with the way the day had turned out. Nobody had to wait long for us to get back together, and by early evening I had arrived home and am now writing this post so that everyone who reads it can be envious of the wonderful day we had! We hiked somewhere around eight to eight-and-a-half miles and covered 2,500 feet of elevation, at least, in full sun at the end of September! Now I can take a shower and watch the dust go down the drain.
:-)

20 comments:

  1. I am. Most envious. What a great day and what a view!

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  2. I, too, am envious. What a splendid day for a hike...and glorious pictures and words that you have shared with us.
    I love the photo of the woman taking in the glory and wonder before her.
    Beautiful, Jan....

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  3. Count me as envious, too! What an auspicious day. Well, except for the dust in your lunch. :) Have a beautiful weekend with blue skies!

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  4. Another beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest. Sometimes the sun does shine.

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  5. the smoky air is no fun. but the colors in that photo are phenomenal. so beautiful!

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  6. How truly amazing. I hope that after your shower you settled down to a deserved 'wine o'clock'. And you are right - I was envious. The grandeur of that scenery is something else.

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  7. that is cool that everything turned out so well...and love the mountains...a bit different in these i guess with the changing season...and a little grit in your food wont hurt...ha...

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  8. You must have thighs that are the envy of all the girls around about. You hike places I can't even imagine. Wow. What a woman.

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  9. What! No pizza afterwards? Lol. Too bad there was dust in your lunch. Your photos are outstanding, though. Very nice, DJan!

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  10. Dear DJan, I'm one of the ones feeling "envious"!!!! Such grandeur as you've said. So much beauty. The majestic peak of Mount Baker and those cotton blossoms floating in the air. Thank you. Oh, and thank you also for printing the trail map that showed the route. That was a welcome addition. Peace.

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  11. Beautiful! Even the Fireweed fluff.
    I bet that gal would love that photo.
    Another great hike! :)

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  12. There are many decisions involved with hiking in mountains. One must be very careful as mistakes can be very costly. In this case everybody won.

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  13. Definitely envious of those gorgeous views. It looks like the smoke from all the fires is covering most of the state. We are getting smoke from Oregon too.

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  14. Art just bought a pair of new hiking shoes from LL Bean. I guess he's ready now for the Molokai Valley hike. His older pair had deteriorated from the Hawaiian atmosphere.

    Your hikes are always so long. I'm always impressed with your stamina. The views you get are just amazing!!!

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  15. Hikes like this feed our souls- good for you and thanks for sharing the experience with us. The first photo is spectacular.

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  16. I like to enlarge your photos to see the great scenery you enjoy on your hikes. Gorgeous place.

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  17. I loved these photos. You really have a way of capturing the beauty in which you hike. How do you do these hikes week after week? You are fortunate to have the health and stamina to do these.

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  18. Lovely photos D-Jan and an interesting hike. I expect you were all pleased to meet up with each other at the end of it.

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  19. Now this is a spectacular view - well worth the walk, and it looks even longer on the map. Exceptional photo you caught hiker in, enjoying all the splendor around her and perhaps thinking she was all alone, which makes me wonder - do people go hiking on their own? I could not go hiking into high country on my own, if that was the case with the lone person on the mountainside. Dust in your lunch you say - "yah gotta eat a peck of dirt, before we die", my grandmother always said - love your posts DJan and your photos.

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