Thursday, October 18, 2012

Cougar Divide was interesting

The Senior Trailblazers don't usually do this hike, because the road to get to the unmaintained trailhead is dreadful for many miles on a rather sketchy road, and the trail itself has lots of downed trees and places to get lost. Fortunately for us, Al kept us on his GPS track, but the weather forecast for the day was not fantastic: clouds turning to rain in the afternoon. Twelve of us (twelve!) showed up anyway, and we discovered that the precipitation at lower elevations was already showing up as snow up here. It wasn't raining when we started out.
After about a half mile, we came to the first lookout spot, which should have shown us some amazing views of the nearby mountains, including Mt. Baker, but as you can see, the clouds had other ideas. It was still very beautiful and fantastic to be there, but the trail had many spots that Al characterized as brief "moments of excitement." That meant lots of ups and downs where the snow and mud caused the Trailblazers to be forced to grunt our way upwards or gasp our way downwards. We did okay, though. Then the clouds thickened up, as you can see here.
I like the way the clouds seemed to be giving us an ominous warning of what was ahead. Not long after this picture was taken, we had to don our rain gear, as the light "mist" changed to what I couldn't deny was "rain."
The fall colors, however, were still stunning in their variety, and the snow made a nice contrast, as long as we weren't traversing a steep slope either up or down. Frankly, I don't see how anybody could have walked these trails without trekking poles, and all twelve of us were using them. It wasn't cold, and since we were ready for the rain, we didn't have much problem with the conditions. But after we had gone a little more than two miles, we had a conference about whether to continue on this trail or not.
Nope. Let's have lunch and head back home to our nice warm, cozy abodes, okay? There's no view to be had, and all we can hope for is to get a little bit more exercise. We stopped and had our lunch, a quick one, and quickly headed back to the cars. The rain had picked up a little bit, making us even more anxious to find shelter. We've been spoiled by all our fine weather for the last two months!
Here we are heading back down, with our trail having turned into a muddy and slippery mess, and most of us just wanting to make it to the cars without having gotten (1) lost or (2) soaked. Our view is gone, and the rain changed from being light and almost not there to, well, wet. Amy had made cupcakes for us to enjoy at the end of our hike for our two birthday seniors. We managed to get in a quick "happy birthday," and she lit two candles for them to blow out before we hopped in our cars and munched the cupcakes down!
Amy lighting the candles for Norm and Linda
I remember long ago Al telling me that the Senior Trailblazers hike on Thursdays, rain or shine. I count on it, and I know that you can never tell what the day will be like when you start out. Today was a very interesting one, with sun, clouds, occasional wind, snow, mud, and rain. But we were having FUN through it all! I can't wait for next week.
:-)

23 comments:

  1. i think you all earned those cupcakes. :)

    the colors still amaze me. my favorite shot was the 2nd - so starkly framed on the mountain. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You had some miserable trail conditions. When it's wet and bare rock for a trail it can be treacherous. The smart thing was to turn around. I have trudged 7 km in steady rain because the rain started on the way back. It can be done.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Some of the photos were nice, but the rain and snow would have discouraged me. I am a wimp!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like you had fun and that's what matters. I would have been worried that one of the seniors could fall on the slippery mud slopes and get hurt. Has that ever happened on a hike?

    ReplyDelete
  5. very cool you got snow...i am hoping we get some this year...and i bet that it did make a nice contrast to the fall colors...what a cool pic of the hikers in the light atop the hill too....sounds like fun...smiles

    ReplyDelete
  6. Even though the view may not be the best in the second photo, those clouds make it all so gorgeously mystical. Stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I thought about you today, wondering if you were lucking out on the weather like we did. We had sun until about mid afternoon, and the rain still hasn't hit at 7:30. I'm glad you had fun anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just love it that you can go on these amazing hikes and see such fabulous scenery. Your photos are absolutely stunning. The fall colors are so gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, wow, and wow again. I am so glad that you went, gladder that you took some fabulous photos to share, and gladest that you had fun.

    ReplyDelete
  10. On top of everything else, you're a brave woman. I hate the thought of getting lost. In fact I hated getting lost! I took Tango on a horseback camping weekend in June. We got lost in the woods for six hours. Awful!

    Your photos took my breath away as usual!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The scenes you photographed are beautiful. I love the colors with the white snow here and there.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love that photo with the clouds. It's eerie, moody...And snow! Here in Florida, it's still in the 80s.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Spectacular views despite the weather! This sounds like a fun way to enjoy nature and keep the the joints moving! The colors were fabulous. Love Di ♥

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Fall colors are still stunning up there! The cold weather brings out lots of color..and makes it so rich looking.
    Glad you all made it back down okay..sounds a bit more exciting than usual:)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow, count me out on this hike. I'll stick with my warm abode, a fleece lap robe, & some sock knitting. You are amazing people.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The fall colors are beautiful but the weather makes me want a warm jacket and a fireplace.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I wish I could get some seniors to go on walks around here, much less hike. We don't have the beautiful places like you have in your area but we could go on walks. I know they would NOT go out in rain and snow though.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Well, yes, that was "interesting." All that work, and you never did see a cougar. Fortunately you didn't melt in the rain and snow. And you brought back some lovely pictures.

    Intrepid travellers, you lot!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Sounds like quite an adventure! I don't think "interesting" begins to cover it! ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  20. I would be scared to possibly lose the poorly marked trail. You guys are so brave! I know you are all prepared for the weather changes, though. The fall colors are always worth it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear DJan, what a amiable group you found when you moved to the Northwest. I'm wondering if you found them through an ad in the paper or a poster in the coffee shop. Or just how. Peace.

    ReplyDelete
  22. It looks like fall has officially arrived over there. The weather here has been wet and I expect to see a little dusting of snow on the mountains tomorrow morning. The colors you saw on your hike are gorgeous. It sounds like you had a great day even with the wet stuff.

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate your comments! If you see a word verification box here, just ignore it. I don't use the darn thing and Blogger is trying to get us to use it, I guess. Ignore it and your comment will still appear.