Thursday, January 24, 2013

Alger Alp 2013

Squires Lake
Every winter the Senior Trailblazers make this trip to Alger Alp. It's accessible from the Squires Lake trailhead, just a short drive south of Bellingham. Before today, we never once had clear skies in order to see the view since I started hiking with the group. Although you can't tell it from the picture, Squires Lake, where we start this hike, is frozen from the recent cold weather we've had. One of the guys pitched a rock "into" the lake and it bounced!
Before the fog lifted, I captured the sun's rays coming through to make this lovely scene. These pictures don't often turn out looking as beautiful as they look to me at the time, but this one comes close. We then headed around the beaver pond before starting our ascent to Alger Alp.
There was plenty of recent beaver activity around, as you can see here. The tree itself was nowhere in sight, probably already hauled into the pond. We never actually see the beavers, since they don't come out when people are around, I'm told, and do their chopping work at night. Since they are busy as, well, beavers, they probably spend the daylight hours working on the lodge's interior where we can't see them.
Rita looking out at the view
We did indeed have somewhat of a view today. This is the fourth time I've gone on this hike. Last year it rained, but today we lucked out. Eleven of us made it to the 1,350-foot summit. Here you can see it was still rather hazy here and there, and it wasn't exactly warm if we stopped moving for any length of time. It's not a long hike, less than three miles to the summit, so after a short break to admire the view, we headed back down.
Mike and Al are indicating various mountains and other points of interest. It's nice to have finally seen some scenery up at the top. Here we look out over a valley, with Samish Bay in the distance. The clouds never completely cleared off, and they were beginning to thicken up again as we headed back. Wonder of wonders, we did actually have a view of Mt. Baker; as we started down, the clouds lifted just long enough for me to get this picture.
Yes, there it is, our old friend Mt. Baker. The view disappeared again not long after I captured this rather washed-out picture, but this will remind me next year what I am missing if I don't see anything but clouds again. I had been told that there is a view; now I know it's real!
When we returned to the cars, Amy brought out cupcakes to celebrate Al's birthday, which is today, while we all sang the requisite birthday melody before digging in. I'm never quite sure whether we need to be reminded how fast the years are flying by, but I always enjoy the celebration. All in all, it was a good day with no rain and lots of good company.
:-)

17 comments:

  1. ha. you guys have so much fun..love that you celebrate each others lif together...that capture of the sunlight is just gorgeous as well...oh my....love seeing the evidence of life (beavers) along the way too...always see that around the lake nearby but never them...except once...

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  2. aww, happy birthday to al. :) and WOW what a view! that one pic with all the of the trees and colors! marvelous!!!

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  3. What a splendid experience! There are no beavers in Hawaii, fortunately. Love the views you captured so well.

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  4. Each time you go on these trails it will be different. I went up one 17 times with the school classes. It was quite different each time.

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  5. I think these are some of my favorite photos that you have taken, Jan.
    I LOVE the one of the sun's rays ....and also love the one of Rita looking at that incredibly beautiful view.
    Spectacular shots!!

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  6. I thought of you again today as I was out walking, thinking you probably had another dry day with some sun. Great photos!

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  7. That 'washed out picture'....it is a bit of heaven on earth I think. Just like a painting...DJan it's beautiful.

    Oh, and you know me, I love fog, so obviously that is my favorite picture you share. I can hear the silence of it all. Beauty and silence, that's what hiking is all about.

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  8. I agree, the washed out photo is beautiful. I enjoy your photos - the Pacific NW has always given me a feeling of belonging, but, alas, the plains are my home. Amy uses what I refer to as my favorite container! It is great for food, but I also use it for carrying knitting and quilting projects. There are several in my sewing room in use as project containers...they keep things separate and stack wonderfully.

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  10. What gorgeous scenes. I loved the jay on the hand picture. I've never been able to do that... darn.

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  11. Love your forays into the all that dramatic scenery. That photo of Rita is terrific.

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  12. You always make me feel like I'm right with you.

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  13. Dear DJan, one of these days I hope to visit my cousins in Seattle and travel a bit so I can see Mount Baker. You've written about and shown us photographs such as todays and it seems so majestic to me.

    The photograph of the sun shining from the left through the mist is truly lovely. When I saw the one of you sitting on a rock and enjoying the view I at first thought it was a painting! Peace.

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  14. The views are just gorgeous DJan. I love the foggy light in those first ones. And the photo of Rita, I thought you were showing us a photo of a painting when I first glanced at it. I love that one.

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  15. Stunning pictures D-Jan. I think you have enough pictures and write-ups now to publish a book about your hikings. Judging by the number of comments you get regularly, I'm sure you would sell thousands of them!

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  16. DJan, I think that looking at the wonders of creation (which you get to do so often from your photos) has got to make you extremely grateful...

    Just looking at your photos and sharing your experience does that to me.

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  17. You make the absolute most out of your day and where you go! you are an impressive senior!
    I think I may have made Buddy my excuse for less adventure but we cope.

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