At the end, Horseshoe Bend

The washout on Church Mountain road

It was definitely one of our more soggy days, all right. I awoke to the sound of rain and checked the forecast: the entire western side of our state would be wet today, our hiking day. But I knew that at least Al and I, and probably Mike, would be meeting at the Center to head out for a wet slog in the High Country. However, Mike didn't come, but Jonelle and Terry joined us. Al and his ladies. We headed out for our original destination, hoping to get at least to the Church Mountain meadows. But it was not to be. Not only is the road washed out, but once we inspected it more closely, we decided it would be dangerous to try and cross the rushing water of Fossil Creek.

Not much road there, and lots of rushing water

Although you can see that the road continues on the other side, we just couldn't get excited about trying to cross it, not to mention that the heavy rain would make it even more dangerous once we returned in a few hours. Okay then, how about driving up the rest of way on the highway and hike around Bagley Lake? Nice short hike in the rain, what do you think?

Wet trio with snowed-in trail behind

Nope, not a good idea. When we got there, we found that the wind was blowing and the pelting rain didn't make it very enticing, not to mention that the entire trail except the first part is still under snow. Okay, how about we go down the road and take a look at Nooksack Falls on our way to Horseshoe Bend? We climbed back in the car and headed down, out of the wind at least, if not the rain.

Looking at the falls

There were no other cars at the falls, which is unusual, except that we were there in a steady rain in the middle of the week. What are Terry and Jonelle looking at behind that barrier?

Nooksack Falls

The magnificent Nooksack Falls, of course. The roar was so loud that you couldn't talk, and the ground was slippery and waterlogged. And the rain kept falling. We piled back in the car and headed for Horseshoe Bend, a hike we don't do often because it's not very long (three miles round trip), but it sounded pretty good, considering. It's very pretty, even with the rain.

Me with my umbrella

I remembered that this hike was pretty easy, so I decided to try using my umbrella (having learned the trick from Mikey), but I didn't take my trekking poles, since I would have needed a third hand to use them both. Big mistake. I won't do THAT again.

Stream crossing

Al had not taken his trekking poles either, but fortunately Terry and Jonelle did. We shared them as we made our way across this rushing stream. Some feet got a little wet, but I of course had to fall right in. One foot slipped off a rock and I went down, butt first. I felt the cold water on my legs and both boots were immediately filled with water. Once I got up and assessed the damage, however, it was only my feet that were really wet, as my rain pants and rain coat kept me mostly dry. Wool socks and mild temperatures meant we could continue on to our destination.

Jonelle and Al on the Horseshoe Bend trail

It was very pretty, but it never stopped raining the entire day. My feet were still wet from the dip in the stream, so our lunch break wasn't very long. We only hiked three miles in a couple of hours, spent quite a long time in the car driving from place to place, but the company was really good. At the end of the day, I think we all had a good time, even if it wasn't one of those days we'll be thinking of as a favorite. As they say, into every life some rain must fall!
:-)