Thursday happened on a Tuesday

Diane, Jonelle, Carl, and Al (I took the picture)

Because Thursday is a holiday, Al sent around an email to see if anyone might be interested in a hike earlier in the week. Today, Tuesday, five of us went up to check out the Church Mountain situation. When we tried two weeks ago, the raging current and huge rocks on the road made it impossible to even consider it. But today, the road has been CLEARED and we drove all the way to the Church Mountain trailhead!

Jonelle and Carl crossing a stream

It was a beautiful day for this hike; the weather was warm as we made our way from the trailhead to the meadows, climbing three miles with an unremitting upward trudge. We didn't see any snow at all until we were almost to the meadows, and then... it was bright sunshine reflecting on the snow. Jonelle's friend Carl, who is visiting her and doing lots of hiking as he gets ready for a two-week backpacking trip, joined the Trailblazers for his first trip into the Mt. Baker wilderness.

Mt. Baker 2 July 2013

Although we were crossing slushy snow, the sun was so bright and warm that nobody had to add any gear to stay warm. In fact, it was the opposite problem: it was downright HOT with the reflection of the sun on the snow. I was breaking in my newest purchase: a Tilley hat! Yesterday was Canada Day, and I celebrated by buying myself this Canadian chapeau. Before long I was saying, "eh" with a Canadian accent. It was the hat's fault, I'm convinced.

Me with my new hat, Al behind me taking pictures

Diane took this picture of me to show off my new hat. Have you ever heard of a hat that has a four-page instruction manual? Well, this one does. I had heard of them before, Al wears one, and I just happened to be in REI looking at socks for today's hike when I saw this one. I couldn't help myself.

Jonelle and Carl standing in snow

Carol and Jonelle lead hikes in the southern California region during the winter, and they both thought that a picture of them hiking in snow during July might cool their friends back there down a bit, so this picture is for all of you who haven't seen snow in ages!

Heading down the trail

After having a nice lunch break, we decided not to try to go any farther than the meadows before heading back down. We turned around and descended the 2,500 feet we had climbed. We figured the entire trip was somewhere around seven miles up and down, and I'm feeling very refreshed and a little sunburned (although I was prepared with sunscreen) and ready to take a nice shower and have dinner. It was a great day with some wonderful friends, old and new!
:-)