Wet hike in the Chuckanuts

Al clearing a branch from the trail

Today we were scheduled to hike up to Oyster Dome off Chuckanut Drive. It was one of those days that even I considered staying home, since it rained all night and was expected to keep raining, along with a significant wind storm. Oh, well, I thought this morning, I'll go to the Senior Center and probably nobody will show up except for Al, and we'll do something else. Hah! Seven Senior Trailblazers showed up, in spite of the weather.

Steve, Ward, Amy, Linda, Rita, Al (and me behind the camera)

At this point on our hike, our first viewpoint, Samish Bay was completely obscured. Nobody is actually looking at anything; Steve and Ward were playing and knew I would ask them when I saw the picture what they were pointing at. "Nothing, we just thought it would make a good picture," Steve said. We were already dealing with a light rain when I took the picture, but it was nothing compared to what was coming.

Our soggy trail

As we began the steep climb toward Oyster Dome, it began to rain in earnest. A hard, driving rain that didn't let up for a couple of hours. By that time we had reached the junction where we could take an easier trail back to the cars, but it would be longer. The treacherous condition of the trail was the deciding factor to take the longer (but easier) route back. We skipped Oyster Dome, which meant our hike was a little shorter than planned. Nobody wanted to make it longer. We were all pretty drenched, even with our fancy rain gear, and we just wanted to keep moving and get back to the cars.

View of Samish Bay

By the time we got to Samish Overlook, there was a view! Although the rain had pretty much stopped by then, the wind had picked up, so we didn't make a stop for lunch, deciding we would eat at the Senior Center where it would be warm and dry. We trudged on, covering more than eight miles, much of it while trying to keep moving because we were all so wet.

Finally back to the cars

You can see Chuckanut Drive in this picture, with our cars waiting for us. We piled in and headed for the Senior Center, hungry but wanting to get to a warm and dry spot. As we walked into the Center, the cold wind was pretty awful, but we knew we were headed to safety.

Rita blowing out her birthday candle

Amy, as always, brought cupcakes to celebrate Rita's birthday. I almost caught the pivotal moment. After I took this picture, we were amazed to see the sun come out briefly. Al reminded us that here in the Pacific Northwest, this qualifies as a "sun break." It's the only place in the country where we hear that term, if I'm not mistaken. It was all there was, one sun break, just in time to make us smile before we headed back to our respective homes. We all got our aerobic exercise for the day!

For anyone who might be wondering why I didn't write a post on Tuesday, it's because I forgot. While I was talking to Norma Jean on Wednesday, she asked where it was. "Where's what?" said I. "Your post!" "I write it on Tuesdays." "That was yesterday." I paused and considered. "Oh. Yeah. I guess it's too late now." It's been a busy week.
:-)