Pine and Cedar Lakes

Peggy, Meredith and Al

When I woke at midnight to the sound of rain drumming on the roof, and knowing that the forecast for today's Senior Trailblazers hike was for exactly that, rain, I was surprised that 14 of us gathered to hike up to Pine and Cedar Lakes this morning. This is one of our usual winter hikes, and it's known for the steep mile or so that begins the trail. We ascend 1,300 feet in a mile and a half! If you look at the link I've provided, you will see that the Whatcom County Parks and Recreation page rates this hike as "strenuous." We call it "moderate," but that's only because it's not very long.

Junction in the trail

After the first steep mile, you see a junction. In the old days, this upward trail was the only one there was, coming off the main trail. It was lengthened to make it a little less difficult for part of the climb. This just doesn't do justice to how UP that trail actually is. By the time we reached this point, the light rain hadn't bothered us much. Some people had even taken off raincoats because we were too hot! Then we reached Cedar Lake, and you can see in this picture that there are light raindrops on the lake. The colors were rather flat and uninteresting, but you get used to that around here in the winter.

Cedar Lake

However, it was time to fully gear up for the rain, as it was no longer possible to ignore it. Our rain gear is pretty colorful, giving a nice boost to the drab colors around us. You can see some of the hikers here, with Mikey in the back with his umbrella. All is well with the world when you can stay relatively dry in the rain.

Amy, Carol, Ann, Ward, Linda, Steve (red hat), Mikey

Nobody was having a difficult time with the weather, but we are hardy Pacific Northwesterners who know how to stay comfy with a little bit of precipitation. We have had many hikes that tested our mettle, but this was not one of them. We headed off to Pine Lake.

Boardwalk around Pine Lake

We thought it would be fun to see if we could get around this small lake, so we went off on the slick boardwalk that elevates the trail above a very wet, mucky area. You can also see that the boards are wet by this time, and I have to say this was not a very comfortable part of my day. A fall would have been very, um, wet. At this point it was getting close to lunchtime, but there didn't seem to be a good spot to stop that would shelter us from the rain. We decided to head back down to the cars and have lunch at the Senior Center.

Tree branches covered with moss

One thing about living in this part of the country, you see moss everywhere. Doug pointed out these rather otherworldly branches on this tree. The picture shows how they twist and turn and apparently will never see green from leaves again. I continue to derive great enjoyment from these hikes, and I hope that I will be able to continue to see scenes like this for a long time to come.

Our nice warm lunch at the Senior Center was a great way to end our time together. We covered somewhere around six miles or less, but ascended and descended 2,000 feet of elevation in that short distance. I can feel that I got a workout, but I was careful with my knee (firmly ensconced in a brace) and now feel little to no bad aftereffects from our exertion. A good day, indeed.
:-)