A beautiful day at Lake Ann

From back: Mary, Rebecca, Carol, Diane, Bob, Steve, Peggy

I know this post is late, and it's because I only walked in the door a few minutes ago from a long day out in the Mt. Baker Wilderness with seventeen Senior Trailblazers. And then downloading my pictures caused another delay, so here it is after 7:00pm and I'm just getting started. The group was so large that we needed to break into two groups, and these are the people I hiked with up to Lake Ann on a beautiful, sunny and cool day.

Mt. Baker from the valley

This hike starts off at about 4700 feet and descends into a valley, where you cross a couple of streams and lots of rocks before you begin your ascent up to Lake Ann at 4800 feet. Along the way you get this marvelous view of Mt. Baker. By the time you climb out of the valley through the rocky shale, you lose sight of this mountain, but there are other benefits.

Rebecca and Lake Ann

As you lose sight of the mountain, you finally see Lake Ann below you after a long climb, with a wonderful vista behind. This was Rebecca's first hike with the Senior Trailblazers, but she didn't have any problems and I really enjoyed getting to know her. Once we got to the top we ran into the other group, who had followed around a mile behind us, so that we wouldn't get into trouble with the rangers (groups are supposed to be 12 or fewer in the wilderness).

Enjoying our lunch while we admire the glaciers on Mt. Shuksan

That's Mt. Shuksan's backside and the upper and lower Curtis glaciers that we're looking at. The day was simply gorgeous and although I feel like I got just a bit too much sun, it was a glorious day. We've come up here in October when the leaves are aflame, and other times when this spot has been covered with snow. But today, it was a perfect hiking temperature, not too hot, not too cold: just right.

Rebecca, Diane, Al, Carol, Steve

I'm using this picture, even though Rebecca has her hand in front of her face, because it shows the glaciers and some of my colorful hiking companions. After lunch, we decided to walk around the lake before heading back down. But before we did, I wanted to get a picture of our newlyweds, Jonelle and Carl, who have been a married couple for ten days now. We give the relationship at least a few more weeks.

Jonelle and Carl, who tied the knot on August 27, 2014

Who knows what lies in our futures when we get out and hike together? They now have combined their lives and destiny but I suspect we'll be seeing lots more of them both for a few years to come. I hope so, anyway. And then we walked around the lake before heading back.

Looking back at Mt. Shuksan and the upper and lower Curtis glaciers

We began our descent across the rocks, then through the valley before starting the final push upwards back to the cars. The temperature stayed cool, but it always seems longer on the way back, being tired and wishing for the hike to end. We call it the "trail stretcher" that comes out on the return trips. But just before we reached the end, I turned and looked back.

Goodbye for another year, Lake Ann

Here you can see where we had been: way over the valley on the other side, where the glaciers and Mt. Shuksan await our return next year, if all goes well. It was simply a wonderful day, filled with so much sunshine, incredible views, and joyful company all day long. I just took the last sip of my wine, so now I'm ready to sign off and rummage in the fridge for dinner. Blessings from Bellingham!
:-)