A Pacific Northwest kind of day

Kirk, Chris, me, Rich humping along

Not many of us showed up this morning, only seven, with the forecast for a day of rain, yet again. After last week's aborted hike because of wind and sideways rain, I was not really looking forward to more of the same. But, as I've learned time and again, you can't always go by the weather report to figure out how your day will be here in the Pacific Northwest. The only way is to go, rain or shine. As we left the Clayton Beach parking lot towards the south Lost Lake trail, there was a light sprinkle. Nothing much, and we were ready.

The group with Samish Bay behind us

Once we got to the trail to Lost Lake, the rain came and went, but there wasn't much of it, and Steve figured if we took a short side trip, we would have an unexpected view of the bay. Up at the top, the wind was blowing pretty hard, and you can see the various weather events happening in the sky behind us. We then backtracked a short distance to regain our trail. Since the weather was better than expected, we continued on toward the Rock Trail cutoff and decided to head on up. We knew we could make a loop from the Overlook to Fragrance Lake and down to the cars at the parking lot.

The trail heading upwards to Gates Overlook

This is a beautiful new trail that is a pleasure to hike, even in the light rain we experienced. Although every once in awhile we could hear some light wind in the trees, it only really blew when we were at the top; on the trail, it was just enough to keep us cool as we hiked along.

Licorice ferns along the rock trail

My pictures this week are all taken with my iPhone, since I didn't want to subject my other camera to more rain. As it turned out, I could have used it and gotten a bit better pictures, but my phone sufficed to capture the flavor of the day. On the Rock Trail, the licorice ferns grow heavily out of the soil on the rocks to make a really pretty display.

Steve, Chris, Carol, Al, Kirk

Lunch time! As you can see from our pack covers and rain gear, it wasn't completely dry, but we expected it to be so much worse when we stopped for lunch at Gates Overlook. We couldn't believe that all we had to deal with was a gentle rain. No wind and relatively warm to boot.

A little light play with golden leaves

Every once in awhile the skies would brighten, and I was able to capture this tree showing what's left of the beautiful fall colors on the trail. We live in such a wonderful place, and it was so much better a day than what we anticipated that I think I can say it was a very nice Pacific Northwest kind of day. We walked almost nine miles in total and had about a 2,500 foot elevation gain and loss. Although I'm tired, it's a good tired, after spending the day with dear friends in a very beautiful place.
:-)