Old enough to know better, we went anyway

Carol, Peggy, Rich, Diane, Al, Chris, Kirk

It never fails to amaze me when I get to the Senior Center to find that nine other crazy Seniors decided to give today a chance for a hike. Although we were scheduled to go into the High Country, because of the forecast I was sure we wouldn't be doing that, and I was right. Instead, we drove a short distance to  Stewart Mountain to hike the Olsen Creek area. The forecast was for it to be "breezy with showers."

It was dark in the trees, but it sheltered us from the wind and rain

When we started out, it was with a light rain, nothing we couldn't handle. But soon we stopped to add more layers, as you can see in that first picture. Raincoats and rain pants were not quite enough for some. Chris, in the above picture, added her yellow poncho, but I never quite got around to putting on my new red one. Since we were traveling uphill, I was pretty comfy.

Mikey struggling to keep his umbrella in check, Steve helping

And then we were out in the wind. I think it was a bit optimistic to call it a "breeze," since it was sending the rain sideways and gusting to at least 30-40mph. After going a mere two miles, we had a little conference to decide whether we wanted to continue on or turn around. We did the smart thing and turned around. On the way back, I saw just the littlest bit of a view.

Not much view, but it was as good as we got all day

You can see the trees bending in the wind and in the distance Lake Whatcom and farther out, Bellingham Bay. We trudged back through the rain and mud, and once we reached the shelter of the trees, the rain had stopped. By the time we made it back to the cars, having only traveled four miles total, we decided to have our lunch inside the Haggen store at Barkley.

Chris and Rich having a nice warm lunch

The nice thing was that we could get hot soup and coffee to enjoy with our packed lunches, and that's just what we did. It's not often that we get to sit around and talk with everybody at lunchtime; usually on a day like today we are huddled miserably under a tree and making the best of a tough situation, eating lunch as quickly as possible. Not today: we were all relaxed and warm. And it's still early as I finish writing this post, a long time before it's wine o'clock. For once on a Thursday I'm not tired, so I will have to think how I want to spend the rest of this day. The rain started up again, but now I'm actually seeing a little sunshine to go along with it!
:-)