Thursday, June 16, 2016

I forgot how much I love Goat Mountain

Al in a field of glacier lilies
Twelve Senior Trailblazers headed up the Mount Baker Highway today to tackle Goat Mountain, one of our several-times-a-season hikes. I was worried about my knee's ability to take yet another uphill hike, after having twinges and some pain after last week's hike up Church Mountain. I decided to go ahead and give it a try, and I'm sure glad I did: I had forgotten how much I enjoy all the aspects of this particular hike.
Al at the overlook, with snow
Although the weather was overcast with a spit of rain every now and then, we hiked the three-and-a-half miles to the overlook, and found a little bit of new snow at the top. That's Sefrit Mountain in front of Al, with its summit hidden from view by the  clouds.
Owen, Rich, Chris, Joy, Dave, Greg, Dave, Roger, MIke, Al
Cindy (kneeling)
Here's the group before we sat down to have a quick lunch. There are two Daves in the picture, but I don't remember their last names. It was a rather large group, with many of the guys chatting the entire way up and down the mountain, so I kept towards the front of the line and stayed out of the conversations.
Finding a nice lunch spot
As you can see once we reached the top, the weather wasn't wonderful, but we put on extra clothes and hunkered down out of the wind. Now and then the sun came out and made us very warm indeed. Even though it was a bit on the weathery side, it was still delightful.
Roger admiring the view
We stayed for a fair amount of time on the top before beginning our return trip, because you don't want to rush away after having spent so much energy getting there, and plus with proper clothes, it was even comfortable. Although we never saw much of the mountains, it didn't matter.
Our trail in the forest
Once we had descended far enough to have returned to the woods, the sun began to peep out even more than before. I saw the trail and greenery lit up by the sun and had to take this picture. From here on down, we had more sun than clouds, and the temperature was simply perfect for hiking.
Maidenhair ferns in front
At one of the stream crossings, I saw my favorite ferns, maidenhair ferns or Adiantum. It's curious to wonder how they got their common name, but they sure are pretty to my eye. I always have to snap a picture when I see one.
Map of Goat Mountain trail
As we were leaving, I took a picture of the Forest Service map of the area. We followed the red dotted line up those switchbacks. Take a look at the elevation profile in the lower right to see why I was worried about my knee. But it did very well and I'm so pleased to be sitting here, happy to have climbed the mountain once again, with good friends and just a wee bit of rain!
:-)

15 comments:

  1. really glad your knee did well and you enjoyed the day. :)

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  2. I wonder why it is called Goat Mountain, as I did not see any goats in your photos. Lol.

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  3. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
    And I am so glad that your knee recognised that you are boss today.

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  4. Well done, Jan. It sounds like a wonderful hike. I love photos of the light through the trees such as you took on that hike.

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  5. I enjoy these excursions with you! The scenery is breathtaking.

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  6. I can see why you like this hike. The scenery is fabulous!

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  7. Very pretty hike. Love the ferns and seeing snow in the summer is always a hoot. Glad your knee did well. I hope it feels as good today. :)

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  8. You mention something that I'd forgotten. we always tried to stay on the peak as long as we could. We also had a minute of silence where kids were asked to think about their experience.

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  9. The book I'm reading about biking cross continent, the father has leg problems and ended up at a small hospital on the bike route [I think they were in Kentucky not sure]...anyway, the staff told him to stay off the bike for 6 days. They ended up in a motel...with his leg propped up as instructed, he called his daughter who is an M D in New Hampshire...she told him "Suck it up and keep on biking" it'll go away.

    He did, and was glad of taking her advice. As you are....nothing better than feeling good about accomplishing something you "need" to do...despite the possiblity of pain. And the beautiful scenery and fresh, mountain, air. Well, heck, you just CAN'T go wrong.

    I too love those ferns.

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  10. Neat hike as always. See any of those elusive wild mountain goats...:)

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  11. There is something about the quality of the light in the fourth photo that just fascinates me. It's the foreground/background thing, as though you are above a chasm but can almost reach out and touch the mountain ridges on the other side.

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  12. I loved seeing those glacier lilies in your area. They are such sweet flowers. You do trek in the most beautiful places.

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  13. That's a lot of switchbacks! Thanks for the map!

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