Lake Ann 2016

Lake Ann 18 August 2016

Twelve Senior Trailblazers gathered at the Senior Center to hike the Lake Ann trail on a very hot day. This hike doesn't have much shade once you leave the trees in the forest during your initial descent. This hike is rated hard because, as one wag said, it's uphill both ways. In other words, you descend into a valley and then climb up almost the same distance you went down at the beginning. And then you return the same way, with an uphill climb to the cars.

Sylvia and Mel on our ascent to Lake Ann

It was very pleasant to start out, with plenty of shade and a cool breeze, but by the time we had reached Swift Creek and were ready to start our uphill climb, the hot sun beating down on the endless rocks made it tough on many of us. Not a cloud in the sky. I really prefer hiking in cooler weather.

Our lunchtime view

We found a nice shady spot to enjoy our lunch, looking to the south, with the backside of Mt. Shuksan to our left and Lake Ann to our right. In the above picture, the snow in the upper right is on Mt. Shuksan.

Lower Curtis Glacier on Mt. Shuksan

Here is a picture of the state of the glacier on Mt. Shuksan today. I've been looking at it for eight years now, and it's noticeably smaller today, but still glorious. Instead of hiking closer to the glacier, we decided after lunch to take a nice stroll around Lake Ann. Two of our more adventurous Trailblazers went skinny dipping in the lake, while three of the rest of us took off our shoes and socks and treated our toes to an icy dip.

Lake Ann in front, Mt. Shuksan behind

I got this picture, my favorite of the day, of the lake in the foreground with a reflection of Shuksan's glaciers. It was a really nice place to hang out, but we needed to return on the more than four miles and plenty of elevation that had gotten us to this lovely place. And it was getting late.

Mt. Baker

On the way down, I saw this scene of Mt. Baker with the first leaves of the mountain ash beginning to turn in front of it. In a few weeks, the color display will be astounding, but for now, it's just beginning. Mike hustled me ahead of the others to show me a spot he thought would be a good one to take of our group, so here it is.

Doug, Dick, Rich, Ellen, Sue, Chris, Mel, Kirk, Sylvia, Al, MIke

He was right: the lighting and the scenery were all pretty spectacular. After I took this picture, we just put one foot in front of the other for the return journey, making it back to the cars a little before 5:00pm. We still had quite a bit of time in our cars before arriving in Bellingham, but of course we all stopped anyway for our ice cream at Grahams in Glacier. It's a tradition, and it also tasted simply wonderful.

So that's why it's now almost 8:00pm and the post is just now being finished. Now that my task has been completed, it's into the shower for me, and making my way into horizontal mode. It's been a wonderful day but I'm done. And I get a massage tomorrow! Yay!
:-)