Hoypus Hill and Ala Spit 2017

A motley crew

Sixteen Senior Trailblazers drove the 40-some miles from Bellingham to Cornet Bay on Whidbey Island, over the Deception Pass Bridge, on a magnificently sunny (albeit cold) day to hike around Hoypus Hill. We do this every winter; it's one of my favorite hikes when the weather is fine, like it was today.

Hoypus Hill trails

It was around 28°F (-2°C) when we began our hike, so we were bundled up pretty warmly. Since there is not much elevation gain on this hike, we traveled briskly, keeping up a good pace without any stops until we had been going for more than an hour. Usually we stop for a clothing adjustment pretty soon, but not today.

Linda took this picture of me looking very pink

I'm still wearing my pink fluffy jacket, long after I would have already taken it off, but it felt so good to be warm, and you can see the pretty ferns around me as well. Linda said my hair looked like it was reflecting my jacket, but there's still some pink left from my hair coloring adventure.

Long shadows as we regrouped

With so many of us on this hike, we had to stop every now and then and get everybody back together. There ares many trails that it makes it easy to get separated, but Al was careful to count us every so often. After traipsing around on the different trails for awhile, we then walked a short distance on the road to make our way to Ala Spit. 

Mt. Baker in the distance, Ala Spit surrounded by the bay

It's a thin strip of land (see the map) and often we cannot get there when the tide is up. But today we were able to get there easily while the tide was going out, and since we arrived right at noon, this was our lunch stop.I got this picture of Melanie and Carol on the Spit. You can tell by the depth of their clothing that it still wasn't all that warm, even though the sun felt wonderful once you got out of the wind. Some of us hunkered down behind driftwood to cut the wind, but we didn't linger all that long, not quite a half hour before heading back.

Melanie and Carol

It's hard to be too unhappy when you've got such good friends to talk with, and when you're well prepared with plenty of warm clothes. I tried to take off my coat, and I did for awhile, but once we stopped it was right back on and stayed on most of the rest of the day. It's warm as toast.

Beautiful old growth for us to enjoy

We returned along the Hoypus natural forest area, which has many beautiful old growth trees to admire. It's almost impossible to take a picture that shows the magnificence of these trees, but every time we visit them, I am again in awe of their beauty and size.

Al in front of an Old Growth tree

I was pleased to capture this picture of Al in front of a beautiful three that just kept going up and up. I had to crane my neck to see the top of this tree, so I just gave up and tried to make a picture that would show my readers their beauty. We finished our hike having covered more than nine miles, and plenty of sunshine to kiss our faces on a fine day. Tonight our rain returns, but our Thursday weather was pretty darn perfect!

:-)