Our start-of-summer party

The twelve hikers from our group

Today the Senior Trailblazers carpooled to Lake Padden to walk around the horse trails behind Lake Padden. We do this, with the other Trailblazer group either starting an hour earlier and not going as far, or doing another shorter hike and meeting us at the pavilion for our annual beginning-of-summer potluck. Here's a map of the trails around the lake.

All the trails around Lake Padden

My Saturday walking group often walks twice around the 2.6-mile loop around the lake (in fact, we did it just this last Saturday), but today we Trailblazers started from the south end, near the dog park, to hike the horse trails for around five miles. This is a dog-off-leash area, and we met several well-behaved dogs with their humans on the trails. We emerged from the trails to join the regular loop near the westernmost dock, then added another mile to get back to the pavilion, where we'd meet the other group.

Such a beautiful green forest

Although we were without any rain at all, our recent showers made much of the trail muddy, as you can see in the picture above. But our forest is so beautiful and lush, it makes up for all the rain. And especially since it was nice and dry overhead with just about perfect hiking weather, nobody minded a bit.

A trillium gathering

We saw this group of beautiful trillium, almost spent, since the white flowers turn pink as they decay, but it was still so very lovely to see them. I know I've said it before, but I am often struck by the close proximity we have of myriad places to walk and hike in Bellingham, and today was no exception.

Settling in for lunch at the pavilion

By the time we saw the pavilion, we also saw that the other group had already arrived and had brought their food to the table. We joined them and although it was early, there was so much food and so many choices that we didn't let a little thing like the fact that it wasn't quite 11:30 stop us. And I got to see and visit with so many people I don't see often, such as those in the other group and others who came after the hike to socialize.

Three ladies from the other group enjoying lunch

As you can see from the way we are dressed, it wasn't warm, as the sun kept hiding from us, and a cool breeze kept us from being totally comfortable. After walking and being so warm from exercise, I was chilled but enjoyed myself once I wrapped up in the extra clothes I brought along.

Jonelle and Carol

I hadn't seen Jonelle in ages, and it was so nice to see her today. She's dealing with bursitis in her knee, and that's after getting over some back trouble she'd been dealing with earlier. That's one of the problems that we Seniors must accept: one thing gets fixed and another one begins to hurt. It helps so much to have friends who understand. Jonelle is hopeful that she'll be on the trail with us this summer.

Me in front of a great flower display

Carol took this picture of me that I quite like. Although I took pictures of other people with the flowers in the background, they didn't show up nearly as well as they do here, so I had to finish the post with this happy smiling person you might recognize in front of the flowers. It was a good day, and we covered around six miles total, with close to 1,000 feet of elevation gain and loss (not much for our group, but enough for today) and once I stop feeling quite so full, I'll be much happier and tell myself that next year I won't eat so much at the potluck (yeah, right)!
:-)