Rainy day turned out nice

Some of today's hikers posing for a picture

When I walked out to get in my car and join my fellow hikers, the sky was dark and threatening, but it wasn't raining. Yet. By the time the twelve of us gathered at the Senior Center, it was raining big, fat drops. The forecast was not encouraging. We decided not to drive to the Deception Pass area, which was on the schedule, and instead went to the North Chuckanut trailhead to spend some time on Chuckanut Mountain. By the time we started hiking, it was only raining a little.

Kirk and Mel at Huckleberry viewpoint

First, we left the Hemlock trail for the Huckleberry trail that leads up to this viewpoint. Although there is often a good view, as you can see behind Kirk, there's not much of one today. But it was fairly mild and only rained on us a little.

Raptor Ridge (Mel's picture)

Then we headed on up to Raptor Ridge, not expecting a view (and sure enough, we didn't get one), but by this time the wind picked up and the rain as well. Nobody stayed up there for long. It was still a little early for lunch, so we scrambled down out of the wind and made our way back towards the Hemlock trail. Going back this way, we cross over a bridge.

A little rickety, and wet as well

Once we had hiked far enough to get a little bit warmer, out of the wind, we decided to return to the Huckleberry viewpoint for lunch. We had been walking downhill, but the return to the viewpoint meant going uphill for a short bit, and I was glad for it, because I get warm much more quickly when we're heading up.

Thank you, Sir Galahad

Frank, our hike leader today, spread out a poncho onto the bench for us, since it was very wet. (That's him second from the right. Such a gentleman!) We had a rather quick but satisfying lunch. And then it was time to return back down to the cars.

Heading home

By the time we were almost back to the main trail, the rain had stopped and we even saw some sun, just a little, but enough to lift our spirits as we continued our return trip.

Waterfall

This lovely scene is just before we returned to our starting point. As usual, it's more impressive and abundant because of all the recent rain. It made for some muddy spots on the trail, but nothing we hardy hikers couldn't deal with. We covered right around eight miles and 1,800 feet up and down. A good day after all. It reminds me once again that the hardest part is just getting up and going anyway, even when the weather forecast is not the best.
:-)