A lovely five miles

Samish Bay from the overlook

When I saw that the weather forecast for today was to be beautiful, in the low sixties (16°C) and sunny, I texted my friend Melanie to see if she would be interested in going to the newly reopened Larrabee State Park trailhead to walk up to Fragrance Lake, one of my favorite places. She readily agreed, and asked another mutual friend, Dianne, if she wanted to join us. Initially hesitant, Dianne agreed to join us if we all drove separately, wore masks, and stayed physically distant (at least six feet apart). We met at the trailhead at 8:20am.

Very interesting tree roots

The trail has many delights, not the least of which are these tree roots. Last week I put a picture of some roots that made a tree look like it was walking away, since instead of a rock, a log had been underneath in earlier times, and it had disappeared. This rock isn't going anywhere, but it sure makes for an eye-opening scene.

Just a beautiful forest

Since we started early, we didn't begin to see many people until we had been out for awhile. Most people were wearing masks, and almost everyone was willing to keep their distance by leaving the trail while we passed, or we did the same. We were all following covid etiquette (or, as I heard on the radio, "cov-etiquette"). Everyone seemed really happy to be back on our state trails.

Dianne, Melanie, and me

Mel took this picture while we were at the overlook, three happy people, masked and socially distant, in full sunshine and on our way to the lake. Along the way, we saw lots of trillium, still in bloom, but definitely on the older side.

Trillium

I am loving these flowers and didn't realize we would still see so many, this late in the springtime at this elevation. We climbed about a thousand feet on our way to the lake, and on the way we saw another face in a tree.

Well, hello there!

As I wrote in that earlier post, seeing faces in inanimate objects is called pariedolia, but in this case, it was created by an artist for the enjoyment of those of us who passed by. I guess it was the left arm that was the inspiration for this. In any event, we all smiled and delighted in the creativity.

Fragrance Lake

And then we were at the lake, where we enjoyed spending a few moments looking at the view. No, that is not a creature under the water, just a log. We decided against heading around the lake, which would have added another mile to our hike and headed back down the service road, instead of going back the way we had come. It was beginning to get busy, and we figured the road, which isn't as pretty but much wider, would be a better return trip. We covered more than five miles today, and had a simply wonderful time outdoors, staying safe and taking care of our spiritual health, as well as our physical selves. It was lovely.
:-)