Rainy day today

Golden leaves

All plans that the Senior Trailblazers had made for the day were scrapped when we saw the weather forecast: rain, rain, and more rain. As our fearless leader has said before, "why drive for an hour to hike in the rain when we have perfectly good rain right here?" One group decided to stay local and hike up the Chanterelle trail, which is mostly tree covered, while the other one also stayed local but carpooled to Blanchard Mountain to head up to Lily and Lizard Lakes.

(NB: I don't know what happened to cause this glitch, but after trying to fix it, I've given up.)

Lake Padden on a grey and rainy day

Mel and I took off in yet another different direction: we went to Lake Padden, since Mel's still nursing a sore foot, while I was happy to go anywhere at all, as long as I could share the raindrops with a good friend. We went twice around the lake, for a hike of 5.2 miles, and by the time we finished, most of the rain had stopped from being a soaker to just light raindrops, which felt great in comparison.

Mel looking bright and cheery

There wasn't lots to photograph today, so I got this one of Mel, and she reciprocated by taking one of me. She also captured our Yellow Brick Road for the day: the trail around the lake.

It's still raining in this one

One of the things that is nice about this trail is that even when it's wet, it's quite passable, and I was quite surprised to see that the parking lot was almost full. There was a middle-aged tourist who was taking pictures of kids playing in the rain, and he remarked that this was very different from his home, where they would be sitting inside in front of the TV. Yes, we can't let a little thing like rain keep us from exercising, or we'd never get outdoors!

Trees and ferns

I love the beautiful old trees around the lake, as well as the abundant ferns and vistas that my lovely hometown offers to anyone who gets out in all weather. I am also proud of the large number of rain jackets I've amassed since I moved here. And I am not happy about wearing rain pants, but I've managed to wear out a couple pair in fourteen years of hiking.

Now that's a root system

I noticed this amazing set of roots under this handsome old tree as we walked. You can also see that plenty of detritus has fallen under the tree to coat the roots. Most of the trees are evergreens, but there is always other bits of debris to nourish them. And lately, lots of rain.

Now I am home, with nowhere else to go, all my exercise behind me for the day, and a cozy and warm place to enjoy the rest of it. Not bad for a day when we have received close to an inch of rain already, wouldn't you say?

:-)