Strenuous Fourth of July hike

Mary on today's hike

Today, one of our usual leaders, Barb, suggested an impromptu hike from the Lost Lake trailhead up to Burnout Point and back. Since the Senior Center was closed today, it wasn't official, but fourteen hikers showed up to take advantage of the possibility to get some exercise. I was one, even though I wasn't sure how I would handle around nine miles and lots of uphill on a warm sunny day.

Lookout view of Samish Bay and the islands

I'm not sure exactly how long it took us to get to this point, but I was constantly fighting to stay on the cool side and protecting myself from the sun. Although there were no clouds, it was challenging to find good footing when moving from partial shadow into full sun. I was glad for my new trekking poles, which worked great, and the help of my fellow hikers.

View of Mt Baker and the Sisters

From there, we walked another quarter mile to get to this other viewpoint, which offers a great view of Mt Baker and the Sisters. We stopped here for lunch. There was some shade, not much, but enough for those of us who needed to find a shady spot before pulling out our lunch.

Our "shade" as we ate and chatted

And then it was time to head down the road to return to our starting point. This is a wide loop hike, and the only thing I didn't really enjoy was walking on the gravel road as we made our way back to the trees. We also had some great views as we went.

Daisies, islands, and Samish Bay

I think this is my favorite picture from the day. Although I got lots of pictures of the abundant foxgloves in bloom, they didn't turn out nearly as lovely as what I saw with my own eyes. However, you can see from this picture what a beautiful place we walked through.

Today's hikers

We did find a passerby who was willing to take a picture of the group. Although the sun was shining brightly, I don't think the temperature reached much beyond 70°F (21°C). However, I was very happy with any shade we had on the logging road, since it allowed me to enjoy a slight breeze as well. 

Can you see the foxgloves?

Like I said, none of the pictures showed the beautiful proliferation of foxgloves, but they were there in pink, white, and lavender profusion. Once we got back down to the trees, we descended enough along the logging road, and then we were on our way back to our starting point, making a loop hike of around nine miles and more than 2,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. Quite a bit of loveliness indeed.

Once I got home, I immediately took a shower and changed into non-sweaty clothes, and pulled out my well-earned cold beer and quaffed it before getting some food. Now I am sitting here, not looking forward to all the loud noises to come from the fireworks displays my neighbors can't help but deliver. In any event, I should sleep well tonight! It was a really fine day, and I am happy to be able still to do stuff like this.

:-)

Going rogue again

Helen, one of the Rogue-Ettes

 Today's ferry trip and hikes on Lummi Island ended up with an amazing number of people wanting to go. We were still seeing people show up at the Senior Center when others were heading off to the ferry. One of the old timers, Joe, suggested that anybody who might want to join a smaller group on a short hike around town could join him. I did, and Helen (pictured above) also went, along with three people I hadn't met before: Jerry, Mary, and Jennifer.  We left the others to their own devices while we drove to the Two Dollar trailhead to make a trip to Fragrance Lake and around.

View of Samish Bay from the Two Dollar Trail

It was a gorgeous, glorious day, with the six of us making small talk and leaving the stress of politics behind. I myself was glad to be with a smaller group, and having had the fun of charting a different course, I couldn't be happier with the way the day turned out. 

We saw these little leaves everywhere

At first, we thought this might be an anomaly, but all the way up to the lake, we saw plenty of salal leaves smiling at us, like this one. We speculated that there might have been a class of students who decided to have some fun and give their fellow hikers something to puzzle over. We saw literally hundreds of them.

Fragrance Lake

We finally made it to the lake, which was serene and delightful. After we walked around the lake, we then headed partway down the circumference of the lake to find a nice place to stop for lunch. It turned out to be close to this spot, where we speculated about whether anybody might actually try to walk out on this log. Nobody did.

Our lunch spot

Jerry, standing, and Mary, sitting next to me, joined the rest of us for a quick early lunch. You might notice that one of those salal leaves is on my left leg, thanks to Helen. And I have yet another new hat, out for its maiden voyage. It's cool and has a definite "Handmaid's Tale" vibe. I'll be getting plenty of use out of it this summer, I hope.

Mushrooms on the trail

It was interesting to see that there were mushrooms growing, even though we've had little rain lately. I love to see our beautiful countryside, especially when much of the country is baking while we are enjoying delightful cool breezes and temperate weather. There is warmer weather on the horizon, but compared to everyone else, I'm happy to have this.

Lots of green, lovely hikers, some Ocean Spray

I asked for one final picture before we returned to the cars and ended our hike. We went around five easy miles, climbed around 900 feet, and therefore got a fun hike with an early finish. I suspect that the other group is still out there, and I do hope they have a great day, but I'm thrilled that I went rogue with these guys.

:-)