Thursday, June 27, 2013

Goat was a great improvement

Jonelle, Al, Peggy (and me behind the camera)
I suspected we wouldn't have much of a crowd again today, when I woke to... you guessed it, rain. More rain after last week's soggy hike. (For the record, Bellingham broke the rainfall record last Thursday for the date by a factor of three!) But the hard core showed up, all right, four of us. We headed for Goat Mountain, a long drive for another possible wet hike, but it wasn't bad at all! A few sprinkles are nothing to intrepid hikers.
Lots of water, but beautiful new growth, too
The first part of this hike is in the trees, with switchbacks carrying us up toward the lookout meadow. We figured, however, that there would be little to see, as the fog and low clouds would obscure our views. Nevertheless, on the way up, we saw lots of flowers that are now gone at lower elevations. I captured these on the trail (you can enlarge by clicking the picture, but you know that, right?)
Top: wild ginger, woodland violets
Bottom: salmonberries, trillium
By the time we hit the meadow, we had moved from green woods to serious snow. Although the snow didn't start until we got to 4,600 feet, the landscape changed completely. We started hiking up the snow, looking for a place to stop for lunch.
Heading toward our lunch spot
As you can see from the way we are dressed, it still wasn't very cold and nobody had donned raincoats or warmer gear. But once we stopped at our lunch spot and turnaround point, we did bundle up. I decided to try to get a photo of all four of us by strapping my camera to a nearby branch. The results were mixed. My first try:
Humor provided by an accidental entertainer
You see that blue pad in the middle of the picture? I set the camera for a 10-second delay and rushed towards it over all the branches in the foreground. Before I reached it, I was head over heels down the slope. Peggy isn't in the picture because a leaf obscured her face. Here's my next attempt:
Al, me, Jonelle, and Peggy
That green decoration in Peggy's face is actually NOT on her hat but a branch that I never saw when I set up the picture. We were still quite comfortable and decided not to try to reach the lookout, since we weren't going to have any view anyway. We'll save that for another day.
Heading back to the car
It was, all in all, a beautiful day, with six-and-a-half miles covered, one of those in snow, and 2,500 feet of elevation gain and loss. Not bad for a day that started out looking to be much more wet and soggy than it was. I never had to put my raincoat on the entire day! Now I am warm and enjoying my well-earned glass of wine and looking forward to a good night's sleep after a fine day.
:-)

26 comments:

  1. laughing at you setting the timer and then rolling away from the photo. :)

    loved the wood violets and trillium! so cool to see them this late - anywhere!

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  2. Wet and soggy here as well. Enough. But intrepid DJanitty perservered in spite of all the challenges...:)

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  3. ha i think the four of you had a little fun eh? smiles...those little waterfalls are cool...so cool getting to see all the flora...good job being one of the hard core...ha...

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  4. You're a tough bunch. You have to really have a good head to go out in the rain and then when you get there the hike is most enjoyable.

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  5. Keep practicing, I like seeing you in pictures.

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  6. I'm glad you could all laugh at your tumble. No harm done, I hope.
    It seemed like the rain never stopped here today, although most of the time it was very light, but it was too wet to work in the garden, with everything water logged. It was very frustrating. I guess i should have gone hiking. :-)

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  7. The flowers along the way are beautiful...as is the snow.
    My favorite photo: friends break out in big grins when fellow hiker rolls down the slope.
    What a lovely capture...(allbeit accidental.) Great capture! These kinds are my favorites!!
    Love the friendship...
    Hugs,
    Jackie

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  8. What a fun day. The time incident had me laughing and reminded me of the old photo booths and being caught off guard while trying to anticipate the click.

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  9. It's so interesting that you start out in summer and move into winter and then back again into summer. Seems there's some magical stuff going on there!

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  10. From the smiles in the photo you must have put on a pretty good show on the first attempt to get back to the blue pad.

    I'll trade you some sunshine for some of your rain. We will be hitting the triple digits this coming week.

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  11. Ooh and aah. Again. With the amount of rain you see and hike through it is very fortunate that you have waterproof skin.
    I loved the flowers and the lush greenery.

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  12. It's amusing to see snow in late June. Loved all of nature's finery, captured very well by you.

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  13. And then there were four, but these four were hardy enough not to have spirits dampened by rain and it turned out well for all of you, with giggles, warm air, tumbles, branches on hats and comradeship regardless of what the weather brought your way. Some days it just pays to get out there. Lovely photos DJan and I love the waterfall.

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  14. I would love some wet and soggy here....but at least YOU'RE getting the moisture...or what's left of the winter/spring snows. Gosh, eating lunch near a snowbank, I haven't done that since our Colorado days.

    Love the trickling water images DJan!

    Keep on hikin'! I always enjoy your photos and your commentary.

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  15. it must be amazing to walk through seasons
    first flowers, then snow

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  16. You would have missed a great laugh if you were only "fair weather friends"! I love that you go rain or shine. Or snow. And still get great photos.

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  17. Snow in summer. That would be neat to see. We are sweltering here.

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  18. Oh man, you make me feel like such a wimp . . . I begged off a round of golf today just because it was raining (and now, of course, the sun is peeking out)!

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  19. Timer shots are always a fun challenge - I'm glad you included the first attempt photo & story!
    Makes me smile to see those same wild flowers that we enjoy here in our woods.

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  20. How funny to go backwards - while heading forward (from Summer to Spring to Winter)!

    Loved the ingenuity of hanging the camera from the tree...even if you did roll out of the first shot!

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  21. Love the mini-falls, beautiful flowers, seeing snow, and funny you!! ;)

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  22. So glad your "trip" was for amusement and no harm done.
    How neat to hike in snow and not be cold. You live in such a different world.

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  23. Good for you, taking a time-delay photo to include yourself. Even if it didn't work so well the first time!

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  24. Your fellow hikers enjoyed your predicament..I am glad you were not hurt. Beautiful flowers..you get to enjoy them all over again..the magic of the mountains:)

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  25. Three girls and a guy--now we know why Al goes on hikes :-)

    The wild flowers are such a bonus when they appear where mankind had nothing to do with their planting. I get used to seeing gardens that people organize, but I appreciate the flowers that volunteer in the wild.

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  26. I'm glad you've got cooler weather up there. I now know how challenging (awful) it is to hike when it's hot and dry. Your wildflowers are beautiful!

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