Thursday, November 6, 2014

Not what we expected

Chris, Peggy, Lisa, Mike, Ward, Linda, Kirk, Al, Rich
The weather forecast for today was another wet one, with lots of wind. We were under a high wind warning in our area, so we figured it would be one of those days with sideways rain, huddled miserably in our rain gear. And still, eleven Trailblazers showed up anyway! I took the above picture in the parking lot. Steve was still getting his gear on when I snapped this picture to show us in our own version of how best to stay dry. Mikey and Rich left their umbrellas behind, since with the wind they don't work very well.
The old logging road part of our hike
The trail on the south side of Stewart Mountain that we call "Cub Creek" covers both old logging roads and trails through the woods. As we began our hike, all ready for the heavy rain, it began to diminish, and by the time we had gone less than a mile, it stopped. Completely. Although the wind would whistle through the trees as we hiked, most of the time it didn't make it to us. And for the rest of the hike, we were dry as a bone.
View of sunny Bellingham
We had an occasional ray of sunshine, but as you can see in this picture, mostly we had low clouds above us, while Bellingham enjoyed lots of sunshine (and wind, too I learned later). As we trekked upwards, covering more than 3,000 feet up and down, we would get an occasional gust of wind that made us realize that the high wind warning wasn't kidding: at one point, Peggy's glasses were blown right off her face.
Heading back down in the fog
After we had a rather hasty lunch, we noticed that every time the wind would die down, fog would begin to fill in. We last did this hike in April of 2013, and it was sunny and bright, as you can see here. I didn't get very many pictures today, since I didn't bring my camera and relied on my cellphone for pictures. I could easily have brought even my new iPad Air if I had known how dry it would have been today, I am glad I didn't have to worry about my new toy, though. My cellphone is protected in an Otterbox, which makes it easy for me to take pictures with it.
Maple leaves among the greenery
All in all, it was a MUCH better day than we expected, and that's a good thing. There is a reason that I always go out on a day when we expect rain and wind, because it doesn't always happen. Of course, I've also come home soaking wet, everything I own dripping. But there's always a nice hot shower, a glass of wine, and my partner to come home to, so even then it's good. But not as good as today. Walking just under nine miles with good friends and coming home dry. Oh, and as soon as we reached our cars and started back, the rain began again. Our timing was impeccable!
:-)

20 comments:

  1. that's a very GOOD kind of unexpected! glad you didn't take the i-pad air - especially w/ glasses being blown off one's face! :)

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  2. glad you got a good surprise along the way...the fog is cool...ha...there looks to be a sliver of sun off in the distance there...

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  3. Your pictures are just great, and I love that you are all so brave to venture out into the weather despite the warnings. Good job!

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  4. Beautiful photos. Certainly not weather I could hike in. I am very much a fair-weather hiker. Heck, I'm a fair-weather anything.

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  5. I really admire the grittiness of your group to go out in very inclement weather.

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  6. You are all brave and courageous and inspiring. :-)

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  7. I am so very pleased that your determination was rewarded so handsomely...

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  8. It's always nice to get home on a cold, wet, windy day. You folks are to be commended on your determination, though I wonder about your sanity (a bit). Well done," at any rate.

    Blessings and Bear hugs!

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  9. Another walk rewarded with reasonable weather although a wind strong enough to blow off someone's glasses sounds a bit strong to me.

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  10. Well, Bellingham got a bit o sun, while you were in the foggy elements. The wind sounded fierce much like our wind of late. I found a great triple zip lock bag to put my ipad mini in and takes great photos in wet weather. I was covering the nor'easter we just had and dry as a bone with my layered wet suit and covered ipad. They're not too expensive. My brother got it from Amazon for me. I think you are a hardy enough looking group and love those striped looking pants on ? as I cannot go back to your photos from this page. Blew her glasses right off her face - now that's FIERCE WIND!

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  11. Going out despite the weather and having it turn out to be better than you expected is always a good thing.

    But, holy cow, having one's glasses blown off their face? That is some major wind!

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  12. impeccable timing indeed!!!
    ...and as always, such wonderful, beautiful photos.

    I really like the maple leaves among the green.

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  13. Certainly making lemonade out of lemons. Or something like that. Seizing the day, maybe.
    I'm glad nobody got hit by a falling tree limb, and you all came home all oxygenated and happy.

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  14. Well, you had it all, that's for sure! Pretty cool photo over Bellingham; but I have a bit of agoraphobia, so I like the picture if the old logging road the best.

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  15. Such an intrepid group. The first pic looked like a rough day loomed ahead and yet you got some nice breaks.
    Thought of you this morning when I watched Ginger Zee (GMA weather girl with your daredevil spirit) who did a tandem jump live today in Florida and the whole jump was filmed with a GoPro. I was surprised how long it took. As she tried to find words to describe her joy while wearing a huge grin, I think she summed it up by excitedly saying she wanted to go right back up and do it again. It made me understand just a bit your passion for the sport.

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  16. I guess it just shows what keeping a positive attitude can do for you. Way to go DJan

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  17. You guys play with nature and nature plays back!

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  18. Bellingham looks good in the sun. I didn't realise it was on the coast. You don't go on the beach much, right? You had a lovely hike and the pictures are super.

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