A soggy Goose Rock hike

West Beach at Deception Pass State Park

Our day started out well: twelve Senior Trailblazers met at the Senior Center to carpool to the Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island, to hike up to Goose Rock. It's a fairly long drive, so we got started on the beach a little after 9:00am, with a light rain already falling. It had been raining on the drive, but since the forecast was for "occasional showers," we felt sure it would probably stop soon.

Misty scene from the beach

As you can see from the picture, the sea was almost the same color as the sky, with little color to be seen anywhere, except from our colorful rain gear. After a short time hiking, we felt that the rain had stopped, for the most part, so many of us took of our rain jackets.

Rich, Doug, Chris, Rita, Peggy, Al, Susan, Linda, Ward, Steve

The only two on the hike who are not in the picture are Karen, and me behind the camera. The Deception Pass bridge is visible behind us. All pictures were taken with my iPhone, since I didn't want to take my camera out in the rain. At this point, however, it looked like I could have brought it after all. But this cozy scene didn't last long.

A few minutes after this picture was taken, it began to sprinkle and we donned our rain gear again. Then the sprinkle turned to rain. Just a shower, we all thought. However, the shower didn't stop and before long the conversation turned to other things as we made our way up to Goose Rock. There was no view to be had, just mist, so I didn't take any pictures. Plus, I had forgotten to bring my new Seattle Sombrero, so I was hampered by my inability to keep my glasses from getting wet.

Huddled under a tree on the summit

Do we look wet? Well, we were. After a quick lunch, Al asked if he could be forgiven for taking a shortcut back to the cars. He didn't get any objections, and we pulled the remainder of our rain gear out of our packs. For me, this meant my new red poncho, which replaced my soggy raincoat. By the time we reached the cars, we had only covered five-and-a-half miles in total, when we had planned a longer hike. Nobody minded a shortened hike today.

I circled Goose Rock on the map

I decided to show you a picture of the entire park, since I didn't take many pictures. It's a pretty place, and we will be back again before too long. Hopefully the weather will allow us to hike further and take more pictures of our day. Although it was wet, it was my first hike after my trip and I got to chat with my friends about Turkey, and it was good to see the magnificent park, even in the rain.
:-)