Ants in my pants

Jonelle, Karen, Joy, Bob, Dave, Kirk

I'll explain that title in a minute (true story). But first: fifteen Trailblazers met today to hike up one of our favorite places in the Mt. Baker wilderness, Goat Mountain. But since it's in a wilderness area and we are restricted to no more than twelve, five of our number decided to attempt the summit, while the rest of us would make it to the lookout, which meant we wouldn't go up (and down) the 1,400 extra feet of elevation and would keep in touch by walkie-talkies.

Al looking quite svelte

Al led the hike, and I thought he looked like he's lost a little weight during this past month, and he agreed. The picture doesn't lie. He set a very nice pace, one I enjoyed as it wasn't too fast, and we, the slower group, made our way up the trail on a lovely day, not too hot with a nice breeze. It is about a three-mile ascent before we reach the meadow and then a rather steep section to the overlook.

Beautiful flowers on our way to the overlook

The flowers were simply amazing once we got to the meadow, and I was reminded of all the snow we had to deal with when we went on this same hike at the end of March (here's the link). It was our first hike back in the High Country back then, and here we are just two months later and we didn't see a speck of snow on the trail.

Mt. Shuksan with blooming heather in the foreground

And then we were there: at the overlook, where we can see wonderful views of Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, and Mt. Sefrit. A few clouds had begun to form, making for some really great pictures and giving us a chance to sit down to a nice leisurely lunch without it being too hot.

"Look this way", I said to Kirk, Joy, Al, Diane, and Dave

Once we were finished with lunch, and having had no sign of the others and being unable to contact them with the walkie-talkies, we started our downward trek. I asked Fred (yes, the elusive Fred joined us today!) to take a picture or two of me, and he captured this one of me and Jonelle, with magnificent Mt. Baker hiding a little behind the clouds.

Me, Mt. Baker, and Jonelle

And then it was time to head back down. It was still a beautiful day, not too hot, not too cold, and there were a few sections where delightful butterflies surrounded us. Al pointed out one that had opened its beautiful wings to the sun, so I grabbed my camera and tried to capture it before it flew away. Unfortunately, I leaned a little too far forward and lost my balance, falling into a steep drop-off on the side and missing the shot. I managed to stop my slide down the slope by handing my camera to Bob and asking for some assistance back up. Not so easy when I realized that there was no place for my feet, so I finally turned over and Bob pulled me back on the trail, a bit like a beached whale, but we won't go there.

Other than being embarrassed, everything seemed okay until I began to realize I was COVERED with ants. They were all over my clothes and began to make their displeasure known to me. Before long I was almost down to my skivvies as Bob and Karen helped to get them off me, and I only yelled once or twice. But yes, they managed to make it under my shirt and my pants before we were able to declare me ant-free. And then the excitement was over and we resumed our descent.

Chris's picture of the goats at the summit

We got back down and piled into our cars, but not before I had received a cellphone call from Chris, who told me they had all made it to the summit, but that they were far enough behind us that we would just make sure to see them next week. Mostly we had no cellphone coverage, but because the ski area was sometimes in our line of sight, we could call each other. Once I got back home, I received the wonderful picture of the mountain goats on Goat Mountain, and I see that they had a little snow as well. (We never saw any at all.)

So, to summarize, as I sit here with my wine almost finished, my post almost done, and no ants left to remind me of my humiliation (instead of a GREAT picture), I am hoping that you will enjoy this post of our special day on Goat Mountain as much as we did!
:-)