Thursday, September 7, 2017

A wonderful new group

At the trailhead (taken by Charlene)
Today ten Senior Trailblazers from the second group (the "relaxed" Trailblazers, rather than the "half fast" group, my usual one) went to Artist Point to hike Ptarmigan Ridge. You know I've been thinking about it for awhile, and today I did it. And you know what? I'll be joining these wonderful people again, probably sooner rather than later. I already knew three of them, but I made the acquaintance of the others today.
Yellow skies and very little view today
Although the haze from the forest fires was supposed to be gone, or diminished at the very least, we hiked right into the smoky surroundings, and it never got better. Once in awhile we'd cast a shadow, but most of the time it looked like this.
Bill on the trail
Bill used to hike with the other group, so I knew him quite well. He's got two artificial knees but sure does fine with them, and I saw that the group had some faster and some slower hikers, just like ours. It was sure nice for me not to be at the tail end of this group. Owen, our leader, set a good pace and stopped often to let the others catch up. This allowed for everyone to hike at his or her best speed.
Desmond the newbie
Desmond had never been on one of these hikes before, but he did very well. He lives next door to Charlene, and she suggested he might want to try one of these hikes. At first he was a little slow, but by the time we finished, he was managing to keep up a good pace, just a teeny bit slower than the rest. I do hope he will return; not all the hikes are as challenging as this one.
Leslie, Jean, Cookie
By the time the hike was over, I felt as though I had known these people for ages. It turns out that Leslie is a friend of my friend John from the coffee shop, and we had heard about each other from him. Now that we have met, I can see why John likes her so much, she's great! They are all lots of fun and we laughed quite a lot as the day went on.
Lovely flowers
Although we had little view, we sure did see a lot of beautiful flowers along the way. It amazes me how they manage to flourish in high altitudes with a very short time to bloom. We also saw some mountain goats, but they were too far away for me to capture with my phone camera.
Leslie, me, Jean and Cookie
I asked for a picture of all the white-haired women in front of what we could see of the mountains, and this picture was what I got. Noriko would have been in the picture too, although she's in her late seventies and her hair is still dark!
The clearest view we had today
This picture shows that we had no views at all today, other than a view of the hazy skies and close-by mountains. But it was such a good day anyway: we covered around six miles and some elevation, while being at a high altitude to start with. And we stopped at Graham's for our regulation ice cream on the way back, just like the other group does! So I was happy and had a super day, in spite of the haze. Life is good, and I'm thrilled to have made so many new friends.
:-)

15 comments:

  1. Good for you for giving the new group a try out. You will know if you are ready to take it a little easier. It sounds like not pushing so hard gave you the chance to have a lot of fun.

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  2. It sounds like a perfect day in spite of the smoke, Jan. Wonderful!

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  3. Isn't it fun to make new hiking friends?

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  4. It's nice when you have options in the same activity. We have walkers to hikers and stuff in between.

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  5. I am so glad (and unsurprised) that you have made new friends.
    I do hope the smoke clears though.

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  6. So nice to find another group you're suddenly friends with. I actually was out with a group testerday for two + hours, and had a great hike. I kept up with them all quite well, though this was just mostly flat, not your mountains!

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  7. Always good to make new friends. I'm sure this group was very happy to make your acquaintance, too. You'll add a lot to their outings.

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  8. I'm so glad you gave the other group a try! Sounds like it was a winner all around. They sound like a good group. Any group that laughs a lot is a good group in my eyes. ;)

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  9. You have fulfilled another goal. Super photos of some new friends.

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  10. This group sounds more like my speed. At least I have the hair color for it. Struggle may be a fine goal but for me, fun trumps challenge. They sound like a fun group and I am glad you are enjoying them.

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  11. Wonderful, nice to see all of those faces ❤️

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  12. I'm so happy for you, having broadened your (friends) horizon! That's so good for all of us!

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  13. A relaxed group of hikers...not likely! I am glad you found a group more to your pace, as I know you are probably slower because you like to take it all in and take photos too:)

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