Raptor Ridge via Huckleberry

Richard, Frank, Richard, Sue, MaryLou, Kirk, Melanie, Peggy

Nine Senior Trailblazers met either at the Senior Center or drove to the trailhead to start one of our usual winter hikes: to Raptor Ridge. There are many ways to get there, and today we decided to take the Hemlock trail until it splits off to Huckleberry Point and beyond. The picture above was taken at the Point, since there was no view looking out the other direction.

Geezers in the mist

I am still not completely recovered from whatever I have been suffering from, so when I stopped to cough, Frank offered me some of his cough drops. I had never heard of them, but they do work great. He shared his Fisherman's Friend lozenges with me, and even gave me half of his supply. While we were stopped, I looked up to see the others waiting for us in the fog. At this point we were free of snow, but that was not to last.

First signs of snow

We encountered fresh snow on the way up to the turnoff to Huckleberry Point, but I thought it would be intermittent. But no, from this point on we had snow underfoot, and in some places overhead, as the fresh snow fell in clumps from the trees to fall on us and work its way down the back of our necks.

Raptor Ridge viewpoint

This is the place where we have spent many a day basking in the sun, but today we had to take turns to come over and look at it. Those footsteps in the snow were made by some more adventurous hikers than we are. Usually at this point there is a strong wind, but today it was calm. A nice change, but there was no place here for us to stop for lunch.

Peggy

You can see the fresh snow on the trees behind Peggy. We had a discussion at this point about whether to find a spot out of the snow to have lunch, or just turn around and start back down the trail. We decided to make a loop out of it, but by the time we got to a point where we could make it longer, the majority of us decided to skip having lunch and just head back down to the cars.

Indian plum beginning to bloom

Peggy pointed out the first blossoms on the Indian plum bushes on our way back down, which seems early to me, but I guess not. We saw both lots of snow and the first signs of spring today. We climbed up and down around 1,800 feet of elevation (550 meters) and eight miles before we climbed into our cars and headed home. It was a good day, and I managed to get rid of much of my chest congestion through exertion, as well as a little help from my friend.
:-)