Rock/Ridge trail and more

Part of our large group today

What a day! I'm a little late getting this post up, because I had to call AppleCare to find out why my pictures didn't download from my iPhone to my Mac. Half of them came through, but not the others. After doing everything I could think of, I ended up with an hour sharing my Mac screen with a technician trying to find out what was wrong. I think now that my life can return to some semblance of normal.

The start of our hike

All eighteen of us Senior Trailblazers drove up Cleator Road to this signpost. It was overcast but very nice weather for hiking, cool and damp, but not cold at all. Our plan was to hike up this road to Chuckanut Ridge, which has lots of ups and downs but none of us minded it much. I couldn't have done it without  trekking poles, but there were some who didn't use them. I was impressed.

So green and lush

I didn't get any pictures to show you the steep Chuckanut trail, but this one shows how incredibly lush and green everything is right now. Once we got up to Gates Overlook (where there was no view at all; everything was socked in), we walked down the beautiful Rock trail.

Maidenhair ferns on Rock trail

Never before have I noticed these beautiful maidenhair ferns along this particular trail. It was partly because the fast hikers were ahead of me, and the slower ones behind, and I was all alone for awhile on this perfectly beautiful trail.

Magnificent rock face

At this point on the trail, I was completely alone, and the damp overcast took away all sounds, making it feel like I was in a different world, a magical place indeed. Once we reached the end of this trail, we headed to Fragrance Lake for a lunch spot. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of lunch, which I usually do. Once finished, however, we backtracked to the trail that would take us to Cleator Road.

Walking back down Cleator to our cars

This was the only part of the hike that I didn't really enjoy. All the rest was in beautiful forest, but it was worth it to have done this hike. We covered more than eight miles, almost nine by some devices, and 2,100 feet up and down. Not shabby at all. My wine is half finished and I'm already feeling the effects of it, and now that it's over I can say I am thrilled that I had yet another wonderful day with the Trailblazers.
:-)