Excitement on Blanchard Mountain

Dianne, me, Melanie, Joy

Before the thirteen Senior Trailblazers set out for Blanchard Mountain on a very windy and rainy day, some of us played around with how it would have been if we were Rockettes, just for fun. And then we went outside in the howling wind for a nice steep but sheltered hike.

Waterfall

We crossed over a bridge early on, with this nice little waterfall. While we felt pretty good about the fact that it wasn't raining, the wind was another thing altogether. It roared over our heads through the trees, and a few times it was so loud it sounded like a freight train!

Mushroom flower

We saw lots of pretty mushrooms on the way to Lizard Lake, not that any of us would be willing to test out their tastiness. Frankly, this one didn't look very edible to me, but one never knows for sure.

Lily Lake

By the time we got to Lily Lake, we decided it was time for an early lunch. Finding some places out of the wind, we were pretty comfy as we enjoyed our lunch, but it was definitely not summertime.

We spread out, looking for places out of the wind

I wandered away for a quick visit to the trees, and I looked back at the group and thought we all looked quite sheltered there amongst the trees. Nobody seemed in a big hurry to leave, but then again, we were outdoors in the midst of a pretty serious wind storm.

Our cozy lunch spot

We really didn't know how bad the wind storm was, but there were times when I was afraid for our safety. We really shouldn't have been out there in that wind, and when Chris was able to get a signal on her phone, she learned that parts of the highway were closed in Bellingham, and that there were several power outages.

Downed branches on the trail

Dianne got this picture of all the detritus on the trail. We also saw plenty of downed trees that were not there earlier. A few times we saw and heard branches breaking and it scared me enough to hide behind larger trees a couple of times. I was very glad when we returned to the cars.

And then when I got home, I learned that our entire neighborhood is without power. I am writing this late because we decided to have dinner out and then hole up in a hotel in Fairhaven. We are likely not to have any power for another day or two, it seems. So we were very lucky to avoid any mishaps today. We covered around eight miles and more than 3,000 feet up and down. A good day outdoors, after all!
:-)