Alger Alp 2019

Squires Lake

This rather short hike is one of our annual wintertime treks. It's usually much colder than it was today; it was rather mild with no ice to be seen anywhere. Thirteen Senior Trailblazers started the hike at the Squires Lake trailhead, where we round the lake and start up some old logging roads to a viewpoint.

You can see I-5 in the middle of the picture

We started out with a fine mist keeping us a bit on the damp side, but nothing really to worry about. We know how to deal with rain, after all. Then we reached the viewpoint, and at about this time of the day the clouds began to lessen and gave us almost a full view across the valley.

Our group today

As usual, I asked for a picture, and as I tried to gather the group together, we saw our first rays of the sun. Nine Trailblazers are posing in the foreground, two having a discussion in the back, and me behind the camera. We lingered here for awhile; most of us climbing the hill behind us to find a private spot for tree watering.

The group at the viewpoint

I caught this shot while coming back down from my own visit. When we have enough sunlight to actually cast shadows, it's a good day to be outdoors. The company on all of these hikes is worth it, not to mention that we did get some exercise, even if it wasn't up to our usual mileage or elevation.

Looking good, everybody

Frank took this picture of the eight women on today's hike. It turned out very well, I thought. After we started back down, we decided we'd stop for lunch at the lake, about a half-mile from the cars.

Cattails in the sun

And that's just what we did. Once we got back to the lake, there was more sun than clouds, and we basked in the warmth as we ate our lunch and visited with one another. Richard snuck off by himself and took a quick dip. Some of our hikers who haven't been with us very long were amazed that he did it.

We covered around six miles total, with a mere 1,000 feet elevation gain and loss. It was even rather early when I got home, so here I am writing my Thursday post at an early hour for a change. As we headed back to the Senior Center, the clouds cleared even more. Who minds a partly sunny, warm day in January? Nobody! Another great day in the woods with my dear friends.
:-)