Hoypus Hill 2019

Early morning shadows on today's hikers

Ten Senior Trailblazers drove 45 minutes from Bellingham to Cornet Bay on Whidbey Island to hike one of our usual wintertime excursions. While it's probably not anybody's favorite, it's a nice way to get some exercise outdoors, with some of our friends. Plus we escaped the icy trails at home. No snow, just mud.

Bare branches but decent trails

One can sure tell that it's winter from this picture: no buds on the branches, no burgeoning greenery like we've seen in past years. It has been a very cold February, so things might be a little behind schedule, but the sun was shining gloriously.

Getting comfy and ready for lunch

We walked out to Ala Spit, where we often have lunch, unless it's too cold and windy or unavailable at high tide. While it wasn't warm enough to sit around without some additional clothes, it was surprisingly warm in the sunshine, even with a light breeze, so we stayed there instead of retreating back into the forest.

Blue sky, water, driftwood

It was truly a lovely place to sit and enjoy our lunch, without having to rush before freezing solid. In fact, we lingered here for awhile just enjoying the view and the company, before heading back.

Delightful forest

It's a beautiful forest, with lots of Old Growth trees and ferns. We walked back along the East Hoypus trail, which is a very lovely section (as you can see from the above picture), as we made our way back to Cornet Bay and the cars.

Deception Pass Bridge in the distance

By the time we got back to the old logging road, we had a view of Deception Pass Bridge, which we would be driving back across to return home. We covered about nine miles and 1,100 feet of elevation, and everybody was in a very good mood as we piled into our cars and returned home. Another good day.
:-)