Grateful for today

Lummi Island from the viewpoint

It was supposed to rain today and only get a few degrees above freezing. But after watching the weather forecast this morning, I began to feel we might actually end up with a nice day after all. It looked to me like the worst of the weather would skip us, so we decided to head to the Lost Lake trailhead and see if we could make it to Fragrance Lake, one of our favorites. It's been awhile since we were there, so off we went. You can see from the clouds in the first picture that we already had some possibly decent weather for the day.

The trail got a bit dicey

We had made it quite a distance upwards toward the lake, when we ran into snow. Quite a bit of it, actually. But Melanie had planned ahead and brought footgear for the snow, and she figured I probably would bring any, so we had some for me, too!

Microspikes (left); Diamond Grip Yaktrax (right)

Once we had added these to our boots, it was like night and day: I no longer was slipping and sliding, and the adventure ahead became much more to my liking. We made it to the lake in good time and found it still had some snow on it.

Fragrance Lake and snow

Most of the lake was snow-free, but the trail all the way around the lake and up the Two Dollar trail were all covered. I was so happy to have Mel's spikes to make it easier to keep going.

Reflection on a smooth lake

When we started out, it was pretty windy, and we thought it would keep up all day. But fortunately for us, it didn't, and as you can see here, it became calm and peaceful. We stopped at a bench in the sunshine, and we enjoyed Mel's latest creation.

Oatmeal orange cookies

Whenever Mel gets a veggie delivery and caracara orange are included, she makes these. They are so good, filled with delicious orange pieces, cranberries, and lots of love. She says they are almost healthy (for a cookie, that is). 

Such a gorgeous scene

The sun came out while we were heading back, and I love seeing the way the snow added some extra embellishment to the scene. It looks much colder than it felt, although as I said before, the temperature never got more than a few degrees above freezing.

Waterfall

On the way back (we usually come up the trail and return along the logging road), we pass by this waterfall and today, I noticed that we had some icicles as well as being fairly full. Sometimes it's pretty sparse, but today it looked just right, not too full and not too skimpy.

We ended up covering 6.6 miles and more than 1,700 feet up and down. Not bad for a hike that we were afraid wouldn't be much fun at all! It was mostly good because I have a friend who never fails to think of me and what I might need and not remember to bring (like the footgear). And who feeds me as well!

:-)