Raptor Ridge

Owen, Penny, Linda, Beth, me

I didn't take this selfie, Penny did. That's why it looks like she's concentrating so hard, trying to get us all in the picture. I've never taken a good selfie, so I asked somebody else to give it a try, and I think she did a pretty good job. 

Since there were only five of us, it was much easier to be able to visit with everyone. Last Tuesday's large group of 22 meant that I didn't actually get to socialize with most of the participants. Today, we drove in one car to the North Chuckanut trailhead, and everyone was able to enjoy each other's company, along with the weather. It was raining when we started out, but quickly faded to nothing. The mild temperature and lack of rain was quite well received. But it didn't last: before long as we gained altitude, we were needing to put our rain gear back on. We took the Huckleberry trail from Hemlock, both parts of it, and were able to skip most of the Hemlock trail's steepness. This adds about another half mile to the trip, but nobody minded. 

Penny taking a look at the "view" from Raptor Ridge

The higher we climbed, the more the wind and rain picked up. This scene shows you why we didn't lollygag out on the ridge; instead we retreated until we found a place pretty much sheltered from the fierce wind to have our lunch.

Our lunch spot

Nobody was all that warm, but we are hardy Senior Trailblazers. Although we didn't dawdle, we were able to enjoy a nice break from all the uphill. (We did cover around nine miles in total.) We returned the exact same way, although there are plenty of other ways to approach and return from Raptor Ridge.

After lunch and before we started back

We not only hiked nine miles, we also went up and down around 1,700 feet or so. A few devices showed more, but we agreed on this number. And as a bonus, by the time we were around a mile from the trailhead, the sun came out! Full sun, so we began removing some of our extra clothing until we looked like we were on a springtime hike, rather than the first Group 2 outing of the year.

End of the Huckleberry trail

We were back at the Senior Center before 2:00pm, and everyone was happy that we had enjoyed such a great day together. Now I am tired and really glad to have been along on this lovely adventure!

:-)