Mud Lake Marathon

Chris, Bill, Barbara, Bill (in front). , Rich, Steve, Sue, Doug (and me)

Nine Senior Trailblazers met at the Senior Center to enjoy a hike to Mud Lake, which was a first for many. I had gone twice before, but we didn't have our leader Al (with his GPS) again; however, we were fairly confident that we would have no problems. Wrong. This hike starts up the Pine and Cedar Lakes trailhead and takes a turn off to an old logging road. That first part never fails to be challenging, up 1300 feet (400 meters) in just a mile and a half. But then it seems easy as we walk on lovely trails.

A beautiful day, a lovely trail

We took the trail towards Pine Lake but turned off onto an old unmarked trail to head to Mud Lake. It could not have been a more wonderful day, with full sun and little to no breeze. This trail then turns into an old logging road, which we followed to another trail that took us right to Mud Lake.

The narrow dock at Mud Lake, with Trailblazers checking it out

Although it sounds rather swampy, most of Mud Lake is really rather pretty. While we were admiring the view, Rich was busy shedding his clothes for one of this favorite activities: a dip in the lake. And I managed to capture him right as he dove in!

Rich and his reflection at splashdown

Rich is well known for his propensity to use any available large water source for a quick dip. I recently learned that he never takes hot showers, instead preferring cold showers. And his wife Chris is no less hardy: it was not even a week ago that she had surgery on her broken wrist, and here she was today (check out that first picture again) with one trekking pole and a cast on the other arm!

See a trail anywhere? Neither did we

But when we turned back to retrace our steps, we accidentally took a bike trail instead of the one we should have taken. Several of us in the back had misgivings about this trail, since it bore little resemblance to what we remembered. However, we soldiered on, as it seemed likely we would run into the trail to Pine Lake eventually.

A conference, what to do?

But where were we? Would it be possible to find a shorter way back to Pine Lake than to backtrack where we left the road? We had Barbara's phone which showed that we were on the east side of Pine Lake (where we hoped to have lunch) and a quickly deteriorating trail. Here's what Tall Bill's track showed:

Blue dot, start, and red dot, lunch spot

I had to differentiate between our two Bills today somehow, so one I called "Tall Bill" and the other "Doctor Bill." Tall Bill showed our track on his phone (above), with the straight line showing where we were without cell coverage. The left track showed us at Mud Lake, but the red spot showed where we ended up in relation to Pine (lower) and Cedar (upper) Lakes. With nothing between us but unknown terrain.

So we backtracked back to the road and then easily found the proper trail. By this time I was so tired I didn't know if I could make it, but since Chris was still gamely plodding on with a cast and her single trekking pole, I just kept going. Once we were on the correct return path, it was easy to just put one foot in front of the other to the end.

For everyone but me, that is. I don't now how much elevation we actually ended up climbing and descending, but my knees began to give out on the final descent. Steve carried my pack for the last quarter mile, as it was getting very hard for me to keep going. That helped me so much! We covered around twelve miles and close to 3,000 feet up and down before we reached the cars.

Now that I am home with my wine and ibuprofen, I am feeling MUCH better. But that's why this post is called the "Mud Lake Marathon." Yup. I'm not getting up for awhile.

:-)

Tulip Festival 2016

RoozenGaarde Display Gardens

Last year, I went to see the tulips in the Skagit Valley in the middle of April, and it was just past the height of the season. Check out last year's post to see the difference. Today it is still March and the Tulip Festival has not officially begun, and I found that many of the tulips have not yet opened. The people who plant them try to have early and late bloomers so that everybody gets to enjoy their incredible beauty for as long as possible.

Me and Lynn

I went with my neighbor and friend Lynn and her son Soren. It was a treat for me because Soren drove and I could just enjoy the excursion. Soren took this picture of us. We got there just before the display gardens open at 9:00, and the early morning sun and dew on the tulips made for some wonderful pictures.

Tulip covered with dew

We chose today because we are at the beginning of an extended sunny period with no rain, and I felt that if we got there early we could leave before the crowds arrived, and that's just what happened.

Tree in front, daffodils behind

I've taken pictures of this tree every year. Sometimes they have arranged it differently, but today I was mesmerized by the daffodils behind and the strong sunlight casting shadows. Last year that entire field of daffodils was filled with tulips of every color, so that was a little disappointing. I guess they rotate the field every year.

Tulips and grape hyacinth

The sun shone right on top of these tulips and made for a lovely contrast in light and dark. Although the camera would have taken a better picture if I had found a little shade to keep the rays of the sun from washing it out, I still really like this picture.

Budding leaves

We walked in solitude around the gardens before the people began to arrive, but soon enough, we saw many more people and even a couple of buses filled with school children pulling into the parking lot. We decided to go ahead and leave and drive to the surrounding tulip fields, but none of my pictures were very good, as the tulips are still just beginning to bud out. By this coming weekend, they will all be in full bloom.

Morning shadows

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time looking at the early tulips and the displays. It is only a half-hour drive from my house to the tulips, but I know from experience that you want to go early and never ever go on a weekend! I did that once, and that was enough. So, with that I will leave you to enjoy the tulips and the unaccustomed sun! I'm heading out to the garden.
:-)

My first Washington state caucus

My caucus location

This morning I only made one trip around the lake with the ladies, since I didn't want to be late to the Democratic Caucus, my precinct location being at the local middle school. When I walked in, early, parking was still available but within a very short period of time there were people streaming in who had no place to park. Once during the meeting an announcement was made to plead with those who parked in the convalescent home across the street to move their cars.

I was very interested in the process, but I left after the first tally. We had, just in our little precinct, 134 for Bernie and 11 for Hillary. I saw Bernie stickers everywhere, but none for Hillary. It's actually an interesting phenomenon to have TWO good candidates to choose from, and I would happily vote for either one. I've been feeling the Bern lately myself. There, I said it. That's the most politics you'll get from me, though.

Today my friend Judy and I are going to see that new movie that Sally Field is in, Hello, My Name is Doris. We saw the previews and decided it looked like it would be fun. It's billed as a comedy, but we'll see if we think it's funny. It will be a good way to spend the rest of the day; today is known as Holy Saturday, between Good Friday and Easter. I'd better find some chocolate for tomorrow; I never deprive myself on Easter!
:-)

Annual visit to Burnout Point

Mikey, Peggy, Linda, Ward, Steve

We were a small group of six today, for reasons I'll tell you about in a minute. First, our weather forecast was again not exactly positive, and we knew it wouldn't be a completely dry day, but we hoped our luck would hold. It did; we had some rain, some wind, muddy trails, but nothing we couldn't handle. You might notice a Trailblazer in that picture we haven't seen much of lately: Mikey, who is hoping his health has returned enough for him to join us now and then. He hasn't been a regular for well over a year, so it was wonderful to see him. Al didn't join us again today, this time because of an arthritic hip that is acting up. I was willing to lead in order to set the pace.

Well worn sign

We start this hike from the Larrabee State Park parking lot and head up some steep logging roads to Burnout Point. On the way, Steve pointed out this sign to us, which shows frequent wear from cougars using it to sharpen their claws. Either that or marking territory to warn off others. It was quite impressive to see the deep gouges in the wood.

Looking out at Samish Bay

This is our first viewpoint and, as it turned out, the only one we had today. I've taken this silhouette picture before, but I never tire of it. As you can see from the clouds, we played tag with rain all day. We never had a downpour so we consider ourselves lucky. But it had rained plenty during the previous night, making our trail muddy in many spots. Once we reached the top, Burnout Point, there was no view and the wind was blowing, not to mention it was raining at that point. We hustled back into the trees.

Our trail

As you can see from this picture, it was rather damp, but our trusty rain pants and gaiters kept us (mostly) dry. By the time we were on the return trail, we weren't anxious to make the hike too much longer, so we skipped Fragrance Lake where we usually stop for lunch and found a nice place to hunker down for a quick snack to keep us going. Our "lunch stop" was brief and truncated in order to get back to the cars before any more rain.

Licorice ferns

I am always delighted to see these licorice ferns growing from rock crevices. In the foreground are sword ferns with the small pretty licorice ferns behind. One thing we have plenty of here in the Pacific Northwest are ferns of all kinds!

Trees that found a way

These tree roots that have found their way to the ground in order to grow, and even flourish, amaze me every time I see them. They were slightly wet and shiny when I took this picture, which still doesn't do them justice. This Fragrance Lake trail is well used, and I suspect these roots are often photographed.

About our small group: I got an email yesterday from Chris, telling me that she and Richard would not be joining us today because she fell from her bike yesterday, breaking her wrist. On the way back with five us of piled in a car together, I called her to find out how bad it is. Bad: she will have surgery tomorrow, Friday, as her wrist is shattered and will require a plate inserted to hold the bones together. It's her right hand, so Richard is having to do everything for her. She says she's going to have to teach him to cook!

So with Al absent and Chris injured, our numbers fell to a few hardy souls today. However, we had a really good time anyway, covering more than eight miles and more than 2,000 feet up and down before it was all said and done. It's still early enough that I've got to wait for wine o'clock a bit longer. Until then, I'll settle into my chair and relax!
:-)

Garden is coming along

My garden plot about two-thirds done

If you compare this picture with the one I took last Tuesday (the last picture), you'll see that I've made quite a bit of progress in my garden this week. But I've still got plenty of work to do. The plot on the left of me hasn't been touched yet, but that will change as soon as we get a good patch of dry weather. Unfortunately, today looks to be the last dry day for awhile. Including Thursday, it seems. Oh, well; we've been incredibly fortunate on our hikes lately, and last Thursday was stunningly beautiful. I'll take whatever we get.

Henbit dead nettle

But if I think I've got work to do, look at these two plots: the one covered with henbit dead nettle (those pinkish flowers) has even more clearing ahead, and the one to the left of it with suspicious looking yellow flowers (dandelions). I've learned quite a bit about henbit dead nettle, since it seems to grow in this particular garden more than any others. That area was fertilized heavily a couple of summers ago with steer manure and grew huge plants, and it seems this henbit likes the area, too.

Close-up of the henbit

I was distressed about this apparent weed until I went online to learn more about it. For one thing, it's edible. This page calls it a plant at "the top of the pecking order." Hens like it, too, which is why it got that common name. Its botanical name is Lamium amplexicaule. It's also called "henbit dead nettle" because the leaves are non-stinging, although it's related to the stinging nettle around here that I've grown quite wary of when hiking. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I once made the mistake of not paying attention to what was growing under the spot I found to relieve myself once upon a time. Once was enough.

Another good thing about the henbit is that the flowers attract bees and give them something to eat early in the season before the other flowers bloom. That link also says that it's good to eat either steamed or raw, with a slight peppery taste. I'm not sure I'll venture out into Krysta's garden before she clears it all out to give it a try. Would you? At least I know it's been grown organically.
:-)

First day of spring

Some of the walkers heading down Taylor Street

We Pacific Northwesterners are usually happy when we've got dry pavement to walk on, even when the glorious sunshine we had last week seems to be gone for awhile. But who cares when it's not raining? We've had enough rain lately to make even the hardiest of us wish for a break. Which we got, but tomorrow? More rain.

This morning we ladies did around seven miles, with a decent uphill. Usually we travel the opposite direction than in the picture above: we usually head up the extremely steep Taylor Street to descend the more-than-100 stairs, but this time we walked up Mill Street and up the stairs and down Taylor Street. If you're interested in learning more about this walk, here's a link to the Fairhaven Runners and Walkers website about it. It refers to this as a "lung-busting workout." I can attest to that.

Then when I got home I knew that tomorrow is bringing rain, so I went out and spent a couple of hours in my garden. One thing about all this rain is that the ground is nice and soft and pulling dandelions and buttercups is rather satisfying. But now I'm ready to take it easy for awhile.

Mt. Baker and the Sisters from Stewart Mountain

And I have all the pictures I took of that sunshine we had on our fabulous Thursday hike to remind me that better weather is coming. I learned that the little tree in the picture is a western hemlock, which can be identified by the bend at the top. Now if only I could remember that for next time. I hope you all have a great day; tomorrow is the official first full day of spring!
:-)

Sunshine and snow

On the logging road

Today nine Senior Trailblazers went on a familiar hike up what we call both Cub Creek and Smith Creek. Nobody really knows where the former name came from, but it didn't matter. When we got to the Senior Center, it was great to see Al show up, since he missed last week because of a cold. (I didn't go either.) But, alas, he was only there to give us maps of the area so we wouldn't get lost. Last week's hapless foursome did just that, and Al wanted to make sure we knew where we would be going today. Although we've done it many times, there are several decision spots that he knew we would puzzle over.

Where we first met snow

So nine of us gamely began our hike with Ward setting the pace and leading, but still we had to stop several times to make sure we were going the right way. After a couple of hours of uphill-ness, we ran into snow that stayed with us the rest of the way to our summit. I have to say I really miss Al's pace; as much as he tried, Ward is naturally a bit faster and I found myself struggling to keep up at times. He would slow down and then slowly speed up again. 

Steve, Carol, Sue, Linda, Ward, Peggy, Rich, Chris 

Finally! We reached our summit, one of the many Stewart Mountain summits, with views of Mt. Baker and the Sisters behind us. And simply glorious weather: there was a light breeze, and it wasn't exactly warm once we stopped, but nobody was complaining.

Today's lunch spot

We spent about a half hour here, and we knew that we had our return journey ahead but nobody was in any hurry; once you're here, there's nothing to do but descend the 2,700 feet we had gained to this spot. We knew that somewhere down below us we would leave the snow behind and return to springtime. We decided to make a loop, which adds about another mile on logging roads but allows us to skip some of the slow going through the snow.

There was a nurse log there once upon a time

On the way down, I saw this wonderful tree that looks a little like an alien, but the story is that long ago there was an old stump that served as nutrition for this tree until it was absorbed. The tree is still growing, and it's probably going to be a little less sturdy in a windstorm, but it seems quite happy today.

By the time the Nine returned to our cars, tired but happy, we had covered more than ten miles and more than a half mile up and down. I have a right to be a little exhausted as I sit here with my laptop and my wine, glad to have had such a great day, with the spring sunshine and the company just the best.

:-)