Heavenly High Divide

When we left Bellingham, all 21 of us Seniors, it was cloudy. Very cloudy, so we were sure we would have no view on our hike to the High Divide. But as you can see, in the picture above (click to enlarge), we hiked up to the heavens, to have our lunch with a wonderful view of Mt. Baker and a bed of clouds below us. Yes, we hiked above the clouds!
Our leader separated us into a faster group and a slower group. Although I was lagging pretty far behind on the faster group, I spied the other group down below us on the trail, and with the help of my trusty telephoto lens, was able to get a picture of them hiking through a meadow.
At the trail junction, we waited for the slower group, and when these guys saw that I was heading to a rise to take a picture, I heard someone say, "let's all point in different directions!" and that is what they were doing while I snapped this picture. At this point, it was time to take it right to the top for maximum view and have lunch.

Although this hike seemed easy and short in terms of what we have been doing on previous hikes, we gained (and lost) 1,500 feet in elevation, and hiked something around 7 miles out and back. The temperature, when compared with last week's hike, was incredibly cool. Maybe around 60 F or 16 C. Perfect!! And there were few flies and mosquitoes, although I was ready with my new insect repellent and long sleeves, but that will be tested on subsequent hikes. Today was, well, absolutely gorgeous.
On the way back down, I saw those incredible clouds pushing up against the side of the mountain, and some beautiful fireweed in the foreground. I snapped this picture as quickly as I could and then hurried to catch up with the others. To have this in my back yard again makes me realize how prescient we were to choose this part of the country in which to retire and call home.
:-)