Middle Fork of the Nooksack

Today, 15 Senior Trailblazers met at the Senior Center (who would have guessed, in the rain?) to carpool for a hike on an old road up the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River. Although the above picture just shows the men, half of the hikers were women, including me. I was so happy to be back with my cohorts, after having missed only one week, it felt like three.

The original plan for today was to head up to Sauk Mountain, a long drive for a short but usually very beautiful flower-laden hike. But so far this year, the road to the trailhead isn't even open all the way up, and the flowers are probably a little behind schedule. So instead we hiked four miles up the road, with a hopeful view of the Twin Sisters. However, they were hidden most of the time behind the clouds, as we coped with light rain and cool temperatures. Since we went up 2,000 feet in four miles, I was glad for the cooler weather.

When we stopped for lunch, you can see that the clouds still threatened to unload even more rain, but by the clothing you might surmise it wasn't really cold, and you would be right. The temperature did seem to drop when we stopped, because we were drenched after the uphill trudge.  I walked over to snap this picture of the Sisters (click any picture to enlarge). It looks almost like steel, but this is a color shot.

The clouds seemed ominous, but we are nothing if not hardy, as well as prepared for any weather conditions. One thing about hiking in this part of the country, you must carry rain gear with you even when it's hot in town and there's no chance of rain. In the High Country, it's always a possibility.

As we were walking back down, I saw this juxtaposition of little purple flowers, old wood, a rock outcropping, and new leaves in the foreground that caught my eye. The day was very renewing in many ways, not the least of which was the company I was with, as well as my trusty camera. And you, dear reader, with whom I love to share my weekly hikes.
:-)