Madrone Crest and Raptor Ridge

Well! Finally I am able to post this blog from yesterday's hike. Blogger has been down for almost a whole DAY and after I finished my workout today and read the news, I saw that it is back up. So, without delay, our Thursday hike. As you can see from the above picture, the ferns are unfurling all over the place. My pictures are not great from yesterday's hike, but this one shows that it was mostly sunny and warm.

Fourteen Trailblazers all met at the Senior Center and carpooled up to one of our regular haunts, the Arroyo Park trailhead that takes us to to lots of different places. Here you see Peggy looking quite pretty at Madrone Crest, where the full view was obscured by clouds, so I opted for a picture that shows we were not completely covered in heavy rain gear, or even coats! A very nice day, actually.

We did this same trip about a month ago, so we decided to simply reverse the route, going from Madrone Crest to Raptor Ridge, where we had lunch in the sunshine, as you can see here. Looking at the sky, though, you can see we still had a fair amount of clouds, but by the time we headed back down from our day playing in the woods, the skies had cleared off almost completely. Today, Friday, is just a lovely clear day, with the clouds and rain expected to return just in time for the weekend.

It is always nice to get out in the woods here in Bellingham and spend time with my favorite people. Since the hike covers quite a variety of trails, we can make it a bit longer or shorter, depending on which connecting loop we take. Yesterday we covered just over ten miles and 2,300 feet elevation gain and loss. I was very tired at the end of the day with sore feet, but it's interesting that just having a good night's sleep after my regular medication of a glass of red wine, and I'm feeling just fine today. Oh, and I forgot that Kimberly, who is now a regular Trailblazer, will be posting about our hikes on her blog. Check it out here.

Regular exercise is the trick, I think. I know if I didn't do these hikes regularly, before long they would begin to take their toll on me. As it is, they are the high point of my week! Now off to wash my boots and give them some TLC.
:-)