Hoypus Hill Trailblazer hike

Last night while getting my gear together for today's "Trailblazers" hike, Thursday's weather forecast was ringing in my ears: snow, rain and thunderstorms. They may as well have been saying Dorothy's chant from the wizard of Oz, “Lions, Tigers and bears Oh my!” with an emphasis on the "Oh my!" That's how I feel about spending the day hiking in those kind of conditions. Isn't it interesting how a weather forecast can become larger than life? I wasn't sure I wanted to be cold and wet all day, but decided to buck up and take whatever nature and our group decided to do.

When I left this morning it was pouring rain, but no sign of snow on the ground, yay!

It was agreed that our group would hike the Hoypus hill trail near Deception pass. I carpooled with Marjan, Frank and Jan, as we were driving down I-5 south and it was pouring we were wondering what we were getting ourselves in to. The farther south we went the lighter and bluer the sky. By the time we pulled in to the Cornet Bay parking lot the sky was blue and the sun was shining.!

                                                    Yay for us :-)                                                              

 It was a wonderful 8 1/2 mile lowland forest hike. Our forests are so beautiful  and lush - with the stinging nettles - yuck, moss, ferns, huckleberry bushes, salal, douglas fir, hemlock and cedar trees. Even the slugs welcomed us in to a beautiful spring day.

conferring with the GPS

Time for lunch!

Me (Al & Frank behind me) - enjoying a nice rest break

Djan

In the photo below you can see our sunny ending - what a great hike!

Deception pass bridge in the distance

Cornet bay

So glad I didn't listen to the "Lions, tigers and bears" in my head,

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage." Ralph Waldo Emerson

My day with the Senior Trailblazers!

I've been a follower of Djan-ity's blog for a while now,
she has been an inspiration to me in her zeal for health and fitness.
She has also had her share of heart ache,
but has weathered these moments in her life with a strength that is quite admirable.
She is very honest and candid with her thoughts on these events in her blog.

Some of her posts also have accounts of her hikes with the Senior Trailblazers. This is a hiking club that is for members of the Bellingham senior center who are aged 50 and up. I really never thought of myself as a senior "yet", but was really itching to be a part of this group. Since I'm not a fan of hiking alone, I decided to join and see if this group had as much fun and was as fit as Jan had been reporting. There would also be the added bonus of meeting "Jan" and tell her personally how much I enjoy her blog. I had hoped that I was fit enough to keep up with these hardy souls, and was pleasantly surprised that I was. The plan for Thursdays hike was to go a hard 9 miles in the Olsen creek/Stewart Mtn. area, but the weather that morning (rain & snow on Stewart Mtn.) detoured those plans. Everyone agreed that Oyster dome would be a good alternative. We started hiking in rain and even though the oldest person on the hike was 81 years of age we really hiked at a very quick pace. The first part of the trail had several steep ups, and when we got closer to the Oyster dome there was snow on the ground and the decision was made to head over to Lizard lake for lunch. It was 37 degrees and we really felt that wonderful damp cold that chills to the bone, needless to say we didn't sit long for our break. We packed up and took the trail to where the hang gliders used to take off and on down the trail to the cars. I found out that one of the "seniors" carries a GPS unit with him, so he could give us reports of our mileage. We ended up going 10 miles! 

It was even a better experience than I had hoped it would be.

My fellow hikers!

Jan is the one in the foreground wearing
the blue vest.

view from the hang glider take off area

now I know why they all had gaiters on!

I made sure I asked what they would rate this new detoured hike, and was very glad that the report was "hard". Now I'm hopeful I'll be able to tag along on other great adventures with these wonderful new friends.