Cub/Smith creek Stewart mtn. Trailblazer hike

Rain was predicted and it's been rainy for a couple day so I didn't expect a large group, and I was right. Only 9 of us showed up for the
Cub/Smith creek/Stewart mtn. Senior Trailblazer hike.

We drove to the North Shore Lake Whatcom trail parking lot, and continued on to the upper parking lot for the Cub creek trailhead.
The trail starts out with a pretty good incline.

We were all decked out in our rain gear, ready for a chilly wet day.

Marijke, Jean and Cookie among the sea of ferns along the trail.

After we'd hiked along for about a mile, we saw this wrecked car in the forest 

and wondered just how it had gotten there.

Just when we were getting ready to hike into the open near the power lines the rain began to fall. The trail zigzagged through the forest and crossed a gravel road here and there.
Frank, Marjan, Pat, Cookie and Marijke taking a rest stop before heading up the road.

I love this picture of Pat and Frank walking towards the fog, along the trail beside the cascading ferns.

We hiked just a bit beyond two miles and our fearless leader Pat stopped and had a chat with us about turning around and eating lunch at the Senior center in town as we'd already had rain, sleet, and a bit of snow falling around us. I have to admit that when the breeze came up it was chilly. He explained that we were near the last section of the way up but there would be limited sheltered areas for us to stop and eat our lunches. The low clouds kept us from seeing any views anyway.

So we all turned around and did a quick walk back to the cars and
with all of the uphill hiking so we weren't too disappointed in our days hike. 

Our late lunch at the Senior Center was just right, thanks Pat!

Endomondo stats:
4.44 total miles hiked
401 Min. altitude
1710 Max. altitude
1294 Total ascent
1282 Total descent

Agates at Semiahmoo

I went agate hunting at Semiahmoo this morning. 

It was very foggy and chilly as the mornings have been here lately.

I walked and peered down for a long time,

and I did find some agates and some beach treasures.

my loot

The 4 rocks on the left above are the agates I found. If you hold an agate up to the light you can see through it. It was very difficult to find any on the beach with the low light of the foggy day, so I was most pleased with my days bounty.

Picture of the week - North Shore Trail

Lake Whatcom from the North Shore Lake Whatcom trail, yesterday.

Alger Alp 2014 Trailblazer hike

Today's hike, like last week's Hovander Farm hike began with a little fog.

19 of us met at  Squires lake to begin our hike, some met at the Senior center & carpooled to our destination and some drove to the trailhead on their own.

but unlike last week's hike it was burning off rapidly.

I managed to get a picture of our fearless leader Pat as he paused to take a photo 

of Mt. Baker to the left of Anderson mtn. 

Our lunch view, including the scenic I-5 corridor ;-)

Gus, Owen, Frank, Penny and  Jean at their lunchtime perch! 

Boy did the sun ever feel good.

I took the two pictures below to show the lake at the beginning of the hike compared to the end of the hike, Just a bit of early morning fog and a hazy reflection, and then a few hours later with a crystal clear reflection. Rather pretty don't you think.

When I left my home this morning it was 27 degrees, and by the time we returned to the cars it had warmed up to a balmy 50 degrees!!

Endomondo stats:
5.52 total miles hiked
223 Min. altitude
1286 Max. altitude
1616 Total ascent
1638 Total descent

A sunny day in January

My husband and I along with our faithful Malamute "Lexis", spent our Monday walking on the Centennial trail as it was a glorious sunny day here in the Northwest.

We started in Bryant and I noticed that there was a new sign at the Bryant access parking lot. It had a lot of good information on it, and I was interested to see that there was even a Braille section on the narrow light green panel of the sign.

When we parked our car in the lot our Van overhead info. panel showed that the outside temperature was 37 degrees, it felt and looked much warmer to us. The water plants in the ditch along the trail showed signs of new growth as well.

The calendar may say it's winter, but to us it was a wonderful spring day!

Picture of the week - Little Free Libraries

I'm currently obsessed with Little free libraries

Here's a local one, I drive by regularly!

Hovander park Trailblazer hike

Today's hike to Hovander park had a very foggy beginning.

Visibility was low, but the sun was predicted to burn through early. 14 of us started this day's hike from the the Fish and Wildlife parking lot just off Slater road. Ginny our chief correspondent had emailed us a day previous that we could meet there instead of the Senior Center in Bellingham, so that's what I did. It saved me a bit of back and forth driving although I did miss out in the fun that can be had while carpooling.

The sun did gradually make an appearance, giving us some glorious sights as we made our way to the farm. The photo below is my favorite from today, it seems to have an oil painting look to it. If you click on it to make it larger it becomes more apparent. The tree on the left with it's reddish dried leaves and the white bark were such a lovely contrast to the wheat colored grass.

Walking towards the farmhouse along the road.

We walked along the newly developed dike trail towards the boat launch,

where we were treated with a view of Mt. Baker as we looked towards the east. Click to enlarge for a better view of the mountain in the distance.

We found some "fairly" dry picnic tables near the barn to sit at for our lunch.

After lunch instead of stopping at the parking lot where our cars were, we crossed Slater road and walked to the other Fish & Wildlife parking lot so we could continue onward down the dike trail from that side for a bit. This side follows along the Nooksack river, it made me wish I was in our raft. It might need to get just a wee bit warmer before I'll really want to do that though ;-)

Endomondo stats:
7.68 total miles
-5 Min. altitude
40 Max. altitude
0 Total ascent
0 Total descent

Picture of the week - Washington State Ferry "Salish"

View from the Washington State ferry "Salish"

Bowman Bay Lighthouse Point Trailblazer hike

I was wondering if we would see any rain today as it had been predicted a little later today. Our Bowman Bay Lighthouse Point hike was on Whidbey Island (which is in the rain shadow of the Olympics) so, we had a pretty good chance of a dry day for our hike. It stayed grey and a little breezy by the time we stopped, but no rain! Our group of 15 headed out.

Deception pass bridge Panorama

(click to enlarge)

a hike around a bluff 

to eat lunch out of the wind and still with a great view!

Panorama (click to enlarge)

after heading back past our cars. I thought we were done here, so I turned off my tracking app at the parking lot. oops

We then went on to the rest of our hike and it's wonderful sights!

I take credit for our dry day, as I wore my rain poncho to ward off the evil rain spirits ;-)

Since I turned off my endomondo app at the parking lot & restarted it, I have 2 tracks for the day.

Endomondo stats:

Part one -

2.62 total miles hiked

-16 Min. altitude

109 Max. altitude

302 Total ascent

304 Total descent

Part two -

1.90 total miles hiked

-7 Min. altitude

93 Max. altitude

108 Total ascent

114 Total descent

Picture of the week - Padilla Bay Shore Trail

Padilla Bay Shore Trail

Arroyo to Teddy Bear Cove Trailblazer hike

Wow 14 Trailblazers today!! Such a fun hike on a foggy, dark, drizzly day, and a rare sighting of my spouse. Yes, he got to join us today! We parked at the Arroyo trailhead and crossed the bridge to make our way up the trail.

It seems I can't get enough of how our ferns grow everywhere here,
even all the way up trees!

and a nice waterfall surrounded by ferns.

The trail from Arroyo is a bit of narrow trail hiking -

and a bit of wide (Interurban trail) hiking -

Since my husband came along and he works for the City Parks & Rec. dept. he graciously gave us a wonderful tour of Woodstock Farm since it was on our way.

an inside tour -

and out!

Click here if you want to know more about this wonderful Bellingham City park (shameless plug), here's a picture taken in the summer on a much nicer day - 

July 2012

you can read a past post of mine about Woodstock farm here.
After our most excellent tour we crossed Chuckanut drive and got back on the Interurban trail towards Teddy Bear Cove

and lunch!

even though we were a bit chilly after lunch, we were warmed with the fun loving spirits in our fellow hikers and friends on this our first Trailblazer hike of 2014.

Endomondo stats:
4.42 total miles hiked
-55 Min. altitude
281 Max. altitude
1650 Total ascent
1559 Total descent