Picture of the week ~ January Hummingbird

Cub/Smith Creek Trailblazer hike

14 of us headed "up" the trail to the power lines above Lake Whatcom. The parking lot for this hike is above the North Lake Whatcom trailhead lot. The hike really is on the Smith Creek trail, but our hiking group calls it Cub Creek. The last time we did this hike we stopped early because it was NOT a nice day. Today was just the opposite, what a glorious day we had for our hike. 

The sun peaking through the forest was a welcome sight.

I love to look at trees and this forest gave me some wonderful pictures.

I thought the tree below looked like a Brontosaurus (?).

and this one below, like some kind of forest monster. See his eye and mouth?

The trail crisscrosses roads and power lines, so our view had some power lines in it, but wow what a view. The sun was even warm while we ate. 

Wonderful!

After lunch we headed "down", yes this trail is definitely all up and all down.

I played with my camera plus app "macro" setting on our hike today. I found these wonderful little plants beside me while I ate, they were only about a half inch tall. 

Below is the normal camera view -

and here's the macro view.

I also took a macro picture of some seed pods on a plant.

I think the two pictures below are my favorite of the day. The first picture is of the stump with small mushroom growing up it. The second picture is a macro of one of the mushrooms.

Endomondo stats:

Total miles hiked - 5.8

Minimum altitude - 343 feet

Maximum altitude - 2022 feet

Total ascent - 1645 feet

Total descent - 1589 feet

Picture of the week ~ Run Walk Run timer

Run Walk Run method

This device keeps me from being tied to my watch.

 I can set it to beep, vibrate or both, to let me know when to change from Running to Walking.

Lake Padden trails Trailblazer hike

I've been itching to be hiking for awhile now, 

I had a cold that more than outstayed it's welcome, and I was happy to be joining our hiking group today. The scheduled hike for today was to be hiking the trails in Lake Padden park.

It was listed as 6 miles & easy, a perfect welcome back for my body that hasn't been doing much of anything for a couple of months.

16 of us headed west on the Lake trail from the ball field side of the park. 

It was an overcast, mid 40's morning, comfortable for hiking.

Looking across the Lake to the bathhouse

As we approached the fork in the trail where you could go left or continue around the Lake, 2 of our group left us as they had planned on going a shorter distance. We continued on to the left to begin our way on the higher trails. There was a bit of mud along the way as you can see, 

as we made our way back near the ball fields & the parking lot, 2 more of our group left us. 

Our group had dwindled down to 12 for the rest of the hike. We headed east and did a loop that brought us back down under the power lines and then to the parking lot by the ball fields.

It was a pretty forest hike.

You never know what you'll see out in the woods :-)

Can you see the Christmas ornaments?

It was so nice to join the Trailblazers again. I've missed all of the "fun" of this group.

Endomondo stats:

Total miles hiked - 5.95

Minimum altitude - 353 feet

Maximum altitude - 928 feet

Total ascent - 1005 feet

Total descent - 938 feet

Picture of the week ~ Mt. Baker and Blueberries

Picture of the week ~ Little knives

Penny sized knives

The common cold

I've been fighting a cold for a few weeks, and I think I really have had a couple of different strains of the common cold - back to back. 

Definition: - "A viral infection of the upper respiratory tract - your nose and throat. A common cold is usually harmless, although it may not feel that way at the time. If it's not a runny nose, sore throat and cough, it's the watery eyes, sneezing and congestion - or maybe all of the above. In fact, because any one of more than 100 viruses can cause a common cold, signs and symptoms tend to vary greatly."

I have been living this definition, as in the "or maybe all of the above" section for too long. 

Yes, I've gone to the Dr. 

To no avail, it's really just a rest and wait it out game.

Fascinating facts you never knew about the common cold, 

"Out of 200 different strains of cold, the rhino virus - or nose virus - is one of the most common. Viruses are microscopic - it would take 50,000 rhino viruses lined up back to back to cover just one millimetre! Worse still, you can easily catch two different strains one after one after the other."

The Bottom Line A single person can carry multiple cold strains at the same time. 

Oh Joy!

On this happy note of what's going on with me, please enjoy this (YouTube clip) from the movie (originally a Broadway show) "Rent" and the song "525, 600 minutes, Seasons of Love" 

"In daylights, in sunsets

In midnights, in cups of coffee

In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife

In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

 How do you measure, a year in the life?

Picture of the week ~ Padilla bay ice