Hears Different Drummer: Ptarmigan ridge and beyond

Monday, October 26, 2015

Ptarmigan ridge and beyond

My husband picked Ptarmigan ridge trail for our "Sunday -fun day" hiking activity.

We had "tried" to hike this last year on Oct. 12th. We hiked a total of only 5.3 miles and were turned around due to inclement weather. Here's a couple of photos from that day's hike.

Beginning our hike in clouds, we weren't too optimistic.

Then we saw Mt. Baker and our spirits lifted.

We hiked on past the Chain lakes junction.

As the clouds, wind and rain really settled in we sadly turned around, vowing to come back and try again.

Yesterdays forecast looked abit better so we decided to give it another try. We were hoping to get farther on the trail and to get some views. We did pretty good, we made it to just below the Portals. We stopped for lunch about halfway between the end of the trail and the camp Kiser (or is it Kaiser?) area. It was really windy and cold, so we tucked in behind some rocks to eat our meal. We contemplated going on up to the end of the trail. We thought about our concerns while we ate: we were both really cold (my temperature gauge said it was 42 degrees, not counting wind chill), the wind was terrific, clouds were beginning to swirl around the top of Baker and we wanted to get back to our car before dark. Even though we were very close to finishing we decided it would be in our best interest to head back. After we got around a couple of ridges on our way back down, the clouds continued to move in and out, but it really was nice when we were out of the wind. I'm so glad we were able to go as far as we did,

next time - all the way!!

We were lucky to see this Falcon? hunting overhead, he stayed around us for quite awhile unfazed by our presence.

I had done this hike with my husband about 30 years before this, and the view below was the farthest we got. Every step from here on out would be farther than I'd ever hiked on this trail.