We're still trying to sort out how we're fitting in our "outdoor" time while complying with the Washington State mandates about the Covid-19 virus. We are very fortunate that we live in a rural area. We are within driving distance of larger towns so we're not too remote, but we can use the roads for our activities as there just aren't many cars on them. We joke that the roads in our area were paved just for us to bike, run, walk etc. We are re-thinking where we'll be going for our running, walking and hiking days. For now we're trying to just do our activities from our front door.
On Tuesday we walk/ran (we walk 5 minutes and run 10 minute repeats throughout our activity) to our Post Office to check on our mailbox, instead of driving there. It was just over 8 miles, so my husband said why don't we use that activity as our hike today. To qualify it as a hike, it has to involve the wearing of a daypack with water bottles etc. So "hike" it was.
Our friend the Northeast wind had been blowing a bit again. Yesterday's shorter walk/run distance had us running with and against 20 - 30 mph wind gusts. Even with the sun out while we were running it was chilly.
It was cloudy and breezy today when we left so we had rain gear and layers with us in our packs.
We didn't get very far before I was asking my husband to reach in my backpack back pockets for my wool gloves, and then for my lightweight buff for my ears.
Looking towards the east the clouds were a bit dark and the wind had picked up more since we were now in the open. If you enlarge the photo below you'll see the pink blossoms of the flowering Plum trees.
As we made our way farther up the road, I got colder so again I asked my husband to get my larger fleece Buff out of my pack. Here I am layered and much warmer, wearing mostly fleece layers for the day. I brought a rain jacket and rain pants that I could use as a windbreak if I needed them for that, but I stayed pretty comfortable in just these layers.
I took a panorama photo of a blueberry field with Sumas mtn. in the distance.
We turned a corner that had us walking directly into the northeast wind. My husband stopped to add on a wind jacket.
We passed by a flock of Canada Geese.
We also walked down to the river to see how the winter's flooding had affected it and it's channels.
As we walked across the Nooksack River bridge I saw a nice reflection of the trees on the river.
As we made our way into town we noticed a few snowflakes in the air. A person in a truck actually rolled down his window to proclaim to us that it was snowing. I think people are looking for ways to connect in this quarantine time, even if it means you yell conversations at people from your vehicle. On our Tuesday walk/run someone also visited with us from his truck and thanked us for talking to him while we were exercising. You can see the first small flakes falling as my husband makes his way down the sidewalk.
The park is officially closed in town. Bathrooms are hard to come by, we did find a sani can with sanitizer and toilet paper in it! It's amazing how our "thankful/grateful" list has changed.
The snow really started coming down as we neared the Post Office. I love snow and this unexpected "late season" lowland snow was a wonderful treat❤. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to walk through it and to feel it on my face again, so bear with me as I over-share my snow flakes.
Click to see my video of the snow falling.
We decided to support our local economy, so we stopped by one of our local coffee shops and ordered coffee and breakfast burritos for lunch at the drive through window.
The warm coffee and breakfast burrito were very nice to hold in our hands and equally nice to feel inside😁.
A look back at the snow falling on the hills in the distance.
Even though today's weather felt very much like winter, this tree declared otherwise.
So beautiful.
As we were making our way back home we stopped by the river again. Quite a bit of carnage from the winter's floods and windstorms.
We were once again treated to another snow shower!
Another video to click on! You'll see the snow falling onto a very green field.
We saw many birds on our walk: Robins, Varied Thrush, Canada Geese, Mallard ducks, and an Eagle. We also saw something unexpected (besides the snow). Out of my left eye I saw a coyote running along the field beside us. It was running very fast, by the time I pointed it out to my husband it had already ran out into the road in front of us and across the field to our right and headed into the trees towards the river. I never even had a chance to get my camera up and try to get a photo of it. So much excitement on our walk/hike today. Who would have guessed a simple walk or hike as I'm calling it today to the Post Office would have been so visually entertaining.
In the photo below you'll see the field the coyote ran through. It ran right past these geese and into the bushes and they didn't even fly away.
Today's stats:
total miles - 8
total ascent - 354 feet (I'm suspicious of this ascent amount, but thems the facts from my device and I'm sticking to them)
Exercise outdoors is an “essential” activity.
Movement is medicine.
Our “physical distancing” activity today was good for my soul.
