The year is done. I spread the past before me on the living room carpet, point to the one where I decided to shed everything not deeply committed to my dreams. refused to be a victim to the self pity. here is the week i slept in the garden. in the spring i wrung the self-doubt from it's neck. hung your kindness up. took down the calendar. danced so hard my heart learned to float above water again. in the summer i unscrewed the mirrors from their walls. no longer needed to see myself to be seen. combed their weight out of my hair. i fold the good days up and place them in my back pocket for safekeeping. draw the match. cremate the unnecessary. the light of the fire warms my toes. i pour myself a glass of hot water to cleanse myself for january. here i go. stronger and wiser into the new.
Today's hike start location was to be at the Cyrus Gates Overlook parking lot but that had to be changed because the Cleator road is closed. So the nine of us that met at the Senior Center got in the carpool cars and headed to the Lost Lake/Larrabee State park parking lot. Today was a dress in layers and be prepared for rain type of a morning.
When we got to the parking lot the wind was blowing and it was a little brisk, so hats and gloves it was. Just like last week's hike it seemed to be a dark day.
We walked up the Fragrance lake road and past the Waterfall, not looking nearly as cold as it did a couple of weeks ago. You can check out those "icy" photos HERE.
A lovely Madrona tree.
Lesley showing us the route that we would be going.
I don't ever tire of ferns on rocks 💚.
As we made our way up the Lost Lake trail we began to see more and more snow along the trail.
A great downed log with moss and lichen on it. I now can identify "Rag Bag" Lichen. Can you find it on the log?
I love the color in this crack in the fallen Red Alder.
When we arrived at Burnout Point, our lunch destination I was pleased to see that there was a view albeit a very dark one. My folks live in Sequim, it's way off in the distance. I waved in their general direction, I wonder if they saw me ;-)
Before we ate, it was photo time!
Me and Jean (Thanks Owen for taking the picture).
There was a strong cold wind blowing and a few hunkered down behind a log for shelter, but Jean was a trooper and sat out in the wind with me and "enjoyed" it! We gathered ourselves up when we felt a few drops of rain and a few snowflakes raced by in the wind. Time to head back, it was getting downright cold!
I took a video of the road we were walking on.
https://youtu.be/F7qpW75K3hE
We continued on up until we got to the road leading back to the Fragrance Lake road and the parking lot. It was about 4 1/2 miles of downhill walking.
After a couple of miles the snow was no more. Just a nice wide path er logging road ;-) for us to enjoy our way down the hill.
I took this photo of our group looking out at the bay for one last look at the view.
Lesley did a great job leading our hike today. Layers were indeed our good friends today!
