Lost Lake 2011

Now, you're not going to believe this. I sure don't! This morning I woke to the sound of the rain drumming on the roof, heavy rain, on Thursday, the day of our usual Senior Trailblazers hike. But I decided to go ahead and go, since it's more painful to think of my friends having fun without me than to think of hiking in the rain. I drove to the Senior Center and FOURTEEN hikers showed up!!

We carpooled to the trailhead and set out up the steep logging road toward the hiking trail to Lost Lake. It's a precipitous climb, and I remarked that it's a little like childbirth: you forget from year to year just how much pain you are having during the uphill part of this climb. This picture of Norm in front of a massive waterfall shows the wet terrain: we all were decked out in rain gear and pack covers. The actual temperature, however, was pretty warm: almost 50 degrees F, in stark contrast to our Tuesday snowshoe trip in the Mt. Baker area.

Here we are at the junction of the Lost Lake trail and the Fragrance Lake trail. Trying to decide whether to go right or left, the fourteen of us separated into two groups, one going to the right, the other heading toward the certainty of finding Lost Lake. A logging operation has caused the circular loop around the lake to be truncated: before we actually reached the lake, those heading to the right were turned back and headed north to join the rest of the group. The trail was wet and muddy.

By the time we reached the lake and stopped for lunch, we were all reunited. Here you can see the mist rising from Lost Lake as we pulled out our lunches. I cannot tell you how lovely it is to have hot tea from my thermos while I munch down a sandwich in the presence of some of my favorite people in the world! Here is Lost Lake today, 13 January 2011, with the mist and the trees making a splendid backdrop to our day's exertions.

We ended up making a longer hike than we have done in a while: more than ten miles and up more than 2,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. By the time we had reached the final mile, I was so ready for it to be over and looked forward to seeing myself collapsed at the trailhead. We did eventually get there, and now I am home and feeling quite well exercised and content. I am so fortunate to have such an opportunity, and every day I can do this kind of thing is another day I give thanks. A fair amount of rain and mist, no sunshine, we still had a great day.
:-)