We took a long dirt road to the trailhead and started off around 11. This hike had over 2200 feet of elevation climb, so we were a little worried that hiking with the Canadian super stars, they would be frustrated with our slower pace; 1 because Jo Ann is slow and 2 because Jo Ann is always taking pictures. Chris and Christina routinely hike the Grouse Grind, a two mile vertical uphill climb , so they are in great shape. However, Christina mentioned she was fine with a "relaxing" hike today, so our slow pace was just fine.
We were a little worried about the weather, it was overcast and chilly when we woke up, but by the time we reached the trailhead, we were peeling off layers as the sun came out in full force. The hike Tony planned was very interesting with varied
terrain and approximately 2,000 feet of elevation. We started our hike through a forest with
large trees and a soft trail. There were
some enormous trees, hundreds of years old; western red cedars and hemlocks
that many times had fallen and often across the trail.
The trail often had us negotiate crossing glacial melt streams;
some quite intimidating which required planning to make sure you didn’t fall in
or get swept away. Chris jumped around
like a mountain goat and both Chris and Tony helped Christina and I to follow
the easiest path. Hiking poles and
gortex boots were also a big advantage during the stream crossings!
Luckily, the largest stream had a suspension bridge so that we could cross.
With glacial melt come glacial moraines, the rock that is
left in the path of the passing glacier.
Usually this is the most difficult to negotiate as the rocks are either
large round boulders or lots of smaller scree which makes it like ball bearings
and hard to get your footing and often you slide on the trail if you aren’t
careful. Once again the hiking poles are
great and have saved me from falling numerous times.
Besides the wonderful views of Mount Baker, the most incredible
bonus of the hike was the wildflowers, especially the Lupine. Lupine are blue, my favorite color, which
makes them also one of my favorite wild flowers, very difficult to grow in
Maryland. On all of our other hikes the
lupines had basically flowered out and we were too late to see them, but not on
this hike. Huge areas were covered in
only lupines and their fragrance was incredible. All of us could not get over how thick and
beautiful the flowers were on the hike.
At the crossroads near the end of the 9 mile hike, I felt
like we were in a scene from “Independence Day” when Chris pulled a slightly cool
beer from his pack to celebrate our accomplishment of our hike and as it was
time for happy hour we all drank some in Cancun tradition.
Later that night after pizza and beer at a local
restaurant, we returned for a bon fire and smores. We were joined by the
children of our camp neighbors. Laura
and Neills from the Netherlands had never had smores, so Jo Ann was happy to
teach them this American campfire tradition.
Over many smores, Laura and Neills entertained us with their humor and enlightened
us about some of the Dutch traditions. One
of which is that upon graduation from high school you go on a big family trip. Laura
just graduated and had wanted to come to the United States. Her parents started their trip in the
Canadian Rockies and worked their way down to Yellowstone and the Tetons and
now were on their way back to Calgary for their flight the next day. I gather they were the most amazed by the huge
number of buffalo in Yellowstone and how they like to stand in the road.
As the family departed early Monday morning, we wished
them a safe journey and thanked them for a whole pile of supplies that they
couldn’t take on the plane. We divided
up the gifts with the Canadians who shortly afterwards also hit the road to
head back to Vancouver to go to work.
Retirement has its advantages.
We had a wonderful visit with Chris and Christina and we
were sorry to see them leave, but Cancun is only 3 months away. However, in Cancun the only mountain to climb
is in Chichenitza, so I guess we will just resign ourselves to happy hour on
the beach! Dos cervas por favor……
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