Feb. 2, 2023
Seven of us met up at Sehome and the remaining three met us at the trailhead at Pass Lake. It was a cold crisp morning so we were anxious to get hiking. The weather was gray but no wind, not even a breeze. No sun either. That would be the pattern for the day. We headed up the Pass Lake Loop trail clockwise through a beautiful forest of very large trees. One tipped over Cedar next to the trail was spectacular. About two miles into the hike we came across an old house foundation with a nice view of Naked Man Valley. This, of course, started a lot of discussion with Jim finally giving us the story behind the name. Pretty interesting. Shortly after that we found a nice bald with a peek-a-boo view of Mt. Baker and a nice view of Campbell Lake. This became our lunch stop. After about 20 minutes or so most of us were getting a little chilly and ready to move on. The turn around point was the North Trailhead of the Tursi Trail on Donnell Road. I think only about four of us actually made it to the turnaround point as it had become clear that the last quarter mile or so of trail down to Donnell Road was really down. This, of course, meant “really up” on the return trip. The smart ones dilly dallied while us less smart ones carried on to the Road and then had to return back up the hill. We picked up the stragglers as we went up the hill. As compensation, the view at the trailhead is quite pleasant and I think those of us who saw it really appreciated it. The return trip went quickly. It seemed to me that the closer we got to the cars the faster everyone was hiking.
We hiked a little over 5 miles.
When we got back to the cars Julie treated all of us to some wonderful chocolate chip cookies. These were gigantic and very tasty. Thank you Julie.
It was a great day, with very nice people in a wonderful forest. Photos on the MBC Flickr Page.
Ed Alm