Tag Archives: trail

I Took a Right and Ended Up in the Mountains…

Posted on by
Reply

I left the house thinking I was going to end up at Lake Padden or Squires Lake or maybe the Bellingham boardwalk. But I found myself taking a right onto Sunset Drive and the next thing you know I was driving to Mount Baker.

I guess my inner voice knew that the boardwalk and Lake Padden just weren’t going to cut it today. Today I really needed the mountains.

And oh, my friends! It was glorious up there! The colors are starting to change to reds and golds, and the temperature was just perfect.

I stopped at Picture Lake, of course, for the traditional photo of Mount Shuksin’s reflection. This time I did something I’ve never done before, though. Normally, I just walk out far enough on the Picture Lake loop trail to snap a couple of quick pictures, but this time I decided to follow the little loop around the lake and see what there was to see. I’m glad I did that. It’s really pretty on the other side of the lake, and the autumn colors were amazing.

When I finished the loop, I walked down to the other little lake in front of Picture Lake and snapped a couple of quick photos there, too. While I was doing that, a van appeared and a young woman stopped to snap pictures from her window. She was just so full of joy – so happy to be there – that her joy spilled over onto me, and I soaked it up. I asked her if I could take a picture of her taking a picture of the lake. She laughed and said sure. I learned her name is Aliece, and she learned mine was Karen, and we wished each other good days.

I drove on up to the Artist Point parking lot then. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do once I got up there, but I found myself heading up the trail to Artist Point.

There were so many wonderful people on the trail today! Annie and Wendy were visiting from Vancouver (I thanked them for coming down from Canada to visit us); there were Madan and Kusum from Nepal; and folks from the Shuksan Conservancy caring for the alpine meadows – among them Jim, Jana, and Clare.

As I was coming down from the peak of Artist Point I ran into Gail and Todd. I told them that I was up there on impulse – that I’d planned to take a walk on the Bellingham boardwalk, but I’d taken a right instead and ended up here. I told them it was exactly what I needed. I needed the mountains today, and I needed mountain people, too. I learned, then, that Todd and Gail are actually from Bellingham and walk on the boardwalk five or six times a week! How cosmic! “I was feeling despondent today,” I said, “and I could have stayed home and sat in that, but I ended up in the mountains instead.” Todd and Gail nodded their heads in understanding. I think we all needed the mountains today.

As I was coming down back to the parking lot, guess who I ran into? Aliece!! Oh, she’s so fun! I learned that she is an actual professional photographer – she showed me photos of some of the weddings she’s taken, and her photos were AMAZING!! I told her how much I appreciated her joy, and she said if you don’t feel joy up here, there’s not much anyone can do for you. I started cracking up. I mean. She was totally right. She said she’d come up here from Vegas to visit her father, and she was pretty sure that Washington State is one of the best places in the whole world. (I’m paraphrasing here, but that’s the essence of her thoughts. And I agree with them.) Before we parted – Aliece to continue up to the top of Artist Point, and me to go back to my car – we gave each other a good hug.

I’m so grateful for my day wandering around in alpine meadows. I’m so grateful for all the wonderful people I met. I’m so glad I took a right onto Sunset Drive this morning.

(Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

Annual Table Mountain Hike

Posted on by
Reply

When I drove up to Artist Point this morning, I’d been planning to do the Artist Point hike. But, once I got there, the Table Mountain hike called to me. It’s short – but it packs a punch. There’s a quick elevation gain (725 feet, according to the Washington Trail Association) up the side of a steep cliff, and there’s one place where hikers have to navigate a high step made for people with longer legs than me.

I try to do this hike every year, and I decided today was the day.

When I started out, the temperature was perfect – cool and breezey. I stopped every now and then to take pictures of Shuksan and butterflies, alpine flowers and the Bagley Lakes down below.

I managed to get myself over the high step by using a handhold I found in the cliff, and pretty quickly found myself at the top. I sat on a boulder and ate my trail mix and enjoyed the view.

On the way down, I kept thinking about that one place where I’d have to figure out how to get over that high step. In my experience, a rock scramble is always harder going down than going up. But here’s a cool thing – when I got to that spot on the trail, there were two young men – brothers – maneuvering around it as I got there. I was trying to figure out how to get out of their way, while they were trying to figure out how they could help me. The one brother said to the other: “She’s going to need to use that handhold.” And the other brother responded by giving me room to reach for it.

But, in the end, I found another way down. I said, “I think I’m just going to do this…” and I sat down on the step and lowered myself down. Easy!

When I turned the corner of the switchback, I saw a couple that I guessed were the parents of the young men. They confirmed this. Then I told them how kind their sons had been to me. I learned the family was visiting from Colorado and had never been to Mount Baker before. I told them that years ago I’d climbed a mountain in Colorado’s Collegiate Peaks called Mount Harvard, and they knew exactly what I was talking about. I pointed to Mount Baker and said I’d climbed that one, too – and now I look at it and think, “What was I thinking?!” Appu laughed and said, “You weren’t thinking and that is why you could do it!” The family was delightful. Appu kindly agreed to let me take her photo.

When I got off Table Mountain, I decided I wasn’t done with my hiking, yet, and drove on down to Heather Meadows to do a quick hike of the Fire and Ice Trail. And on THAT trail, I met more cool people! There were two couples – each with a toddler strapped to a parent’s front – and seeing the babies made me go right away to my grandma place. One of the little ones grinned at me from his pack and reached out to touch fingers. Awwww…

I told them it was so good to see them bringing their children into the mountains – away from screens – and they nodded and said, “Exactly!”

I don’t like posting pictures of children, but Sam and Addison, and Katie and Sean, agreed it would be fine for me to take a photo of them from the back. So there they are!

It was so good to be in the mountains again, my friends. The mountains are a healing place for me.

Hike to the Pinnacle Peak Saddle

Posted on by
Reply

We went up to Rainier yesterday to join family on a hike to the Pinnacle Peak Saddle. Along the way we met way cool people from all over the world; reminisced about other times we’ve hiked on this trail; saw butterflies flitting in the wildflowers, and came upon marmots, picas, and chipmunks.

We met Robert and Kathi, originally from Panama, and now living in Seattle. They told me they’d seen an animal that looked sort of like a badger. “Was it about this big?” I asked, and they nodded their heads. “You saw a marmot!” I told them. “Aren’t they cool?” They smiled and agreed and we talked for a bit about the hike and Rainier and… yeah, I brought Pop into the conversation, and told my new friends that Dad had guided me to the top of Rainier when I was younger.

A little later I met Tery, who works as a traveling nurse. We agreed that hikes in the mountains are a most wonderful escape from the stresses of “down below.”

We’d just about reached the point where the switchbacks begin, when a ranger volunteer came up the path from behind. It didn’t take me long to bring “Dee Molenaar” into the conversation. Stewart’s face lit up when he heard Dad’s name. He said Dad’s book, *The Challenge of Rainier* was his favorite climbing book, and he’d pretty much read them all. I love the connection Dad still brings me to mountain people, and I’m not going to apologize for using his name to meet cool new friends. I learned Stewart was originally from London, but he came to the States in 1979 and decided to make it his home.

We met a trio from the Philippines; a cheery family originally from Thailand, who now live in D.C.; and, at the top, we met a family from Provo, Utah – the patriarch originally grew up in the tri-cities area and likes to bring his family back periodically to share in the glories of Mount Rainier.

I talked with my brother and niece about my first climb of Pinnacle Peak when I was four-years-old. I remember being pretty tired on the hike part, but I also remember feeling energized when Dad and I reached the last climbing-scramble up to the top of the peak. I remember loving the climbing part. Later, when my brothers and I were teenagers, Dad took us all up together to the top of Pinnacle Peak. And when my oldest son was four, Dad guided Andrew and me up the peak. There are a lot of good memories in these hills.

I could feel Mom and Dad with me yesterday, and my sons. And Scotty actually WAS with me – we have a lot of memories together on this mountain. It was good to be making another one with him.

Not Separated by Time

Posted on by
Reply

Went up to Concrete today to pay a visit to the 5b’s Bakery. 5b’s owner, Em, came out of her office and sat down with me for a coze. It was so good to see Em again – she is a remarkable person who’s led a remarkable life, and it’s always fun to talk with her. Em introduced me to her sweet therapy-pup-in-training, Hugo, and gave me the okay to take Hugo’s picture. And a friendly young man named James who hails from NY and works as a forest ranger gave me the okay to take HIS picture, too.

As I drove home from Concrete, I impulsively turned off onto the Baker Lake Road to see what I might see. I ended up at the little Shadow of the Sentinels interpretive trail. This trail holds special memories for me – it was my first hike with my youngest son when he was a week old; when my dad was 100, his care-giver, Gwen, loaded her van with Dad, another man in their adult family home, me, and a couple of wheelchairs and took us all up to the trail because she knew Dad and Joe were in desperate need of a trip to the mountains; and when my granddaughter was not quite one, she’d hiked the trail, too. I was surrounded in sweet memories: Xander trying to focus his new eyes on the trees; Dad pointing to the tops of those trees and checking to make sure I’d gotten a picture of the forest canopy; and my little granddaughter toddling along the boardwalk, holding her mama’s hand, and grinning at her papa who waited for her at the end of the trail – a trail he’d hiked with me when his little brother was just a week old.

And, honestly, it felt like none of those memories were separated from me by time at all – all the love is still with me, and I can still feel the joy of those moments surrounding me in the woods.

For most of my drive home, I had no one behind me or in front of me on the road. It was lovely. I was in my own little bubble.

I stopped off at the Otter Beans Coffee stand for a lavender green iced tea. The young man in front of me in line was fun. He’s a manager for the local casino and took out his phone to show me some of the shows that will be appearing there soon. “Whose Live Anyway?” comedy show is coming soon – that looks like it will be fun.

I brought home more photos, some new memories, and a perfect lavender green iced tea made by Dani.

Breazeale Interpretive Path to the Beach

Posted on by
Reply

My husband and I have lived in Bow since 2002, but today I found a trail just fifteen minutes from us that I’ve never been on before. I guess I’ve known it was there – I’ve driven by it (and over it!) for years – but I never took the time to actually check it out until today.

After my walk on the Padilla Dike Trail this morning (see previous post), I headed back to Bow. But I hadn’t gone far when, on impulse, I pulled into the Breazeale (Padilla Bay) Interpretive Center. I found myself grabbing my camera, and pretty soon I was headed for the path that goes under the Bayview-Edison Road. I’d never been on this path before, and was curious where I’d end up.

I passed apple blossoms and Oregon grape blossoms, and found myself going through a tunnel under the road. At the end of the tunnel there was a platform with a spiral staircase that went down to the beach. I took the staircase down to the shoreline – stopping every now and then to take photos of the herons I could see hanging out in the bay.

It was so peaceful on the beach. I was the only person down there. It was just me and the herons, a couple seagulls, and a crow or two. It was lovely.

A Perfect Day

Posted on by
Reply

Scott and I took this week’s Monday Hike on the South Baker Lake Trail to Anderson Point. Anderson Creek was low enough today that we were able to cross over without any problems. This is the first time we’ve made it to the other side since the bridge washed out.

We met some way cool hikers from Ohio and Pennsylvania down at Anderson Point: Tom, Steve, Mark, and another Mark.

After our hike to Baker Lake, Scott took me out for a birthday dinner at the Chuckanut Manor. My former student, Drew, was working there tonight and seeing him always brings me such joy. He’s one of those people who just shines out good will and kindness and enthusiasm for life.

Drew apparently let out server know who we were, because when Melissa came up to our table she knew our names. She saw I was wearing my amber necklace and asked me about it. It turns out she is a rock-lover, too!

Melissa asked us if we’d like drinks. I asked her what kinds of mocktails she had. Did she have anything with lavender maybe? Melissa, as it happens, has been a bartender for years, and is great at creating new drinks – so, for me, she created a carbonated lavender-lemonade – and it was perfect!

At the end of our dinner, Melissa came up to me and said she’d heard it was my birthday (Drew again, I’m pretty sure ), and she had a present for me. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an amethyst stone and handed it to me! “Really?! You’re giving this to me?!” I asked, blown away by her generosity. She said this is what she does for people’s birthdays now – she gives them rocks. (I turned to the young bartender, who was grinning, and asked if she’d given HIM rocks, and he nodded his head and laughed.) When Melissa discovered I, too, was a rock-lover, she knew she needed to give ME a rock. Whoah.

But she wasn’t done, yet. A few minutes later Melissa came back, reached into her pocket, and pulled out another rock! – this one was a slice of a petrified tree. She said her father had given her a bunch of these, and now it was bringing her joy to share them with others, and she handed me the petrified wood.

My friends, I have had a wonderful day – a lovely hike in the cool green woods to Baker Lake; a delicious dinner; well wishes from my Facebook friends; and ROCKS!!!!

Life IS good.

Swinging from Branches and Balancing on Logs and Playing Like a Little Kid Again

Posted on by
Reply

Scott and the sons and I headed up to Artist’s Point in the North Cascades for a family hike, but it was really smoky up there – so, after a little jaunt to the first pond, we headed back down. We made a quick stop at Heather Meadows for a walk along the nature trail there – it was smoky there, too – but I wanted to share the laughing little creek I’d found there on my adventure the week before.

Then, with Andrew directing us, we drove down to a turnoff and an unnamed, unmarked trail that Andrew had discovered through a friend a few years ago. It was so cool in there! Massive trees! We scrambled up on top of a fallen tree that stretched a couple hundred feet and walked the length of it. The sons and Scott went back to where we’d climbed aboard and got down that way, but I hopped off the end of the log and found myself surrounded by Devil’s Club and fallen trees and – although I knew the direction I needed to go, I couldn’t figure out how to get through the brush around me.

Xander hollered to me and waved his hand so I could see where he was and then, balancing along long logs and hopping over bushes, managed to get to me and helped show me the way back to the trail. Ohmygosh! It was so fun! I felt like my young self again, swinging from branches and balancing along logs, and playing.

But eventually I came to a log that seemed too big for me to climb over. Xander reached out to me from the top, and Andrew pushed me from the back, and at last I was back on the trail again.

I love adventuring with my family!
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

It Was a Good Choice

Posted on by
Reply

We’d been waiting for a sunny weekend to go for our Table Mountain hike – and it just didn’t happen – so we finally gave up the whole idea of sunny skies and just went up to Mount Baker, anyway. It was a good choice. 🙂

 

 

“Are we almost there, yet”

Posted on by
Reply

I remember one time, as I was coming down
from a hike, when I got near the trailhead
I saw a couple hikers just starting out who
looked like they had a sense of humor.
“You’re almost there!” I told them. I had
judged correctly: They laughed.

Today as I was coming down from a hike –
just two quick switchbacks from the top –
a sweaty hiker asked if she was close
and I could tell her, “Yes! You’re almost
there! You’re going to make it!” It was
awesome to see the smile come to her face.

Today the hike back down was no bed
of roses, either. It seemed to go on forever.
The further I got down the trail the more
I felt my gait turning into the gait of an old
mariner – lurching from left hip to right hip
as with the rolling waves on the ocean.

I wanted to ask the people coming up if I
was “almost there, yet” – was I almost back
down? But I didn’t.

I found another way. The tired, sweaty
folks panting for breath showed me I still
had a ways to go. As I got nearer
the trailhead the faces weren’t as red,
the breathing not as labored. And when
I saw happy, smiling  hikers still fine-
tuning adjustments on their packs I knew
I was almost back to the beginning.

The hike isn’t just the getting there –
it’s the getting back.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

Annual Skyline Divide Hike

Posted on by
Reply

I was really surprised by how many people were up on the Skyline Divide today. And (although it kind of made it difficult to take photos) it gave me hope to see all these people – willing to push their bodies up to alpine meadows to enjoy what the mountains could give them.

As I was looking at Mount Baker today from the Skyline Divide – and realizing how HUGE it is – I thought to myself: “What in the heck were you thinking?! Whatever made you think you could climb that mountain?!” And then I reminded myself that I did, indeed, climb that mountain. And then it dawned on me that if I hadn’t been born with the parents I was born with – and I’m not just talking about Dad here – Moz was a pretty formidable adventurer in her day, too – I probably WOULDN’T have climbed Baker (or Rainier, Adams, or Hood). How lucky am I that I had a father who took me up all these peaks? I’m so very grateful for the opportunities my parents gave me in my life. They gave me the mountains. 

 

Mount Baker from the Skyline Divide
Shuksin and Mountain Meadows
Baker from the Skyline Divide
Mount Baker from the Skyline Divide
Shuksin and a Mountain Meadow
Mount Baker Through the Clouds
Baker from the Skyline Divide
“Festival” on the Skyline Divide
Shuksin Behind a Green Ridge
Snow-Covered Peak on the Side of Baker