In which Thor, Reo dog, and I seize the day once more to celebrate being alive in our beautiful Pacific Northwest, with a hike to Bagley Lake in the Mt. Baker Wilderness.
If I have learned anything from the last six years of dealing with recurrent never-smoker lung cancer, it’s that we never know what life is going to throw our way. But mostly I’ve learned to appreciate the good days when I have energy to get out and celebrate the incredible beauty of nature in our Pacific Northwest. After a rough few weeks and more radiation treatments, this last week felt like a turnaround and a blessing of returning energy – and gratefulness for my new naturopathic oncology doc for all her help. Thor and I have been longing to return to the mountains, as we’ve missed our usual weekly summer hiking these past few years. So this week, despite wildfire smoke blanketing our region from the terrible fires in Eastern Washington and British Columbia, we packed up our knapsacks and Reo dog and headed for an easy hike in the nearby Mt. Baker wilderness. (Top photo is from an earlier year when the skies were clear.)
The Bagley Lake trail is always lovely, following the outflow creek with lush foliage and wildflowers, snowmelt trickling down past outcrops of columnar andesite, products of volcanic Mt. Baker’s past.
I did surprisingly well on the trail, hurrah! Made it up to our favorite rocky knoll overlooking the lake, and hung out while Reo dog and Thor hiked up further. When they returned, we ate lunch and finished the loop trail back. The usual clear blue sky was rather grayish because of the wildfire smoke, but it might have given us the gift of solitude. Also, it seems that the former crowds of Canadian hikers are boycotting the U.S. now, so there was almost no one on the trail. That is unheard of these days – almost like the old days growing up here, when the wilderness still felt wild!
(I do want to add that we miss our good neighbors the Canadians visiting our border county, saddened by the way the vicious insanity of our current U.S. Administration is alienating our allies along with all the other crimes being perpetuated. Crossing fingers for change!!)
Thor was so happy for me, and for the day!
No one was around to care that I went skinny-dipping in the lake and raised my arms in my ritual call: “I’m alive!” Blessed Be!
A last stop to greet the Raven sculptures at the lower ski area, and we headed home, happy.
*****
You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and an International Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky). It’s also a love letter to the stunning beauty of her native Pacific Northwest wild places. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
