The Rambling Writer Returns to the Mountains

After a year of way too many recuperation and rehab programs, Thor, Bear dog, and I return to the Mt. Baker Wilderness for a hike to Bagley Lakes.

NOTE: I will resume my Virtual Italy Vacation series, perhaps alternating with more outdoor excursions. Stay tuned!

I think at this point we’re all wondering what Twilight Zone unreality we’ve wandered into with the pandemic and other “crazy life” ordeals like lung cancer surgery. For Thor, Bear dog, and me it’s been a particularly skewed scenario without our beloved hikes or snowshoeing in the nearby Cascade mountains. He’s finding a hiking solution with a prosthetic device that provides spring to compensate for his calf nerve damage, and after three years and various medical modalities, my torn hip tendon has finally healed. Now my P.T. program is designed to get me back in action. This week, with a beautiful day beckoning us to the mountains, we decided we needed to celebrate my one-year clear lung scan by heading for an easy hike below Mt. Baker, the Bagley Lakes trail. (It only involved four times the distance I’m “allowed” at this phase.) I figured the healing air of the mountains, and dips in the “invigorating” (Thor says “freezing-ass”) alpine lake, would compensate for maybe overdoing it a bit….

A fairly easy trail, with lots of the columnar andesite formed by volcanic Mt. Baker (ahead but hidden behind Table Mt.) during some of its eruptions.

We were a little late for the real flush of wildflowers, but the monkey flowers were showing off their colors.

Bear dog beat me to the cooling stream — a lot easier for him, as he doesn’t have to shed knapsack, clothes, hiking boots, etc.

Heading toward Table Mountain, a remnant of a very old lava flow that used to be in the bottom of a valley and is now exposed as its ashy surroundings washed away:

Bagley Lake still has some snow patches, though during our disastrous three-day heat dome in June (climate change, anyone?), our Cascade Mountains went from 130% snowpack to 0%. Our region depends on melting snowpack during our nearly rainless summers, so our area is now in a severe drought and wildfire danger. Surprisingly, there is still a lot of green in the mountains.

We settled for a modest goal of a view of Mt. Shuksan and the lake for our picnic lunch.

We were hot and sweaty after lunch in the sun, so headed back down for a swim in the alpine lake. A special blessing: a river otter and her two young ones were already enjoying the clear waters.

I plunged in to follow their leads, a quick swim as the water was cold enough to hurt. Thor’s “freezing ass” description was accurate — good therapy to calm aching joints. I’ve always called out, “I’m alive!” after plunging into cold lakes or seas, and now there’s extra meaning. What a gift to be here, immersed in the wild!

To make a round trip of it, we headed back along the opposite, higher side of the creek.

More columnar andesite:

And another tradition, stopping lower on the mountain road for another cooling dip, this time in the upper North Fork of the Nooksack River, with Mt. Shuksan in the background.

We had fun slipping in to ride the current.

Grateful for such a beautiful day in the wilderness!

*****

You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Cafe is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection.  It’s a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?”  The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara has recently returned from another research trip in Greece and is back at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com