Little Si 10-12-09

Not all hikes are with The Big Guy, you know. I do have a friend or two, thank you. On this day, my friend and I planned to hike up Big Si, but since it was the week for misdirection, we could only find the trailhead for Little Si. So up we went.

This is my friend, Mary. She has been my friend for many, many years, and she was, in fact, with me the night I saw The Big Guy for the first time. This photo is Mary being a "hiking vixen." Mary and I think things like that are hysterical. I love Mary.
This is me. I wasn't trying to be funny, but I kind of am, anyway, huh? I just like that my bottom looks smaller than my top for once, even if it sorta looks like I bit a lemon.


Here's Mary again. This time she's being "pensive." HILARIOUS!

And here we are together. Me and Mary. Mary and me. Freezing our friendship off.

Gold Creek 10-11-09

Sometimes things don't start out great. We had a hard time deciding where to go on this "free" day, and then we had a hard time finding the parking lot even though it's not actually hard to find, then we had a hard time finding the trailhead once we found the parking lot. Sheesh!

This is a view of the lake, which is surrounded by a nice paved trail and many mountain chalets. The trail we took spurs off of this, and once we were going in the right direction, we had one of the most pleasant hikes we've ever had. Isn't life funny?

The colors were as good as the fall colors get here in the Pacific Northwest. It was quite chilly (about 35*) and there was frost on some of the trail, but the sun was warm and the trail was gentle.

A shock of color along the way.

This is fall where I live. It's not the fall of my childhood, which I still think of as "real" fall. It has been my autumn now for 17 years, which is almost as long now as the years I had autumns in Ohio. I'll tell you what, though. Winter here isn't like the winters of my youth, either, so it all evens out in the end. I told you life was funny.