Camping, Hiking, Fun! - Day 1

First days hike - 4.8-mi.

It had been years & years since we'd just gone "camping".  When the girls were little & we managed residential multifamily - our only inexpensive escape was camping!  Since we were on-call full time, we had two, three-day weekends a month for our get-a-ways.  Our little Apache camping trailer saw lots & lots of miles over the years until we moved to the Homestead.  The girls were grown, we bought horses & life changed!  Now it seems to be changing again as we transition from our competitive years to enjoying more varied pursuits.

Great Blue Heron

 We were more than ready to get-away from the cold freezing temperatures, fog & gray.  Years ago we discovered that the weather on Whidbey Island can be very different & I'd made reservations at the only camp that is now kept open in the winter.

The dogs accompanied us.  These two have never had formal obedience training, so the first few miles were more about dog training than anything else!  Butch took Rascal's lead - he was the worst!  Nika liked to pull, but finally figured out that only one of us could be in front!  :-)  At Cornet Bay we were thrilled to see this Blue Heron.  The first I've ever managed to get a photo of!  He was quite a distance down the beach from us, but the zoom brought him in close.

Sat. started out cold & hazy, but the sun began burning through & it was much warmer than what we'd left at home!

Rascal & Nika

By the time we had our lunch break, the sun was already getting lower in the sky to the west.

Deception Pass from the South end of the Bridge

We made really good time on the trip back.  One big climb where we felt the burn, then a nice wide forested path on the return.

From the Cornet Bay youth camp

Back at Cornet Bay, we enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine.   The day was starting to cool down, Butch built a fire & we had somemores after dinner!