Spectacular views and new friends

I hadn’t planned to blog again quite so soon but I had quite an adventure last evening hiking with a new friend and wanted to share. The church runs a number of small interest groups that meet once a week called Life Groups with one of them focusing on hiking. The children’s pastor, Dan, mentioned this one to me because I was going on and on about wanting to hike Mt. Si (still on the docket for the weekend) and how it would be a great way to not only hike but meet new people. So it turns out that Angela, the leader, had a hike scheduled for Thursday evening up Rattlesnake Ridge, which is at the most 15 minutes from where I’m staying.

from the top -- check out how the clouds cut off the top of the mountain

At about 6 p.m. Angela picked me up and we made our way to Rattlesnake Lake where the trail starts. (It happened that it was just the two of us that hiked, which was great because we got to talk and learn more about each other than if there’d been more people.) The hike was two miles each way (elevation gain of 1,175 ft.) and took about an hour to get up and slightly less down.

It was amazing with spectacular views along the way. I was amazed at the trees when you first start up the mountain – there were so many and they’re so tall and skinny – and there were massive boulders – larger than the big Hummers – that were just sitting there between the trees. They must have fallen from the mountain at some point but now they’re covered with moss and plants and things are starting to grow out of them. Of course there’s a point that you pass those trees and hit the traditional evergreens, which lend a different kind of feeling to the hike.

me at the top

But the view from the top was something else! Mountains on all sides with clouds so low that they cut off the tops of them – it was like a natural ceiling. And there were multiple lakes with water so clean and blue it almost looked fake. What a reminder of how beautifully different our country is from coast to coast!

Check out the pictures below or for all of them, check out my online gallery with other pictures from my time here so far.

sunset through the trees

All in all, I'm loving the job and the (indirect) way that I'm doing something good through work. The stress, strain, frustration, and sadness of moving so quickly and so far away from friends has been worth it so far. And I think that when I finally get into an apartment (which should be soon!) and all of the regular fall church activities start up in September and I can get into dance classes I'll be even happier.