"My" Mountain

First off I have to tell you this is not my photo! It came from the Mt Baker Gallery. My Mom sent me this link this morning. When you follow the link you can then click on one of the pictures shown and it will take you to a gallery for that day. If you click on the gallery for Tuesday November 28th, it will take you to two pages of REALLY AWESOME photos. This one above was not copyrighted it otherwise I would not have posted it! Apparently in the big storm that my Mom experienced a record was set at Mt. Baker of 12 feet of snow being dumped in one storm. These photos are taken from the ski area mostly and it has been a hot place to snowboard since the very beginning of snowboarding.

I call it my mountain because when you are in Bellingham and Whatcom County you see it almost everywhere. Actually you can see the other side of it from where I grew up in Everett. This photo makes it look small but it is actually over 10,000 feet. You can see the tip from my Mom's house and the whole mountain in majestic glory from just a half mile down the road from them! I have never climbed it, however, when my Grandma Hopkins was at Western Washington University (then the Bellingham Normal School), she climbed it in 1927, the same summer her father, my Great Grandpa Fred Tisdale, climbed Mt. Rainier. Quite a feat for an older gentleman in those days. My Aunt Grace also climbed it when she went to WWU (which was by then Western Washington College) and I believe that was the summer of 1957. Many others in my family are into climbing, but I just stick to hiking. I have awesome memories of hiking in the area from my single days. My best friend Shelley went with me most of the time. My favorite hike was Skyline Divide. You climb up through the forest and it seems like forever and then you come up on a ridge and see the mountains to the east and the water to the west and then it looks like you are going to walk along the ridge up onto the mountain. Actually you can climb Baker from that ridge, but it is not the usual route. I have one picture of Mt. Shuksan taken from that ridge with white bear grass and purple lupine as far as you could see down the side of the ridge! Ah! It was glorious! One day I hope to be healthy enough again to take my kiddos to do stuff like that!

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you "my" Mountain! I am off to the women's annual Christmas Brunch for Sun River Church this morning and tonight I am going to the women's Christmas party at our church! Busy Day. If I get a chance I will post the finished pics of my Swallowtail Shawl, which I unpinned this morning and it is so lovely...I think I need to make one for myself! :o)