Autumn has come and it brought with it beautiful days full of color. Friday morning was full of promise and begged for an adventure. John took the day off work and we headed out to find fall color in a hike. I should have paid more attention to the date on the post but when I saw the fall colors of the Blue Lake hike, I was hooked.  Washington Trails does a wonderful job listing all the hikes and it is the go-to website for us. Unfortunately we didn't have a Green Trails map in our files and we usually take the corresponding map with us. Loading up the truck we set off on our adventure. It was a two plus hour drive down highway 20 to our destination. The trees were in full color, leaves dancing across the highway as we talked. We stopped at a little roadside chapel to take photos. The leaves on the ground were about an inch thick that was layered over the springy grass. On our way back there was a photographer and a couple having their photos taken there.


We arrived at the trail head to be greeted by snow. Not what I was expecting.  The parking lot was snowed in and there was enough room for a couple of vehicles at the turn off. We parked next to the only other vehicle there and set off.  One of the things I do is take a photo of the posted map.  We've used photos like that before and it has been handy to refer to it.  We used the photo again this time too.  We followed the footstep across the parking lot and into the woods. It didn't seem like the trail and come to find out it wasn't.  John had downloaded the REI trail map and it showed us to be in the vicinity of the trail so we kept following the footsteps.  Eventually we crossed the trail and met up with the other group of hikers.  We said hello, passed them and kept going. We came out to a lovely clearing that showed the ridge line, the beautiful evergreens laced with golden larches, snow covered the ground.  We continued on following footsteps until they just ended.  We back tracked to make sure we hadn't missed the trail but we hadn't. Checking the trail app and the photo, we headed back to where the trail ended and decided to push on. Every so often we checked the app, reassured we were still on the trail. Then we came upon a sign we were on the right path; a strap from snowshoes hanging on a tree, then later a sign stating no camping. Finally a clearing and Blue Lake was there, only it wasn't blue. It was covered with a layer of ice and then snow. It was beautiful and at this time, it was ours, alone to enjoy. We ate quickly and retraced our steps. I thought we wouldn't run into any one but the gals we had past but I was wrong. There were quite a few groups on the trail, following our steps, packing down the snow. We followed the trail all the way back to the trail head realizing only then that the trail took off from behind the sign and outhouse into the woods.  Funny how we missed that. The trail head was now full of cars even though it was later in the afternoon. We drove back, stopping at Coconut Kenny's for dinner, a favorite.