Located in the Northern Cascades along the Mount Baker Highway, Church Mountain was a delight to hike.  We took our time since no hike should be rushed.  Instead it should be savored like a fine wine so as to enjoy it.  It's an 8 mile hike with 3900 feet of elevation gain that moves through lush forests, wild flower meadows and left over snow fields.  I hadn't hiked this one before but my family has and it was long overdue for me to check this off my list.  As usual, I kept my camera within reach since each hike has one surprise after another and is one of the reasons that I feel lucky to have settled in such a beautiful area.  We started up the trail as usual and the light highlighted all the new growth making the chartreuse green glow even brighter.  Stumps of trees and roots made the trail curve hiding the next bit enticing me to keep going further.  As we hiked, we were passed by a gal running up and later on the trail she was running down.  Still later she was on her way back up the trail.  When asked she admitted that it was her third time going up and she was training for a longer run. I, on the other hand, was more than content to hike it only once.  Lunch was had at the top.  As I sat there I was told of a marmot that would poke it's head out every so often and it eventually did though from quite the distance.  As we sat, we contemplated another peak.  Could we make it there? It looked as though it was along a ridge and a trail seemed to go in that distance.  A hiker took off for it which made me want to go as well.  We abandoned our effort as the trail petered out with a scramble of rocks before us.  Turning around, we heard from distances a whoop and holler as that hiker reached the pinnacle with arms raised high.  Smiling and hollering back we started down the trail towards home only to overtaken by said hiker 30 minutes later.