Now that “winter is coooming,” and the gloomy gray rain of the usual Pacific Northwest slog through the dark days is looming, here are a few highlights of my last couple of autumn hikes with Thor and Bear dog, to lighten our ways. (Good thing I’m not trying to make a living as a poet.)  I’ll combine two outings–one of our favorite mountain hikes to Yellow Aster Meadows and one to Twin Lakes, both near Mt. Baker.

A week or so ago, the drive up the Mt. Baker Highway was in prime viewing condition, the mossy large-leaf maples blazing with light:

Yes, we have Ent trees here, and they speak if you listen:

Bear dog got to wear his dapper anti-hunter vest, as it is the season to be visible as not-that-kind-of-bear:

Heading up the old mining road toward Twin Lakes, with eternally-snowclad Mt. Baker in the background:

Picnic at the Twin Lakes–Thor always brings all the essentials plus!

Snow dog Bear:

LOTS of wild blueberries this year. Delicious!

Hiking in T-shirt weather right before Halloween:

We can’t figure out the wacky weather lately (climate change, anyone?)–a week later, we got a couple inches of snow at home in Bellingham, WA. Turtle cat was not thrilled:

So when we get a sunny day off from teaching and writing, we Seize the Day!

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You will now find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Cafe is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection.  It’s a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?”  The novel has received the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara has recently returned from a research trip in Greece and is back at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect.