Linda Lou Takes Me To Skagit Valley Swans & Mount Baker

I saw the scenic scene you see here this morning on Facebook, via a posting from Miss Linda Lou.

Last month I found myself on the summit of an Arizona mountain with Linda Lou called South Mountain. South Mountain is not quite as scenic as the mountain you see above, which is a volcano, called Mount Baker.

Mount Baker has a perpetual snow cap, much of it in the form of what is known as a glacier. During a hot summer much of what is white on Mount Baker melts away. Which renders hiking high on Mount Baker easily doable.

I've hiked to that notch you see to the right of the summit multiple times. This hike begins in what is known as Schrieber's Meadow. The first time I hiked this hike was when I was a teenager, with the trail guide being ardent lifelong hiker, Maxine. My most recent hike up Mount Baker was with my great nephew Hank's, papa, Joey.

Just a sec, I shall see if I can find a link to photos of Joey hiking on Mount Baker. Found it.

Years ago, from my abode in Mount Vernon, Washington, on a clear day I could look out my kitchen window and see the Mount Baker volcano. Sometimes I could even see the steam venting from Mount Baker's crater vent.

South Mountain rises from the Valley of the Sun. Mount Baker rises above the Valley of the Skagit. I doubt South Mountain has ever been snow capped. I am absolutely certain there are no glaciers on South Mountain.

Those big white birds you see in the foreground, above, are Trumpeter Swans. They are big birds. I do not remember when they arrive in the Skagit Valley. Or whether the Skagit Valley flats is a way station on their journey south for the winter, or if the Skagit Valley is their southern escape from the cold north of Canada.

I remember years ago, way back in the previous century, when Spencer Jack and Henry's grandpa, my little brother Jake, was located at a house he built on a large plot of land east of Burlington Hill in the Skagit Valley. A huge flock of Trumpeter Swan's would congregate on Jake's land, consuming whatever there was to consume.

When startled the Swan's would take off, all at once, making a loud thump thump thump noise as they quickly gained altitude. One had to be on the lookout, as the big birds flew overhead, for emergency evacuation of what their digestive systems had digested, dropping what amounted to being non-explosive bombs which one did not want to land on one's head.

Recently I have been pondering the idea of relocating back to Modern America, where the politics are blue, where most of the people are well educated, and not overly inflated. Where most grown ups do not still follow their old high school's football games. Where berries grow free for the picking, where seafood is plentiful, also free for the picking, I mean, catching. Where...well, this type list could go on and on and on.

So, I will shut up now....