Fall is my absolute favorite season for hiking. I know I've said it before, but right now it feels especially true. This year, it may be in part due to the fact that it took most of the summer for me to feel comfortable venturing much beyond my own backyard. As though the Cascades were conspiring to lure me back the their fir scented embrace, the condions this weekend were my absolute ideal for an early fall hike. Even the drive to meet my Alpine Trails Book Club friends at the trailhead was stunning, with low swirling clouds and vibrant fall color. I even surprised myself, managing to both hike all the full length of our roughly 6-8 mile hike (no one’s distance tracking device seemed to agree once we were back at the trailhead). Happily I also had plenty of time to pick enough of the tiny but oh-so-sweet alpine blueberries that lined the trail to fill the Nalgene bottle I brought specifically for that purpose. Those now wait in my freezer as a treat for those long winter days when I need a reminder of sunny days in the mountains.

Along with last week's impressive haul of apples, we've also been hoarding pounds of plums from the tree in our front yard, and after pitting and freezing most of them over the weekend, Monday night I made these plum muffins. They turned out so well, Andy and I were barely able to to stop ourselves from having a dinner of muffins, each eating only one fresh from the oven (ok, we also split a third…) and saving the rest for breakfast over the week. I’ll definitely be baking these again, possibly in the very near future!