Anacortes area Trailblazer hike

After the long stretch of nice sunny days in our area, yesterday we were hit with an epic rain day. Seattle actually had a record breaking amount. As I packed up my things last night for today's hike I was asking myself if I really wanted to go in the mountains and trudge along for this week's scheduled hike to Canyon Ridge. 

I was feeling even more uneasy when I woke and saw that it was still pouring. When I got to the senior center I was surprised to see that only 3 brave souls showed up from our group, and 1 of the 3 was our fearless leader "Pat"! I'm glad I showed up because true to form, he had other plans for us. He had checked out the weather radar before he came and announced that it looked less threatening towards the Anacortes area. So off we went hoping for better conditions,

and hurray - by the time we reached Anacortes the rain had stopped.

Pat's plan for us would be to walk the trails in Washington park & then drive to the Tommy Thompson trail and walk to the Trestle.

I've driven the road up and over Washington park, but I've never hiked the trails in the park. It was a beautiful forest, filled with Salal, Rocky Mountain Juniper, Cedar and Douglas Fir. There were quite a few Madrona's as well. I love this tree with it's peeling bark. I learned from Pat that people on the east coast pronounce this tree with a long "e" ending as Madrone, and people from the west coast pronounce it as Madrona with an "a" sound at the end. There you go, more pearls of wisdom from our fearless leader "Pat"!

Pat and Mike carried on quite the interesting conversations as we marched along. Topics included were about: the history of the area, botany, geology, archeology, and even a bit of anthropology. I soaked it all in like a sponge. These conversations as we go along are one of the best parts of the hike for me.

When we finished hiking the trails we drove up and over the road so Mike could experience it. Then we drove to the day use area for lunch with a glorious view.

panorama, click to enlarge

Before we went to our next hiking destination, Pat took us to Causland Memorial Park. All of the fencing and the gazebo were built with different colors of stone placed in a lovely decorative pattern.

Then off to the Tommy Thompson trail. 

Always a day of great tales and information from our fearless leader "Pat". This day was no different since he was raised in Anacortes, and his memories were rich with his boyhood joys.

I learned today to trust his judgement about where we would be going when the weather looks "iffy". 

Two hikes for the price of one ;-)

Endomondo stats:

Washington park 

Total miles hiked - 2.66

Min. altitude - -25

Max. altitude - 213

Total ascent - 357

Total descent - 340

Tommy Thompson trail 

Total miles hiked - 4.95

Min. altitude - -63

Max. altitude - 81

Total ascent - 244

Total descent - 219