British Army trail shuttle Trailblazer hike

"Point to point"

This is a different approach for our hiking group, we usually start and finish at the same parking lot. Today Pat our "fearless leader" decided to branch out and planned a shuttle trip for us. After waiting at the Blanchard mtn. parking lot for the shuttle drivers to arrive, 19 of us began our hike. If you'd like to know why a section of the trail we hiked on today is called the British Army trail please read this ARTICLE. 

After hiking a short ways on the road, we joined the trail. At the trailhead signboard map, Pat is showing some of our group his proposed route for the day.

Columbine along the trail <3

The trail views heading towards Lizard lake.

Lizard lake

It stayed overcast for the hike and we got a bit chilled during our lunch, but we had a good time chatting with each other & enjoying the lake view before heading back onto the trail.

Our group settled in here and there for lunch.

Bunchberries

After lunch we connected with the British Army trail, it's a wonderful area to hike in. If you click on the photo below you will see our group way below snaking through the trees.

Part of today's hike was on trails and part was on old logging roads.

We followed the "blaze" and signs of the PNT (Pacific Northwest Trail) for most of our hike today.

The trail was in rough shape towards the end of our hike due to the damage from mountain bikers and water erosion. A few in our group tried to see how strong their ankles were and just how soft the earth felt on their behinds. No injuries, thank goodness.

We ended our hike at the Summerland road gate and waited for about 30 minutes for the shuttle cars to return.

I found an interesting hike on the internet while I was researching this area. I found a hike called the "Blanchard Mountain Traverse". This is a 10 mile hike that starts at the Summerland road gate and ends on Chuckanut drive by the Oyster Bar restaurant. Hmmm, I might have to try that one. Anyway the hike description from the start to Lizard Lake follows the last half of today's hike. If you're interested in checking it out, here's the link: http://www.switmo.org/hikes/blanchard/blanchard.pdf.

Endomondo stats:

total miles hiked - 8.2

minimum altitude - 551 feet

maximum altitude - 2039 feet

total ascent - 1483 feet

total descent - 1798 feet