Hears Different Drummer: Heart, Erie, Sugarloaf Hike

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Heart, Erie, Sugarloaf Hike

We tried to escape the forecasted wind and rain by heading to Fidalgo Island again. I know, it's becoming a habit isn't it!? We watched our local (Seattle Q13 Weather guy Walter Kelley's forecast last night. He said north Whidbey Island would be getting less wind and rain, and since our goal is to hike "up" for our Spartan race training and our local hill are still abit snow covered we opted to head south again.

We started at Heart lake crossed the road and began hiking on trail #312. The trails in this area are a crazy maze, but are all numbered and "if" you go with a map and a trusty map reader like my husband you WILL get to your destination! We headed toward Mt. Erie first.

I noticed some first sightings of "SPRING" along the trail.

Skunk Cabbage starting to bloom

Trees and bushes beginning to leaf.

Most of the trails were moss lined and I felt like we were walking on Hobbit trails through the forest.

There was a bit of drizzle and wind on our hike today, but we were dressed for it. Of course when we were looking for a spot to sit down for lunch it was at it's worst. It took a bit of looking, finally we sat in a semi-sheltered spot. We still felt some wind and a few raindrops but it wasn't bad. There's my husband sitting in our dining room, doesn't he look cozy?!

Then it was onward and upward to the top of Mt. Erie.

Despite the overcast sky, we still had some pretty good views from the top. It was really windy on the top of Erie.

At the Sugarloaf trailhead I spied a trail "Sprite", it was so nice to be welcomed to the trail. Yes, we do have fun hiking together!

We even had some nice views from Sugarloaf. The photo below is looking back at Mt. Erie., where we had just come from. The wind was still blowing here as well.