We hiked to Goose Rock on Whidbey Island today. We usually go there from the large parking lot near Cranberry lake and walk along north beach to the trail, but today we did it a new way (to me). My husband decided it would be different to start from Rosario Beach park. We walked along the trail that led to Bowman bay.
The trail was a show of spring flowers and we spotted a bunny again this week.
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| Honeysuckle |
Do you see the bunny in the photo below?
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| Twin flowers |
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| Succulents in bloom |
We hiked up to hwy 20 and crossed the Deception pass bridge to connect with the Goose Rock trail.
When we began our hike it was a bit chilly and a breeze was blowing. The Deception pass bridge has two sections and is quite the long walk to cross. The photo below shows my husband walking on the first section.
The photo below shows me crossing the second section.
That breeze was an outright wind on the bridge. It was very exhilarating to stand in the middle of the bridge and feel the wind blowing against us. It was so windy I had to hold on to my hat to keep it from blowing away.
The photo below shows the beach we would normally have walked along to get to Goose Rock.
If we'd walked the beach we would have come up the trail in the photo below. This trail goes under the bridge.
Since our route took us across the bridge instead, we went down the stairs to join the trail.
The view of the "under" bridge.
Finally we connected with the Goose Rock trail.
More flowers along the trail, tiny little pink flowers. I don't know their names, but they were so pretty.
More flowers I can't identify. I'll have to get out my flower book and see if I can name them.
The wind was still blowing when we got to the top. We couldn't find much to shelter us so we hiked on down the trail to find a warmer spot for lunch.
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| View from the top |
This sign is posted at both approaches to the summit of Goose Rock. We thought it was funny to have a "bald" pointing out the "Please respect the Balds" sign.
We did manage to get out of the wind as we made our way around the loop. We hiked through a section of wild Rhododendron in bloom. What a wonderful experience. I'm putting in more than one photo of the area, so that you can understand just how many there were. I could have stayed there all day.
We then took a right turn and hiked until we had to stop, where there was a "do not enter "sign for an Environmental learning youth camp.
We returned to the loop trail and found a nice sunny spot to sit on a log near the beach for our lunch. We had a nice view of Cornet bay.
This trail is also full of Madronas. I never tire of these beautiful trees.
More flowers along the trail, these were all along the hill on the Cornet bay side of the trail.
Lots of Indian paintbrush along this trail and the trail between Rosario park and Bowman bay.
The weather was much more pleasant and less windy for our walk back across the bridge.
When we got back, we walked around Rosario head. Before we were done for our day we spread out a blanket and relaxed in the sun for a good long time. The photo below shows Bowman bay in the distance.
Just as we were ending our hike I found this on the trail.
A heart rock!
I liked our Goose Rock hike with a twist. It was fun to add the bridge crossing to our journey.
Garmin stats:
Total miles hiked - 7.5
Total ascent - 1404 feet
Relive video of our route:
https://youtu.be/A6XBmXNYZ9c
I love the Goose Rock hike we do at least once a year. We usually start at West Beach and pass under the bridge to start our hike. I did see the bunny (his eye gave him away). :-)
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