Picture of the week ~ Olympic Peninsula

Hurricane Hill, Salt Creek Recreation Area & Dungeness Spit

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Lookout mtn. Trailblazer hike

I returned today to join the Trailblazer hiking group that I hike with each Thursday. I've missed a few hikes lately and I was excited to be back especially since we were to be hiking Lookout mountain. I've never done this hike before, I've heard reports that it was long and steep so I was curious to see if I agreed. We would be starting from the Whatcom county parks parking lot.

There were 12 of us for today's hike, we split up into groups of 3 and each group went their own pace. We were following an old road the whole way in and out, so we figured no one would get lost.

I hiked with Marjan and Gary (in the photo below). Where the road splits I put a large arrow letting the other hikers behind us know which direction it was to the North tower. I tried to make it large enough that no one could miss it. Do you think I succeeded?

The grade of the road was quite steep in places, but I found it enjoyable.

The marine cloud cover was keeping us from enjoying any views at the top of the hill. There was a breeze blowing and it was quite chilly, so we ate a quick lunch and headed back down.

I heard someone yell as we were beginning to head back down the road, so I yelled back and blew my whistle. I got no response, so we walked a short ways farther on the road to see if we could see anyone, but shortly my cell phone began ringing and Bill was calling to tell us that their group had made it to the second of the North towers. We agreed that each group would make their own way down to the cars and so off we went. No sooner had we confirmed our plans then the next group of 3 (Penny, Jean & Char) showed up. We had the same conversation with them, since they hadn't had lunch yet. Feeling confident that we'd done our best to communicate with everyone we began our journey down the road 

I know that some hikers despise walking on roads and prefer trails, but it doesn't make any difference to me. I enjoy the views wherever I am.

When we got just below the fork in the road we saw Pat, Ed and Frank making their way up to us. Pat said that he and Ed would continue on a bit past the junction. Frank however was happy to stop and eat his lunch and then go back with us.

We got to the parking lot and each group arrived at the parking lot, we realized that no one had seen our "fearless leader" Pat and Ed on their return.

Thankfully we had cell coverage for most of the day's hike. So I called Ed to see what was up. He said they had decided to head up to the South tower and were on their way back. 

Yippee! 

All happy and accounted for.

I would gladly hike this again. I really enjoyed the long up and the long down.

Endomondo stats:

total miles hiked - 12.05 miles

total ascent - 2418 feet

total descent - 2411 feet