Goose Rock hike

With snow on the ground still at our house, we headed south to Goose Rock on Whidbey Island. Goose Rock is a favorite of mine, I love the different ecosystems encountered in this area and the glacial scraping effects on the "Balds". It's best visited on a sunny blue sky day and that's just what we had today. My husband has a uncanny sense for picking just the right locations on just the right days.

We started at the Rosario head parking lot.
*click on the photos in this blog post to enlarge them to see how truly beautiful this area is.

We headed towards Bowman Bay 

and on to the Deception pass bridge.

The views are spectacular from the bridge.

We took the steps that led under the bridge to get to the trail on the other side of the road, this is where the Goose rock trail is.

After a short incline hike we made it to the Balds. You can see the glacial scrapings in my photo below.

We stopped at this area, also known as "The Summit" to eat our lunch, enjoy the views and lounge in the sun's warmth.

Time to head down to the perimeter trail. We noticed several Rhododendrons that weren't doing very well. I wonder what is happening to them?

We decided to take the Lower forest trail and see where it would take us.

You can see by the ice on this pond, that it's been cold for a few days in this area as well.

It was a nice little side loop. I enjoyed the Lower forest trail very much.We then turned onto the Discovery trail to make our way back to the perimeter trail. 

Just a couple of trees to climb over.

And then back to the views of Cornet bay and the Madrona❤ 

Notice how much drier this area is than the forested areas.

An interesting tree with the sun peeking through it.

Time to walk across the bridge and make our way to Bowman bay and our finish Rosario head.

We always walk out to the view dock on our way through Bowman bay.

Such a glorious day.

Relive video our our route.

https://youtu.be/fvJtXNeucVY

Garmin stats:

total miles hiked - 7.8

total ascent - 1450 feet

total descent - 1568 feet

Positivity Note 🎶 for February 20, 2019

I’m going to start a new “once a month” emphasis on my blog: “Positivity Notes”. 

My life words for 2019 are "Let go" inspired by this poem "She Let Go" by Safire Rose.

If you took the time to read the poem I hope it inspired you as well.

I plan to “let go” of negativity & focus on the positive in and around me.

"People tend to be generous when sharing their nonsense, fear and ignorance. And while they seem quite eager to feed you their negativity, please remember that the diet we need to be on is a spiritual and emotional one. Be cautious with what you feed your mind and soul. Fuel yourself with positivity and let that fuel propel you into positive action."

Steve Maraboli