Thursday, April 30, 2015

Ft. Ebey Trailblazer hike


Could our group of Senior Trailblazers ask for a better view for today's hike?


18 of us led by our "Fearless leader - Pat", enjoyed the trails adjacent to Whidbey Island's Ebey State park. Today we (group 2) met an hour earlier at the Bellingham Senior Activity Center at a time of 8am. We'll meet at this earlier time until next fall.

Pat, "fearless leader"
This area has many forks in the trail and signs to follow or get lost by.








We really didn't succeed in getting lost, but we did succeed in having a most excellent hike in a beautiful forest. We ate lunch among the Salal, Madrone and Rhododendrona's.





Today's hike was a bit of up, a bit of down with a whole lot of turns and a whole lot of fun!

Endomondo stats:
Total miles hiked - 6.4 miles
Minimum Altitude - 62 feet
Maximum Altitude - 272 feet
Total Ascent - 554
Total Descent - 430 feet

Sunday, April 26, 2015

North Butte Via Alternate Incline trail

For our Sunday "fun day" we decided on the North Butte located on Blanchard Mtn. We were exemplary citizens today. We forgot our Discovery Pass so we actually bought a day pass. :-(
When we began today it was 53 degrees, but it was a chilly 53 degrees. I of course forgot a second layer, but gradually warmed up after we got going. It's been awhile since I'd been on the Alternate Incline trail, it starts out gently enough but holy cow after that it just keeps going "UP". 


We walked quite a bit on our way up to North Butte. Whenever it leveled out we attempted our jog.



The skies were clear enough that we got some good views of Bellingham bay. There was a chilly breeze on top, but it wasn't consistent and whenever it let up the sun felt really nice.



our "selfie"
We even saw some wildlife, on the Butte 

cute little chipmunk
 and in the forest ;-)


Lily Lake
fern in the stream
The trail down from the Butte was a nice downhill for about 4 miles.
It's been awhile since we'd run on a trail together and I really enjoyed it.

Endomondo stats:
Total - 7.12 miles
Minimum Altitude - 802 feet
Maximum Altitude - 2230 feet
Total Ascent - 1393 feet
Total Descent - 1374 feet