Northern State Rec. area Wander

Our hike today found us in Skagit County at the Northern State Rec. area trail system. Click on the link to read about present and future trail plans at the site: Current projects.

We parked at the Swift Center parking lot on Hub drive along the Historical Auto tour loop.

The map below shows our route. We walked along the Beaver ponds (the large loop at the bottom of the map) and then crossed hwy 20 and joined the Cascade trail for a short distance mostly to get us off of the highway so we could get back into the Rec. area via Hemlick road. The south part of the Beaver ponds don't have a trail access for us to go all the way around unfortunately.

As we made our way back along the Beaver ponds we heard the familiar bloop bloop sound of a Bittern, we've seen one in this area before. Their sound is similar to dripping water, you can hear it HERE (turn your sound up to hear it better).

We then made our way up through the Frisbee disc course areas and up to the single track trail.

When we came to the pumphouse bridge and joined the Hill creek trail we were excited to see the new progress of the new trails. The Skagit Trail builders have been doing a great job expanding trails in the area.

As we walked along we went in and out of areas owned by different groups. They posted their boundaries along the way.

The raised areas they finished last year looked like they made it through winter's high water storms just fine.

The trail that goes around the Elk meadow were lined with blooming Bleeding Heart. It was a lush carpet of green along the trail.

I finally spotted my first Trillium of the year. Several were seen along the loop trail.

This section is a beautiful forest walk.

We gradually came to where we had stopped last time we were here because the trail had dead ended at this point. They had it roughed out to the meadow, it was prepped in places for the gravel to be laid down in the future.

Just before the meadow we came to some nice newly graveled trail surfaces.

The last section in the meadow hadn't been roughed out yet, but the dirt track was lined with white flags showing where it will be put in.

At the end of the meadow the "yet to be trail" joined the loop trail.

Nearing the end of our hike.

And back to where we parked.

A great day exploring the trails in the Recreation area.

We only had a couple of rain drops on us despite the grey sky.

Total miles: 7.3 miles

Total ascent: 364 feet

Blanchard Mtn. and Easter weekend

 Saturday's hiking choice was Blanchard Mtn. and hopefully North Butte. 

My foot (plantar fasciitis) seems to be on the mend as long as I keep doing the things that make it happy: Stretches and exercises. I found Toe Yoga and Scraping particularly helpful.

We drove to the upper parking lot, which since I'd been here last has been blessed with a bathroom, Yay!!

We walked up the logging road, past the Alternate incline trail and up to the British Army trail. Since I'm a PNT fan, I'm always excited when we get to walk past the PNT signs, emblems and Blazes when we hike on these sections.

Me, excited to not only be on the PNT but to be done with the uphill road walking. Now for uphill trail walking!

Always love when I find heart rocks on the trail. This was a nice sized one.

The top of the British Army trail is a nice fairly flat trail corridor with less ferns and more Salal bushes.

We walked along Lizard lake until we came to the North Butte trail junction.

We saw an Eagle way across the lake, but it would take a camera better than my cell phone to get a good photo. Here's my attempt at a photo zoom. Pretty blurry right??!! Zoom in on the photo above and see if you can spot where the Eagle is.

Before we headed up to North Butte, I felt like I needed to take a break. My legs were feeling the incline we'd already done. After a sit down, some water and a snack I was ready to march on up the hill.

Our adventure dog checking out the scenery.

We sat on the rocks at the top for lunch, our faithful adventure dog took a "very short" rest.

View of the Salish sea from the top.

After lunch we headed back down towards Lizard lake and enjoyed the many Skunk cabbage blooms in the wet areas along the trail. Their pops of bright yellow were a welcome sight to my eyes after our monochrome season of winter.

Lizard lake view again.

My husband wanted to show me the views at a new trail just to the left before the Alternate incline trail junction. First we had a discussion about how I felt, since my body and my foot hadn't hiked much beyond 7 miles for quite awhile. Our choices: go on the new trail and on down the road for a much longer hike, go to the view area then turn around and then head down the alternate incline trail. The second option would make it a shorter trek. I declared all was good so on we went.

He was right, the views were great. Worth going out if even for a peek and turn around. We could see Mt. Baker, the Twin Sisters, Lake Samish and Lost lake. Even though the new trail is designated for hikers, it is shared with mountain bikers and horses, so everyone needs to practice safe yielding. Just as we left the trail and joined the logging road for our descent we got to step aside for a group of bikers. They were glad to hear their uphill journey was over.

Mount Baker and the Twin Sisters.

Samish lake

Making our way down the nearly 4 mile descent.

It was a great hike and by far my farthest last June.

Total miles hiked: 11miles

Total ascent: 1844 feet

I'm happy to say I wasn't sore on Sunday and my foot feels fine. So it seems we can take on most any hike we want again. I'm excited to hit the trails more regularly. I go back and forth with if I want to re-join the Trailblazers again, but it is very nice to be able to pick our own days, our own hikes, our start and end times, adjust our routes on a whim and best of all to be just the two of us on our outings. I guess you can see where I'm leaning.

We spent Easter driving up to Mt. Baker, stopping along the way for our favorite Chorizo Burritos at the The Waken Bakery Shuksan was spectacular with a beautiful Easter blue sky.

The Ravens at the lower ski area were ready for Easter too!