Cascade Trail

Winter is a difficult time to hike. The days are short and the responsibilities of work and family make it hard to hit the trail before the sun goes down. Add in bad weather and snow and the options are limited. I've found myself bored with my usual local winter trails and decided that during the winter break from school that I would try to hike the Rail Trail alternative to the PNT that it seems most PNT hikers choose to do. The Rail Trail's official name is the Cascade Trail, and it goes about 22 miles from Concrete to Sedro-Woolley. To see a map of the trail go to ftp://ftp.skagitcounty.net/GIS/Documents/Parks/cas-trail.pdf

The first day I parked at the Fruitdale parking lot. I originally wanted to start from Concrete and head towards Sedro-Woolley but the closer I got to Concrete, the deeper the snow got along the side of the road, so I scrapped my original plan and headed back to Sedro-Woolley. It was a rainy cold day but I warmed up as I hiked briskly north. The trail paralleled highway 20 for the first mile or so but then broke away into the countryside.

Large bird watches over the trail

I passed several homes and crossed a road, passing under large electrical lines. After an hour I turned around and began to head back to the car. I crossed a footbridge and discovered that someone had decorated the trail with ornaments. I was surprised that I never noticed them on the way north, but now that I was looking for them, they were all along the path. I really wanted to take one with me and put it on my Christmas tree, but decided it would be better to leave them for others to enjoy. Not that anyone else was out today. I was the only one on that trail for two hours.

 The next day I returned to do some more of the trail. I couldn't find a place to park close to where I'd ended the previous day, so I went further north and turned down Robinson Road. I parked by the gate and started south. It was again a rainy cool day but the scenery was lovely and surprisingly private. I enjoyed the running water and passed several small streams and beaver dams.

Beavers had chewed all the way around the tree on the left, but the tree is still standing

 After passing the streams I headed into farm land. Occasionally the sun would burst out from the clouds. The combination of farm land and river bed reminded me of eastern Washington, but the snow geese and swans in the fields were definitely western Washington.

What kind of cow is this?

This fence stile takes me back to my childhood!

Minkler Lake

 There are several of these little foot bridges along this trail. In the center is a nonskid strip but the nonskid is missing where they've replaced some older boards. The nonskid is there for a reason! I was marching along and not paying attention and I hit a spot without the nonskid and fell and skinned my knee.

Pay attention to the newer brown boards. They're slick when wet.

 The second day I did another two hours and about six miles.

Today I returned for another section. I parked in Lyman and headed out in the bright sunshine. It was nice to do this trail in the sun instead of the rain! This was a lovely section that went right by the Skagit River. I took advantage of the bench to sit in the sun and enjoy the view. There were many more people out today enjoying the sun and the trail.

Skagit River