The Elwha River Valley and Humes Ranch hike

A few months ago I found a site on Facebook called Exotic Hikes. They are an organization that writes about hikes on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Olympic National Park. They post pictures frequently and I've learned many interesting historical things from them as well. One of the hikes that they highlighted shortly before spring break is a loop trail that goes to Humes Ranch, Michael's Cabin and also by a beautiful river feature called Goblin's Gate. I decided that I had to do this hike and so I drove up the Elwha River Valley, past where they've taken down the Elwha Dam, and then up Whiskey Bend Road, a narrow, one car dirt road in surprisingly good shape and with only a few pot holes. I had stopped by the Olympic National Park Visitor's Center in Port Angles and had picked up a map.

The day was sunny and warm with clear blue skies and I followed the trail up until I took the side trail down for Goblin's Gate.

It was a steep descent down to the river and I was glad I had my hiking poles to take some of the pressure off my knees. Goblin's Gate was beautiful, but actually a little scary. I stayed well back from the edge, since a slip into the river with my backpack on probably wouldn't have been a good thing. I didn't stay very long because another family came along and I wanted to move out of the way for them to take pictures as well.

Water rushes through Goblin's Gate

Goblin's Gate

Goblin's Gate



Goblin's Gate



I retraced my steps back to the trail and continued on the lower trail since it makes a more gradual descent back up. I enjoyed the sound of the water rushing past and it seemed to be singing with a deep solemn joy, Free at Last, Free at Last, Thank God, I'm Free at Last! The Elwha River as been loosed from the dam that chained it and slowed it down and although this area was above that, the sound of the river filled the whole valley.

selfie!



Trail that skirts the river

After following the river for a bit, the trail gradually climbed up to Humes Ranch, a cool little cabin that was restored a few years ago. You can't stay in the cabin, but there is a campground down in the meadow that has bear wires.

Several trees were tagged with these metal tabs. Maybe fruit trees?

Humes cabin to the left, the trail to the right goes to the campground

A plaque on the door tells some of the history of the Humes brothers and their cabin

After exploring the cabin and looking around, I continued down the trail to a lovely meadow and then on through the campground that had a youth group staying in it. The trail looped around and up and then I discovered Michael's Cabin set off the trail as well. It has also had some restoration done on it.

Michael's Cabin

I enjoyed the views across the valley to the steep mountains, the roar of the river, and my heart sang as I continued up the trail back to the trail head. Some places on the trail were a bit muddy, but I did okay in my tennis shoes instead of my hiking boots. I passed several other hikers and a volunteer Olympic Park Ranger who asked about trail conditions. Although there were a few blow downs and a little mud in spots, over all the trail was in good condition. This loop trail was six miles.

This Madrona tree has picked up the rock that originally impeded its growth

Once I was finished hiking I drove on up to Hurricane Ridge since it was a clear day. I didn't stay long since it was much colder up there, but the views were amazing.

Hurricane Ridge



Mt. Olympus

After lingering at the visitor's center for awhile, I headed back down the mountain and over to Port Townsend, where I enjoyed a vanilla malt at the malt shop before catching the ferry back to Coupeville. What an awesome way to spend a few days during spring break!

Spruce Rail Trail

About eight years ago my husband and I drove past Lake Crescent on our way to a family reunion. Something about it grabbed me and I promised myself that I'd come back some day. I honestly didn't think it would take so long but I finally made it back! With a forecast of two days of good weather, I packed up my backpack, made a ferry reservation, and headed west.

The ferry pulls in to Coupeville

 

Spruce Rail Trail Trailhead

Lake Crescent is a glacial lake ringed by steep mountains. Along one side runs a 4 mile rail trail. I expected the views to be mostly peek a boo views through the trees and although the first and fourth miles were like that, the water front views during miles two and three were stellar. The trail was in great shape after the first rather muddy mile, with only one blow down that was easily traversed. 

Lots of little water streams

Mount Storm King across the lake

A beautiful bridge

snow capped mountains ring the lake

I paused along the way to peek into a couple tunnels, but kept clear of entering, having been warned on various websites that they were unstable. Oddly, there were no warning signs of any kind on the actual trail. This trail could have used a few historical interpretive signs, too.

an old tunnel

tunnel shaft looks kinda sketchy

Lake Crescent is not a peaceful lake. The water surged restlessly whenever I stepped near it and it felt like it was hungrily hoping for a misstep so that it could grab me by the ankles and plunge me to a watery doom. An ancient Indian legend says that the lake was formed when a god got fed up with the warring by enemy tribes and threw down a mountain top,  killing all the warriors and damming up the lake.

the only piece of rail I encountered

taking a break and airing out the feet

log to the lake

the lake laps hungrily

It took me about four hours to do the round trip. Towards the end an additional 2.5 paved section connects to Hwy 101. I hiked along that for awhile before I finally pulled out my map and realized I wasn't interested in doing that part and turned around. Round trip mileage for me was probably about 9 miles.

The Unknown Trail

As I was driving around Coupeville this morning I spotted a trail I've never seen before. It was off Engle Road near Fort Casey and when I stopped to explore it I discovered part of it, at least,  is owned by the Whidbey Camano Land Trust.  There is a nice grassy wide pathway that cuts through head high wild rosebushes. It goes above the beach bluff popping out for an occasional ocean view and I was surprised to see how many old World War II lookouts, most carefully fenced off, there were. They must have lined most of the west side of Whidbey at one time, although several have suffered erosion to the point that they've fallen off the cliffs and you can see the slabs of concrete and rebar laying on beach.

Athough it looks like someone recently built some wooden information kiosks along the trail no information is yet posted. I enjoyed the mystery of exploring the trail which eventually led me to Camp Casey and I discovered that Camp Casey has its own campground complete with tables, firepits, electric hookups and restrooms that were locked for the winter. I so often discover things I never knew when I go exploring by foot.

The Whidbey Camano Land Trust has worked to restore natural prairie vegetation and there are laminated cards for plant identification tied to the fences. I will definately have to come back in the summer to learn about this.

I wonder if some of this trail work is what John Knechtl told me about which will eventually be part of the PNT.

And the numbers say...

Maybe I'm a little geeky but I sat down this morning to try to approximate how many miles I hiked during 2013. Most of the time I didn't record mileage, but minutes hiked, so I counted up the minutes and divided those by a 2.5 mile per hour pace. Grand total came out to approximately 443.5 miles for the year. Broken down by months, the totals were:

January     33 miles
February   25 miles
March       35 miles
April          47 miles
May          40 miles
June           25 miles (This seems oddly low. I suspect I neglected to record a few hikes.)
July            91 miles
August       46.5 miles
September 39 miles
October     20 miles
November 15 miles
December  27 miles

A few more random statistics:
Approximate Pacific Northwest Trail miles hiked:  67.5
Approximate Pacific Crest Trail miles hiked: 75.5
Amount my feet have grown since 2012:  1.5 sizes
Amount of weight I lost in 2013: 19.5 lbs.
Amount I've kept off: 15 lbs.
Goal for 2014:  500 miles in honor of my 50th birthday this year

More of the Cascade Rail Trail

January, 2014, was my month to do some miles on the Pacific Northwest Trail. I finished up hiking the Cascade Rail Trail, a popular alternate route of the PNT which may eventually become part of the official route someday. I had hiked most of the Cascade Trail during winter break, except a 3 mile section that I did around mid January. I really liked the trail, although the sections that go through Concrete or close to towns could use a little clean up/trash collection. The final 3 mile section I finally remembered to take a trash bag with me and did my part to beautify the trail, ending up with a full bag of trash. Here are some of the things I saw along the way.

A view of the Skagit River through the trees

The old concrete silos welcome visitors to Concrete

The post office in Concrete is right next to the trail, along with an old rail car

Challenger Ridge Winery

Birdsview Brewery

I stopped for a little lunch on a bench here. This is close to where the trail pops out to a road for a few hundred feet.

Near Hamilton someone has decorated the trail by nailing their beer tops to the railings

A natural tree tunnel near Lyman. It actually felt a little creepy.

Cool old truck

A herd of buffalo close to where the trail crosses Hwy 20

Frost made these bridges extremely slippery. Even the nonskid center was slick! I held the handrail all the way across.

Looking east at the snow covered Cascades

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