2019 Oregon PCT Part 1, Charleton Lake to Elk Lake Resort

Day 1, July 16, 2019 - Mile 1925.6 to 1934.3 - Charleton Lake Forest Road 5897 to Jezebel Lake,  8.7 miles

After a lovely two day stay at North Waldo Lake Campground with many of our cousins, most of whom we haven't seen in years, it is time for Laurie, Kelley and I to start our PCT hike. We pack up our things and are ready to start for the trail head by 9:30 am. Our cousin, Steve, loads up his car with our packs and he drives us up the road to where we are going to begin. Starting at Charleton instead of Irish/Taylor Road, which was a narrow rough jeep type track that we scouted yesterday and decided against trying to take, will add an extra 5 miles to the trip. Laurie is the one who has to return to work and has the least flexible schedule and when offered the choice of hiking about a mile and a half more per day or taking an extra day to hike, she decides to hike a bit extra. Most of our days were planned for 7-8 miles a day, but now we will be doing about 9.5 per day.

We get out, apply mosquito repellent liberally and Steve takes our celebratory beginning photo. Laurie and I both have full mosquito suits and Kelley has a mosquito head net.

Laurie, Me, Kelley

We are excited to be on our journey and ascend into the woods. The shade is nice to hike in but eventually we break out into a large desolate burned area. The burned area allows us to see quite a ways and we look at the views and think about how lucky we are to be doing what we are doing. We meet a couple thru hikers, Mango and Tough Cookie, and I ask them about the snow ahead. They say that there is still snow on the trail in spots and encourage us to bring our microspikes. 

Laurie and Kelley

Another hiker tells us about a nice place ahead for a break and we round a corner and see a rock to climb up. We take snacks and leave our packs down by the trail and climb the rock for the best view of the day. We sit and look at Lily and Davis Lakes in the distance while we snack on nuts and fruit.

Lily Lake and Davis Lake in the distance.

Eventually we continue on down the trail for another hour until we decide to stop for lunch around mile 1929. I smear peanut butter on a tortilla for my lunch but find that I am not a big fan of flour tortillas. I am using my platypus hydration bladder in my backpack and it is easy to stay hydrated with it. The 5,500 foot elevation is a concern to me. Coming from sea level, I find anything over 3,000 feet to be a challenge, but I hope that sleeping for two nights at 4,200 foot Waldo Campground will have prepared me somewhat. I know that good hydration is key to helping get acclimated since the body has to make lots of additional red blood cells to transport oxygen at higher elevations.

Eventually we reach the Three Sisters Wilderness Boundary where we are supposed to self issue a hiking permit. But alas, the box is completely empty.

We take another rest break at Irish Lake and meet more thru hikers; Tropicana and Farmers Market, and then a girl from Quebec called Produce. The mosquitoes eventually chase us away from Irish Lake and we continue up the trail. It is only about a 200 foot elevation gain but we are finding it challenging and continue to take lots of mini breaks. 

We arrive at Brahma Lake at mile 1933.3 at 2:45 pm and decide to re-hydrate Kelley's white bean and turkey chili. We have to filter some water through our Sawyer Squeeze and Kelley has so much extra chili that she gives some to a section hiker, Greg, who accepts happily. 

Laurie filters water

Brahma Lake

Brahma is a very nice camping spot, but we need to get a bit more mileage in so we continue up to Jezebel Lake. It is smaller and the campsite is small, but we fit all three of our tents in to it and Laurie and Kelley go to the lake to soak their feet while I collapse exhausted into my tent after blowing up my air mattress and shaking out my sleeping bag. There are plenty of mosquitoes and ants and I chase the ants out of my tent and squash the mosquitoes who have dared to enter. 

After resting awhile I come out to eat the re-hydrated turkey bean chili, but I am not very hungry. It seems to be typical that I lose my appetite when I am hiking for the first few days. I filter some more water, wash my feet in the lake and then we all retire to our tents to escape the mosquitoes. We talk about the highlights of the day and all agree that the view of Lily Lake from the rock and Steve's kindness in driving us to the trail head, as well as making a quick stop at the beginning to look at Waldo Lake and walk on the dock when one of us was feeling anxious and overwhelmed and needed a moment to calm down, were our two favorite things of the day.

The moon is full which makes it easy to see in the tent whenever I wake up in the night. I toss and turn on my squeaky air mattress and wonder what the trail has in store for us.

Day 2, July 17, Wednesday -  Mile 1934.3 to 1943.4 Jezebel Lake to Horseshoe Lake 3, 9.1 miles 

I sleep okay, nice and warm in my sleeping bag. It is a windy night and I keep thinking that I hear something like rain, but it is dry when I wake up at 6:00 am. I laze around my tent and eat my cold oatmeal/granola that I re-hydrated during the night and it is pretty good but I don't care much for the banana chips. My feet are sore and my left arch is bothering me a bit, so I do some stretching exercises. Around 7:30 am we all start to pack up to leave. I try to place the heaviest things on the right side of my pack to give my left foot a break. Greg passes us by and compliments Kelley on the delicious turkey bean chili she gave him last night. We are ready to hike by 8:30 am, an hour earlier than yesterday. 

Stormy Lake

We start off with a several hundred foot ascent so we don't carry a lot of water with us. Once we reach Stormy Lake we stop to filter some more water. The mosquitoes are really bad. I am so grateful for my $30 bug suit. Laurie has some allergies and has to be very careful about anything chemical and I also don't like to use a lot of Deet, so we both wear our mosquito suits. Kelley slathers on the Deet and uses a head net to keep the mosquitoes away from her eyes and mouth.

This day we pass lots of little lakes and we take lots of little breaks. We see clouds of orange butterflies. We meet hikers Jack and Jill (they seem oddly clean for thru hikers) and Mary who started in Chesterton and does not yet have a trail name. This inspires us to begin thinking up trail names for Laurie and myself. Kelley goes by 20/20 since in 2014 she had cataract surgery which corrected her vision to 20/20 and she was able to enjoy the stars like never before when we hiked that year. 

I suggest that Laurie go by the name Braveheart, since she has been very nervous to do this hike and yet has come anyway. She thinks that maybe she should be called Cowardly Lion, but I soundly reject that idea, because the fact that she is out here means she is definitely not cowardly. Eventually we compromise with the name Lionheart.

Kelley wants to name me something to do with being the leader and organizer of the trip. Scout? Nah, there is a famous trail angel on the PCT with that name. Compass? Nope, don't really care for that. Nothing she comes up with resonates with me but then we think about how a mama duck leads her ducklings and I am christened as Mama Duck, which is not too far off from my college nickname of Becca Duck. 

20/20's home made belt to keep her pants up

We come across a large blow down, probably about 3 feet high which is quite a challenge for us shorties to get over, but we do conquer it. We stop for a late lunch around 2:00 pm and I have a tuna fish tortilla. We get in to Horseshoe Lake campsite 3 around 4:00 pm and we leisurely set up camp, leaving some space in case any other hikers want to camp there. It is a fairly large camping spot. We filter almost 3 gallons of water to fill our water bladders and have water to cook dinner and breakfast. I realize that somehow I am short a dinner meal, but 20/20 and Lionheart have plenty of extra mashed potatoes and gravy so I eat a bit of theirs.

Lionheart pounds in a tent stake

20/20 and Lionheart cook up mashed potatoes and gray

Filtering more water. Drink, eat, sleep and hike

Eventually we retire to our tents. All day we have been thinking about and discussing our top 10 life experiences, and as I write up my notes for the day on the back of the day's maps, I ask them questions about those experiences. Kelley's top life experiences include skydiving, seeing a UFO, our first PCT hike in 2013, experiencing 9/11 in New York and reporting live on NBC radio from a phone booth downtown as she watched the towers come down, seeing the northern lights in Iceland, performing as a stand up comic, and doing the Dos Lesbos comic tour around the country and in Provincetown.

Some of Laurie's experiences were getting chased by a moose, her experiences in Juneau, Alaska as an emancipated 16 year old, bicycling Europe during college, and visiting Paris at Christmas with her two daughters.

Some of my top experiences are standing on top of Baker Dam and feeling it throb beneath my feet as seven flood gates released torrents of flood waters, my 2013 PCT hike, living in Spain during college, visiting Pompeii, seeing the Jewish synagogue in Toledo empty, waiting for 10 families to return so it can be reopened, driving the Al-Can Highway and experiencing Alaska Fire Camp, and seeing Phantom of the Opera performed.

Around 8:30 pm another hiker comes in and quickly sets up his tent. I think the name he tells us is Charms. We stop talking and I lie in my tent looking through the netting at the lake. I want to see stars but it is very cloudy. Lionheart informs us that is raining and I close my rain fly. It isn't supposed to rain, the forecast is only a 10% chance of rain. I have a Garmin InReach and I get the weather on it. It also says no rain, yet it patters gently on my tent throughout the night.

Day 3, July 18, Thursday - Mile 1943.4 to 1952.6 plus an extra mile to Elk Lake Resort, 10.2 miles

Charm's alarm clock goes off at 5:30 am and he is up, packed up and gone before the rest of us have really stirred from our sleeping bags. The rain is still falling gently but we need to get to Elk Lake Resort. Laurie has parked her car there and we will all be going in to Bend for the night to shower and clean up. Since we camped before starting the hike none of us have showered in 5 days. In the morning Laurie will bring Kelley and I back to the trail and then return to Portland to work. We are rain motivated and town motivated and we pack up our things and our wet tents and hit the trail by 8:00 am. Each day we are a little faster at packing up. 

I put on my rain poncho and Lionheart takes a picture and shows it to me. She says, "You look like a jelly bean!" and 20/20 starts singing the Oompa Loompa song from Charlie and the Chocolate  Factory, referring to Violet the girl who blows up like a big blueberry. All I can do is laugh. 

It doesn't take me long to realize that I need my rain skirt on as well. The bushes along the trail are loaded with water and as I break the trail through them they are drenching my shoes and my pants. The rain skirt helps a lot. We hike fast and take very few breaks.

Packed up and ready to go

Cool rock formations near Porky Lake Trail

We finally stop for lunch near mile 1950 in a mosquito infested clearing. The rain has stopped. I pee as fast as I can to try to prevent the mosquitoes from biting my butt, which works pretty well, but I needed to have put Deet on my hands since they are not protected by mosquito netting. Later on I count 22 bites just on my left hand. A beautiful mountain meadow covered in wildflowers becomes our favorite part of that day when we continue.

Larkspur

20/20 crosses a beautiful meadow

Finally we arrive at the Elk Lake Resort turn off, and we see our first real mountain views of the Three Sisters Mountains and Elk Lake. The sun is out and we stop for a moment to take pictures. It feels like a huge accomplishment to be at this point. 

I did it!

We have cell reception here for the first time in 5 days

South Sister?

Two thru hikers, Lawless and Blue, come up the trail from the resort and we all start talking. They assure us that microspikes are not needed in the section ahead. There are a few snowy patches but they are easy to negotiate and have steps kicked into them and I am super excited to receive this news since that means we can leave the microspikes with Laurie to take back to Portland. We chat with Lawless and Blue for almost an hour and I pull out my rain fly and drape it over a tree to dry. My feet are also wet so I take off my shoes and socks, lay the socks on a log to dry in the hot sun and pull out the inserts and dry them in the sun as well, walking around in my shoes without the inserts or socks. I absolutely love hiking in my Darn Tough light wool socks. They are comfortable and not too hot, either.

Finally we decide to continue on and I pack my rain fly and put my socks and shoes back on. My feet are much happier in dry socks and shoes. We arrive at Elk Lake Resort and Laurie decides to reorganize the car to make room for all our packs, so Kelley and I go inside and I get a root beer and then decide to have some real food. We sit at a table and I order a blackened chicken wrap with fries and Kelley gets a beer. My stomach has shrunk and I can only eat half. Kelley helps with the fries and then Laurie eats the other half of the wrap when she is finished packing the car. Elk Lake Resort is a nice hiker friendly little place with outside tables that overlook the lake and marina and I am happy to just hang out there for awhile. 

We drive to Bend and find a room at the Three Sisters Inn and Suites where we all enjoy a long hot shower. We lay our wet tents on the pavement outside the room where it all quickly dries. Laurie and Kelley go to do a load of laundry at the laundry mat while I organize my things and write up some quick trail notes. I had left a resupply box in her car for the second half of the hike and I try to figure out  how much food I will need to bring for the next section, since I always seem to have way too much food.

They return with clean clothing and pastrami sandwiches which we all share. We update on Facebook and check emails and I talk to John before we turn the lights off and sleep like the dead.

Total Mileage for the first three days: 29.5

Trillium Preserve and Pre-PCT training

It has been several years since my last Pacific Crest Trail adventure and Kelly and I are planning to do the Three Sisters and Mt. Washington Wildernesses this summer. Starting next year section hikers will have to try to win a lottery to be able to hike those sections so we want to get them done before it becomes more difficult to obtain access.

School got out a few weeks ago and I have been hiking like a crazy woman trying to get into shape. It has been a slow process but I've built up to where I now feel much more comfortable about my ability. The plan is to only hike about 8 miles a day, pretty do-able, especially since the area we are going to doesn't involve major elevation gain or loss. My biggest fears are mosquitoes and that the trail will be too snow covered in one section. I bought a mosquito suit and I have an ice ax and microspikes. We will see how the reports are in a weeks time. The plan is to camp at Waldo Lake at 4,200 feet elevation for 2 nights to acclimate to higher elevation, and then hike from there to Elk Lake Resort, where we will leave a car so we can go into Bend and get a shower at a motel and recharge our electronics, etc. Then we will return to the trail and start the section that I'm concerned will be snow covered. It was solid snow several weeks ago and the weather has been rather cool since then. Fingers crossed it will melt off some before we attempt it.

Yesterday I did a six mile training hike at a place on Whidbey called the Trillium Preserve. This is 726 acres of protected forest land with several trail running through it. I parked at the trail head off Hwy 20, shouldered my backpack and headed out down Dragonfly Glades Trail. It was a gentle decline and incline over several miles.

 I took a picture of the trail map which was a tremendous help while I was hiking. Several trails are marked with a post, but don't have names on them. I imagine that the names will be added at some point. Some trails are clearly marked by a post with names.

From Dragonfly Glade I hopped on the Crossroads trail and took that down to Uncle Buck, passing huckleberry bushes loaded with bright red sweet berries.

This was a nice marker and I was intrigued by the Enramada with the cross on it. Enramada means "arbor" in Spanish. Eventually I came to an area with picnic tables and hitching posts for horses. It was a nice area and would make a lovely picnic area for anyone hiking. An Eagle Scout had placed a bench there for his eagle service project.

I realized when I saw the large wooden cross that this  picnic area must be Enramada. From there I continued hiking and took a road up to a cleared area.

But I was dismayed to find the area littered with firework debris and trash and I also wasn't sure that this was actually the Happy Trail since the post didn't have names on it. I returned back down to Burkholder Trail where I ran across a marker set in some concrete that puzzled me. Any one have any ideas of what it is?

I saw another trail going steeply up a hill. I took it, despite it being unmarked and it connected into the Happy Trail. From there I took the Patrick Way trail up until I came to a bench dedicated to the memory of Patrick Janicki. He died of an opioid overdose at age 30 after becoming addicted to painkillers he was prescribed after breaking his back, and his family has been instrumental in  restoring the natural landscape of Trillium by clearing out some of the overgrowth and allowing more light in.

Fortunately I noticed a bit of water on the bench before I plopped down, so I set my hiking poles on the bench and started to take off my backpack when I realized that the angry drone I was hearing was a swarm of bees. I grabbed my hiking poles off the bench and fled as a bee rushed towards me. Unfortunately I had already paused my GPS, which I forgot to restart for awhile, so my GPS track is probably at least a half mile short.

Patrick's Way is an old dirt road and really a lovely walk and I enjoyed being out in the sun on the wider track. Eventually I passed a red gate and came out on paved road which I followed down to the parking lot. From my car I explored to find the other two trail head access points and I plan to come back and hike this area again from a different trail head.

Dry Creek Fire

I am at fire camp. My brother owns several hand washing trailers that he rents to the forest service during wildland fires. This time I am operating a station at White Salmon, Washington, for a fire called the Dry Creek Fire. Fires are almost always named for a geographical feature near where the fire starts.

It took me six hours to drive down to the Columbia River Gorge. I crossed into Oregon on I205 and headed east. Traveling back into Washington at Bridge of the Gods I continued east on Hwy 14 until turning to drive up to White Salmon, a sleepy little town on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River that boasts an Ace Hardware, Hi School Pharmacy and a surprising good Natural Foods Market. The placard upon entering states 'White Salmon, where the sun meets the rain.'

Donald already had the trailer set up when I arrived. This fire camp is at the high school and we are camped on the baseball field on grass. GRASS! Usually we camp on dirt so the luxury of grass is amazing. This is the nicest fire camp I have ever been stationed at. In addition to the grass we are right next to the track and each morning after the fire crews leave for the day I walk two miles around the track to get my exercise. I share the track with the cross country team and the cheerleaders. I have developed a deep respect for the cheerleaders. They are out on the track at 9 am, and they spend 6 to 7 hours every day practicing their cheers and dances in 90 degree heat in front of the empty stands. Sometimes in the afternoon the football team scrimmages as well.

This fire camp uses inmate labor. The inmates cook and serve the food for everyone, and there are several inmate squadrons who are actually fighting the fire, as well. Apparently the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) uses a lot of inmate labor. There are guards supervising but I imagine that being allowed to participate in something like this would be considered a privilege for the inmates and I have not observed any problems.

Fire camp reminds me of summer camp, just for adults. Friends are quickly made and when a crew is demobilized there is a sad farewell. Now that I have been doing this for awhile I occasionally see a familiar face. At this fire one of the camp admins is a teacher from school!

My day starts at 4:30 am when the kitchen crew washes their hands before starting work. When I feel the trailer start rocking as they push the soap dispensers I stumble out of bed and start the generator so they have lights. By 5 am there is a steady line of firefighters washing before going through the breakfast line. I hurry around wiping and cleaning sinks and refilling the paper towel dispensers and by 7 am most of the crews have left and then the potable water tanker comes and refills my 400 gallon water tank and the gray water truck comes and empties my 500 gallon gray water bladder.

I typically do another deep cleaning and then the afternoon is mine to nap and read. At 5pm I do another cleaning and dinner starts. The admin and camp crew eat. The firefighters start rolling back in around 7 or 8 pm. They are dirty and grimy after their hard work and once again I am busy, cleaning and bleaching and replacing paper towels. After dinner I am refilled with fresh water for the morning and lights go out at 10pm.

I turn off the generator and shut myself in for the night and the drone of the kitchen reefer truck lulls me to sleep. 

Baker Lake Adventure

Once again I find myself as a chaperone for the Oak Harbor High School backpacking class. We have a small group this year and as we huddle from the rain in front of the stadium one student never appears and we finally leave without him. We are headed to Baker Lake to Anderson Point. It is a pretty easy 2 mile hike down to a campground by the lake that has bear boxes, fire rings and very rustic toilets. It is a great spot for a first backpacking trip.

When we stop to buy our Northwest Pass we are warned that the creeks are running high due to the thunderstorms yesterday. Brian and I look at each other, thinking about the log bridge over Anderson Creek. It is a slanty single pole log with a rickety cable to hang on to and a tree fell  and cracked it this winter making it even sketchier. Brian and his wife Shelley hiked it last weekend and it was still possible even with the damage.

We head down the trail in a light rain and I am, as always, bringing up the rear. Brian hikes with me, warning the kids to stop at Anderson Creek for us. Before we know it we round the corner and Anderson Creek is roaring before us. The water is running completely over the log bridge, the pole supports with the cables barely above the flow. Shelley and the kids have been looking at a couple logs that might be possible upstream but they are wet, mossy and extremely slippery. A slip would mean a pretty nasty drowning death in the snags downstream and Brian, Shelley and I confer and Brian makes the decision to turn us around. We pause for a snack and a drink of water and we begin the plod back up to the vehicles.

Once again in the back, Brian and I discuss our options and Brian decides we will drive up Baker Lake Road and look for a place to car camp. The kids have already experienced a 4 mile hike with full packs so now we start the hunt for a place to camp. As every campground is closed our hope fades the further up we get. I know that there is an outhouse and a bear proof garbage can at the end of the road but we don't know if we can camp. We are almost there when we see  Brian start to turn the van around. We talk him in to continuing to the end since we are almost there and once we get there he is glad we did. There is spacious room for all our tents and even a picnic table!

We quickly set up our tents in the drizzle and all the kids write down their phone numbers. Shelley and I drive back down to Hwy 20 where we have cell phone coverage and Shelley contacts the parents to let them know our new location. Part of our dilemma is that we only have my little snow peak stove for our group to cook with and we also need more tarps. Brian's tarps and cookstove were stashed at Anderson Point the previous weekend to save space and weight. I call my husband John and ask him to bring up our car camping cook stove, more tarps and some dry firewood, but his truck isn't running well and he isn't sure if he will be able to borrow a car, so Shelley and I decide to go into Concrete to see what we can buy. We see a large fluorescent sign advertising a yard sale and swing by. We score a huge 20x20 tarp for ten bucks and the lady also agrees we can fill up out trunk with her uncovered wet firewood for five more dollars. She also gives us three large dry pieces of cedar for kindling!

Next stop is the hardware store on Main Street where we buy a bundle of dry firewood and the clerk generously gives us a large cardboard box of dry wood pieces and some paper for starting the fire.

Shelley eats gluten free but has never heard of 5B Bakery so of course I have to stop to introduce her. After scoring a strawberry rhubarb hand pie and a blueberry muffin we continue to Outdoor Ventures and purchase two large fuel canisters for my camp stove. 

We head back up to the camp where German exchange student Greta organizes all of us to hang up the tarps. While we were gone they managed to start a smokey fire but the addition of our dry wood helps kick things up. As we are huddled around the fire a car drives up and my husband jumps out. He and our friend Mike have brought us more firewood, camp kettles for heating water, tarps and camp chairs. But when they go to set up the camp stove for cooking they realize it doesn't have all the parts and when they head back out an hour later they take it with them. We will be using my little snow peak stove and the fire to heat water and cook for the weekend.

It is starting to get dark and I crawl in my tent and snuggle into my sleeping bag. I wake up cold around 2:00 am and realize I need more air in my sleeping pad so I roll off and blow more air until it is quite firm, but that helps and I fall back to sleep, finally warm as long as I keep my stocking hat on. I roll out of bed around 7 and teach the young man who is up, Dylan, how to get the fire going. He's been up since 5:30 and will start the fire tomorrow. We start heating up water and eventually more kids get up and join us and start cooking their breakfasts. Some had been cold during the night but all had stayed dry with the tarps over their tents.

After breakfast we head up the river to the foot bridge over Baker River where we take pictures just as it starts to sprinkle. We head up the Baker River Trail and once again I am bring up the rear. We cross several little streams and the kids always wait to help me across and I manage to keep my feet dry. Eventually we get to a large stream where there was a log bridge that is now washed out. Once we get to the end of the bridge we clamor down and scout out another log to cross the rest of the way. It is dry and we carefully walk across although Brian elects to crawl. Once we are safe on the other side we continue hiking until we reach Sulphide Creek and the end of the trail where we stop on the banks and eat our lunches. It starts to sprinkle again as we turn around to go back and by the time we reach the washout the log is wet and slippery and this time I crawl across it, too.

When we get back to camp we stoke up the fire and play a game of Apples and Oranges before cooking up our dinners and making smores. It is supposed to be even colder tonight, down to about 35 degrees and I take all the hand warmers out of my car and give them to the kids to help them stay warm during the night. I snuggle into my tent again. It is another cold night and I sleep a bit cold but Dylan has the fire going when I wake up and a hot cup of coffee helps. After breakfast we pack up and then scour the area, picking up all trash and broken glass from previous campers before walking down to the river to take a picture. The sun is out and it is warm.

We have a little extra time and so we stop at Baker Hot Springs on the way out so the kids can see a natural hot spring. A final stop at Five Guy's Burgers for lunch and we are back to the school by 2:00. It was a great weekend!

PNT Alternates on Whidbey Island

As hikers of the Pacific Northwest Trail traverse Whidbey Island on their way to the Coupeville Ferry, the official route from Joseph Whidbey State Park is a beach walk down the west side of the island. This is a lovely walk, but should be done on a tide of 4 or lower since there are several areas where the tide can push you up against the cliffs or even cause you to have to be in the water. The best walk is on an outgoing tide so any sandy sections are on wet firm sand. The beaches on Whidbey change with every tide. Sometimes there are sandy parts but often it is mostly pebbly rocky sections.

Fortunately there are several places where you can jump off the beach and take an alternate route if the tide is not accommodating. Hastie Lake Road, Libbey Road, Fort Ebey State Park, Ebey's Landing and Fort Casey are the five places where this can be done.

From Hastie Lake Road take West Beach Road south to Libbey Road. Turn west on Libbey and you can either rejoin the beach walk if the tide permits, or take the alternate through Fort Ebey State Park.  To take the alternate turn south on Fort Ebey Road. You will go up through a residential neighborhood to the old entrance to the fort which looks like a private driveway. 

Take that and look for the trail on the left which leads you into the park. Stay on the trail/old road until you reach an actual asphalt road. Follow it to the right (west)  and go about a hundred yards and take the first trail on the left which goes to the Bluff Trail. You can also catch the Bluff Trail if you've been on the beach. From the beach you can see the trail go up into Fort Ebey State Park. If you are at all concerned about tide, this would be where you want to get off the beach because Partridge Point is coming up and is one of the places that is impassible on a higher tide. Follow the Bluff Trail south past the old fort battery and campground. From the campground take Kettles Trail which eventually pops you out next to Highway 20 and becomes a paved bike path.

Continue south until you reach the Kettles Spur to Pratt Loop Trail. Take that to Ebey Prairie Trail to Ebey Bluff Trail and back down to the beach at Ebey's Landing.

From here, decide if you will take the beach or an alternate route. To take the alternate head south up Hill Road. To your left you will see a ravine with a weathered gray house at the top. This is the old Ferry House (now owned by the National Parks) which was run by the sons of Isaac Ebey after he was murdered and beheaded by Indians in a retaliation killing in 1862. After his murder his home was abandoned and eventually torn down and the lumber was used to build the Ferry House which lodged travelers coming onto the island from Port Townsend and enabled his orphaned boys to make a living.

Continue up Hill Road past a 75 year old red barn with curious cows until you reach Engle Road. Turn right on Engle and follow that until you see the signs for the Admiralty Inlet Preserve trails.

Admiralty Inlet Preserve is a cool hiking area and preserve of one of the few remaining wild prairie on Whidbey Island. You have a couple choices here. If you are in a hurry to catch the ferry take the path that parallels Engle Road. But the better choice is the bluff trail which is a mere 1/10 mile longer but has great views of the water and Olympics and takes you down grassy paths through corridors of wild roses. When you get to the place where it looks like a driveway goes to the left, take that back down towards Engle Road. But before you do that, take a look at the views along the bluff to your right. There is a placard which identifies the mountain peaks of the Olympics across the Sound and anoth which tells some of the military history on Whidbey.

Once the pathway rejoins Engle Road near Fort Casey, follow the road to the Coupeville Ferry. If you have the time and like old military forts, wander up to Fort Casey. Several parts of this fort have been repainted recently and a couple big guns are still installed. There is also the old Admiralty Head Lighthouse that you can climb up into during visiting hours.

If you want a snack while waiting for the ferry be sure to visit the Keystone Cafe. Friendly staff, good sandwiches, cold ice cream and a cozy outside deck make this a great little stop.

August 16, 2016 hike of Chain Lakes at Mt. Baker

With summer rapidly coming to a close, I decided to take a day and go up to Mount Baker to hike the Chain Lakes Loop. I wish I would have thought to check the Department of Transportation website before I went because I was not expecting the road construction which delayed me almost an hour. I pulled into the parking lot at Artist Point around 9:00 am, strapped on my pack and adjusted my hiking poles. I'd decided to hike the loop counterclockwise, thinking that I would get the steep downhill done while my legs were still fresh and have an easier time at the end of the hike. I came to regret that decision because it was insanely steep and I was terrified to falling, even with my hiking poles. It would have been better for me to hike up it than down, and if I ever do this hike again I will park at Austin Pass/Heather Meadows, hike clockwise up Wild Goose Trail and do the loop that way.

Selfie at the start  

Headed out from Artist Point to Wild Goose Trail

Terrifying descent on Wild Goose Trail, even with my hiking poles.

Bagley Lake below and I can see the trail I'll take up Herman Mountain

Once I got down to Austin Pass/Heather Meadows, I wandered into the little informational building for awhile before continuing on down to Bagley Lakes. My legs were quivering with the effort I had put into the Wild Goose Trail descent and I needed a little break.

Upper Bagley Lake was a great spot to sit and have lunch, and I soaked my feet in the cold lake while I ate. There is cool stone bridge across the lake.

Nice lunch spot

View down to Lower Bagley Lake

The Mountains are Calling

Climbing up Herman Mountain

From Bagley Lakes the long ascent up Herman Mountain began. It was surprising hot out and there was very little shade. Fortunately there were several places where little streams crossed the trail and I took advantage of them to soak my hat, hair and even my shirt. The trail was rocky and hard on the feet and I found myself seriously wondering if I was capable of finishing this hike.

I can see Mt. Baker ahead! I must be close to the top, right?

Looking back at where I came from and Mt. Shuksan

Yes, I am at the top of the 5,400 Herman Saddle, with Mt. Baker to the left. The red face says it all!

There were quite a few people at the top of Herman Saddle and I paused to take a few pictures before heading down the other side. A couple hikers warned me of a brief snowy section ahead where it was easy to lose the trail so I followed their advice and crossed it in a C pattern.

Mt. Baker

Iceburg Lake ahead

A bit of snow helps to cool me down

The trail descended down to Hayes and Iceberg Lakes and the beauty of these lakes was wonderful.

Hayes Lake

Beautiful meadows

I passed Hayes Lake on my right and continued past Iceberg Lake on my left. I tried to stop at Iceberg Lake for awhile to soak my feet but the mosquitoes were voracious and quickly chased me back to the trail. I did eventually get to a lovely little stream that crossed the trail by a big rock and stopped there for awhile to filter some more water to drink and cool my feet. I continued past the Mazama Lakes and then it was time for another ascent.

Time to head up again

Wildflowers!

Oh the views of Mt. Baker!

Resting in a spot of shade before the final push

By the time I got to this spot, I was pretty exhausted. I rested in the shade until I felt I had some strength back, sipped some water and munched on some dried fruit. The last part of the trail was rocky with no shade and I was actually so tired that even the amazing views almost weren't worth the pain I was in.

Finally I reached the top, crossed the ridge and began the traverse on the other side. Below I could see Swift Creek and Rainbow Valley and even a bit of Baker Lake. Another hiker pointed out some mountain goats.

Mt. Shuksan

Mt. Shuksan

Baker Lake in the distance

The last mile had amazing views and I'd like to do this part again when I'm not so tired. I think I would appreciate this more if I wasn't so exhausted. Finally, I reached the parking lot, flopped my backpack in the back of my car and collapsed into the driver's seat, cranking on the air conditioning full blast. The drive home was uneventful except for getting stopped in the construction again. The hike was an 8 mile loop with a 1,700 foot elevation gain.