Orcas Island Hiking: Turtlehead Turns Heads

While Washington's San Juan Islands are known as a boating and kayaking mecca, Orcas Island offers miles of well-maintained trails through forest and mountain peaks. A splendid addition is the new trail (opened late 2013) off the north end of Turtleback Mountain out to Turtlehead Preserve (aka Orcas Knob).

On a brilliant spring day my friend Steve, who lives on Orcas, took us up the new trail for the breathtaking view from Turtlehead Preserve. He was involved in the effort to secure funding via the San Juan Preservation Trust and San Juan County Land Bank for this beautiful addition to the Turtleback Mountain Preserve. (For specifics on the effort, this story in the Island Sounder provides more detail.)

We meet at the North Trailhead of Turtleback Mountain Preserve (off Crow Valley Road, next to the historic schoolhouse) and head up the gentle grade (an old road bed) through the forest.  After about 1.5 miles, the short detour to the Waldron Lookout is worth a quick trip for the first of fantastic views.

 
When I hiked here last (November 2012), the trail to Turtlehead Preserve just past the Waldron Lookout detour wasn't yet open.  But today we take the well-marked cutoff at the saddle and plunge into the woods through what appears mostly second-growth and remnant old-growth forest.

Save for a couple young women we pass, we're the only ones out here on a gorgeous sunny weekend afternoon. Nothing beats getting outdoors on off-peak days/season to avoid crowds of like-minded hikers.

After meandering through the forest for about a mile, with a bit of up and down, partly along an old grade and winding through trees, we get glimpses of the glorious island views.  I pick up the pace.

Soon we scramble up onto the balds to an open native grass savannah, with "tiered" rocky outcrops. Needless to say, the panoramic views of the Salish Sea and islands are SPEC-TAC-ULAR.

Looking south, Olympic Mountains in the distance on the Olympic Peninsula.

While up here gulping in the magnificent day/panorama, we try to be mindful of the delicate native grasses and flowers. Things are still green and flowering in April, but by midsummer things are likely much drier and brown up there.

And then it's an easy amble back down to the trailhead.

Big thanks to all the organizations and volunteers who helped plan, develop, and build this marvelous trail (the San Juan Preservation Trust, San Juan County Land Bank, Washington Trails Association, Washington Conservation Corps, and  local volunteers)!

Have you been to Turtlehead yet?  Would love to hear your Orcas/San Juan Islands hiking experiences in a comment below. Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons.

Happy hiker!

When You Go
Here is an excellent trail map with specific information at the San Juan County Land Bank website. I think overall we hiked a little over 4 miles, and this is not a challenging or difficult hike (but I did break a sweat). Turtlehead is at 1,005 feet above sea level.

Methinks that the south access trailhead to Turtleback Mountain is more popular, with more open views.  To get to Turtlehead, we hike through a few miles of woods until we're rewarded with the views. For this reason, this will probably stay a lesser visited trail. And for this reason, a good reason to go.

Hiking Esmeralda Basin: In Celebration of Wildflowers and Mountains

As snow recedes from higher elevations in the Northwest, fragile yet hardy wildflowers spring to life.  While the wildflowers around Paradise on Mount Rainier are legendary, mountain meadows with wildflowers are all over the Cascades. 

Over Fourth of July weekend, we hike up to Fortune Creek Pass through Esmeralda Basin in the Teanaway region of Washington's central Cascades. On the way up we pass gorgeous mountain meadows spiked with brilliant Indian paintbrush, shooting stars, and more.

Our hike began at the end of the road up the North Fork Teanaway basin, at a trailhead for numerous excellent Teanaway hikes. Here on the eastern crest of the Cascades, the landscape is more arid, with less thick underbrush and more pine trees.

I'd done this hike back in the 1990s, but this time we see many diseased and dying trees as we start up the trail—the curse of the pine beetle, fire suppression, and likely climate change.  It's noticeably different.

But the healthy creek swollen with snowmelt is a nice contrast. As the trees transition to subalpine varieties, they appear healthier.

A mile or so up the trail, which angles up Esmeralda Basin at a gentle grade, we start passing more wildflowers. The real treat, though, is the brilliant meadow full of flowers.

Magenta paintbrush in foreground

 

Shooting star

We pass a few more meadows, amble along sideslopes, and walk up a few switchbacks to the last stretch through a quickly melting snowfield. Before I realize it, we've reached the saddle at Fortune Creek Pass. Overall it's a pretty mellow 3.5 miles here, ascending over 1,700 feet.

And the views!  

Hawkins Mountain

Fortune Creek Pass

Mt. Daniel in the distance.

Name that peak!

So we pull out sit pads and take a leisurely break enjoying the view and our lunches.  Not a bad way to spend a day.

Up here on the exposed ridge at almost 6,000 feet in elevation, the flowers are more sparse and hardy.

Since this is not a steep hike, the trek down doesn't batter the toes or knees like some downhill hikes can do. We stop and take lots more flower shots and wind up back at the trailhead a little less than 6 hours after we started.

Friendly hikers

Scarlet gilia

Six hours has passed? Times flies when you're outdoors in a beautiful mountain valley surrounded by wildflowers, happy hikers, and sweet fresh air.

Have you hiked in the Teanaway too? Would love to hear about your trip or favorite hikes in the comments below.

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! 

When You Go
A Northwest Forest Pass is required to park at the trailhead. From Seattle area, take I-90 east to Cle Elum, then exit east of town to Blewett Pass/SR 970. Take SR 970 north to the Teanaway Road. Follow the North Fork Teanaway Road to the 29 Pines Campground where the pavement ends at a fork in the road. Take the right fork, FR 9737, 10 miles to its end at trailhead #1394, Esmeralda Basin.

Don't forget your sunscreen! It gets hotter and drier here than on the western side of the mountains.

Seattle Summer Sunsets: Drama in the Sky

How did you celebrate Fourth of July weekend?

Sure fireworks are fun to oooh and aaahhh over, but you don't have to wait for fancy exploding chemical concoctions for spectacular displays in our skies. Just head down to a beach on Puget Sound, or anywhere with a good view west, and plop down on a log/sit pad/beach towel for the show. 

It has become a regular pilgrimage for me to head down to Carkeek Park, Golden Gardens, or occasionally Discovery Park to shoot the sunset.  Some nights a dark gray marine layer of clouds rolls in and settles high over the Olympics across the Sound, blotting out much of a show.

But overall clouds heighten the drama. We do clouds well here in the Upper Left Hand Corner.

 I'm not alone in heading to the Sound's edge for the evening show.  Families and friends bring picnics and revel in our sunsets.

And of course the Olympics heighten the spectacle, whether draped, partially obscured in clouds, or flying free and clear.

 As I watch the sky show and kiss the day goodbye, I try to appreciate the fleeting beauty of each moment.  These sunsets go by quickly, with subtle and dramatic changes in light and color over the course of 30 minutes or less. I see it as analogous to the course of a lifetime, in way.

Which of course has to include some fun.

So I hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend and enjoyed a sunset or two. And  tell me about it with a Comment below!

Thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons.