Hiking the Cascade Foothills: Lime Kiln Trail

In my adrenaline-seeking, motor mouse youth, hiking was all about the alpine high country and gaining as much elevation as my sturdy and (then) injury-free legs could tramp. 

Now I'm having fun discovering lower-elevation hikes around western Washington. I can appreciate a beautiful lowland forest as much as the sweeping mountain panoramas high in the Cascades and Olympics. 

With a normal snowpack in the Pacific Northwest mountains this year (thank goodness!), lower elevations offer the best conditions for spring season hiking. Think abundant fresh moss, early season wildflowers, and rushing rivers and streams.
   
While hundreds (thousands?) of Seattle-area hikers head east up the I-90 corridor on weekends, I wanted to go somewhere a little farther and less popular for an early April hike I was organizing. On the Washington Trails Association website, the Lime Kiln Trail in the Robe Valley Historic Park near Granite Falls, Washington, sounded perfect.

Besides the beautiful scenery, this trail offers a trip past some of the region's logging and mining history. It follows the route of the historic former Everett & Monte Cristo Railroad that was active from the 1890s-1930s. Along the way, the trail passes an old lime kiln and the site of a former logging camp.

Saw blade from former Cavanaugh lumber mill.

Hiking this area especially appealed to me because a spur of the historic railroad passed close to nearby Hidden Valley Camp, where I was a camper for several summers. Camp founder Harry Truman used to enthrall us kids around the campfire with his story of the Old Ghost Railroad.

We arrived at the trailhead just outside Granite Falls about 8:15 a.m. Already several cars were in the lot and a group of hikers were gearing up.  As we started up the trail through second-growth forest thick with hanging moss, a lovely morning mist softened the air.

Basically the trail is pretty mellow, with a total elevation gain of about 650 feet over 7-ish miles out and back. After the first stretch through the mossy forest, the trail travels along an open, shrub-lined path for a mile or so until it narrows in the woods, skirting easy-to-miss Hubbard Lake.

It's not until you reach the Lime Kiln Trail cutoff that the landscape becomes especially enchanting.

Here the trail moves back into moss-encrusted forest and down a lush ravine toward the South Fork Stillaguamish River, then traverses the slope above the river for over a mile.

 
On this day, the "Stilly" was a lovely opaque green, flush with the beginning of spring runoff and recent heavy rain. 

For the next mile or so, the trail stays high above the river, passing through healthy second-growth forest thick with moss. The lime kiln right beside the trail is obvious, but watch for the logging camp sign. 

A century or more ago this area was all clearcut and bustling with loggers, the railroad, and the lime kiln operation. Today it's hard to imagine what it was like back then.

Instead the regenerated forest is thick with underbrush and vigorous growth.

Trillium!

Eventually we reach a sign for the Rock Shore Loop or the railroad bridge site, and opt for the rock shore. Really it's all one loop so you can go either way.

From here the trail descends to the river, and we scrambled out on the rocky "beach" along with a couple dozen other hikers. (So much for the solitude, but it's beautiful.)

Swift spring river.

After a break, we hiked back up to the end of the trail, where the remnant concrete base of the former bridge is still visible.

I don't recommend climbing down to the river here because the trail is steep, crumbling, and hikers are no doubt hastening the erosion. But when my hiking buddies scrambled down, I couldn't just sit above and wait...okay, I suppose I could have. But I didn't.
 

And then we backtracked back to the trailhead, passing a multitude of hikers who have also discovered this splendid hike.

After Hike Eats
After hiking and scrambling, we stopped in Granite Falls for a bite before heading back to Seattle.  We dined at Omega Pizza & Pasta, situated in an old brick building dating to 1921. You can't miss it driving through Granite Falls.

The service was exceptionally friendly, the salads were large, tasty, and filling (couldn't finish my gyros salad), and in back there's a mural painted by Lake Stevens native son and Hollywood star Chris Pratt that's become a bit of a tourist draw.

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news.  

When You Go
Scroll down to the end of the WTA website hike description for driving directions to the trailhead and a map. We left north Seattle about 7:30 on a weekend morning and got to the trailhead in a little less than an hour.  If you go later or on a week day during rush hour,  the travel time easily could double.  This is not a difficult hike, but do come prepared for the weather and hiking in the woods. We encountered some muddy trail, so hiking boots are always a good idea. 

 

Old Sauk River Trail: Hiking through Mosslandia

Just a couple hundred years ago, the whole Northwest coast of North America was blanketed in thousands of miles of dense temperate rainforest thick with moss and ferns.  What a sight it must have been to behold.

Today remnant patches of these primeval forests that thankfully escaped
loggers' blades are scattered around the region among regrown clearcut forests. Fortunately some are out there to explore and treasure.

Along the Sauk River just outside Darrington, Washington, along the Mountain Loop Highway, the Old Sauk River Trail meanders through a mossy gem of forest. This mostly second-growth forest is interspersed with the majestic presence of some old-growth native conifers like western red cedar and Douglas fir. 

Recently I walked this trail for the first time. Yes, even though I was born in Seattle and have lived and hiked in the region most of my life, there are still many trails I've yet to hike. This one is now on my large list of "been there, want to do that again" trails.

A group of eight of us (seven women, a guy, plus a sweet pit bull) met at the second, larger parking lot/trailhead up the Mountain Loop Highway from Darrington for this Alpine Trails Book Club hike. (What a great Pacific Northwest concept:  read an outdoors-related book and then go for a hike together and discuss the book. Thanks to Ashley of Alpine Lily blog for organizing!)

Within a few hundred yards, the mostly flat trail reaches the Sauk River, where it then follows the river for about 3 miles through sometimes otherworldly, lush green forest.

As part of the National Wild and Scenic River system, the Sauk is a relatively pristine free-flowing river, apparently famous with local fly fishers for its hardy and elusive steelhead and salmon.

With several nature/photography bloggers in our group, there's a lot of stopping to admire and shoot the sweet early spring treasures that the forest has offered up.

My all-time favorite is the delicate trillium. These grew wild in our forested yard where I was raised east of Portland, and they hold a special place in my heart for their many Jill-historic associations.

And the moss!  I wish I knew more about the different varieties of moss in the forest, but there are obviously several. Some cover downed trees like a layer of plush shag carpet, and some hang from branches like a tangled mess of green hair.

So we ambled a few hours, stopped to gather and talk about the book (appropriately about a grandmother who solo hiked the Appalachian Trail in the 1950s), crossed a lot of blowdown from winter storms, and took a quick detour at the end of the hike down to the river's edge.
 

I felt so nourished by spending time in this fecund biomass of woods, fungus, shrubs, and myriad other living organisms in this complex, interwoven web of life called a temperate rainforest. To breathe deeply here is to breathe in our precious corner of the world.

Because we, just like everything else crawling and flying and swimming, are part of this rich environment. This requires our utmost care and respect.

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news.    

For different perspectives on this hike and more beautiful writing and photos, check out A Day Without Rain and Tiny Pines (besides Alpine Lily).

When You Go
I read that this hike is 6 miles round trip, but it felt like much less, probably because it was so easy (very little elevation gain and loss) and beautiful. It takes about an hour and a half during off-peak traffic hours to reach the trailhead from the Seattle area. For directions and map information, check out the WTA description of the hike.  And don't forget your Northwest Forest Pass for parking. I heard there's a brewery on the river in Darrington for after-hike eats/drinks, but we needed to dash back to the city. Next time!

Northwest Images: Earlybird Gets the Sunrise

In the predawn darkness, the alarm jolts me awake on this chilly March morning. Less than a week after the switch to Daylight Savings Time, it's still a challenge to get up this early.

But the extra hour of morning darkness is welcome. For a few weeks, I don't have to get up as early to watch and shoot the sunrise.

I dress quickly, have a few bites of banana, grab the camera, and go. 

With no time to waste because the sky colors are constantly changing, my first stop is a pedestrian bridge atop a hill, the highest spot nearby.

When the sky is relatively clear, with some scattered clouds for dramatic effect, a Seattle area sunrise (or sunset) is hard to beat. The jagged Cascade peaks to the east and the equally craggy, jagged Olympic Mountains to the west across Puget Sound frame a glowing, brilliant, sometimes subtle sky.


I snap a few quick shots (above), and then dash to the car and drive down to the edge of Puget Sound at Golden Gardens. Why would I go to a west-facing location to shoot a sunrise? For the alpenglow, a reddish glow seen on mountain summits across the horizon from the rising/setting sun.

 
With the reflected light of the sunrise to the east, the snowy peaks are aglow with orange-pink light. And it's not just the peaks; lingering clouds are also tinged pastel pink.

Not many are out this early on a weekday morning. It's just me and the seagulls plus a few joggers. Not a bad backdrop for a morning run.

Because it's my personal ritual to always touch the sea whenever I go to the beach, I crawl over some rocks down to the water's edge and dip my hand into the salty water.

And then it's off to get ready for the work day ahead, but not before pausing to appreciate the lovely spring blossoms overhead.

Because spring has arrived here in the Pacific Northwest.


Think about getting up early to welcome spring at the cusp of morning. I guarantee it's an invigorating way to start your day.

[Add-on a day later: Another spectacular sunrise today! Didn't have the camera, but the image of neon orange, gold,  and pink layered with dark purple-blue clouds is seared in my mind.]


Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news.    

The Power of Community: It's Still Going in Greenwood

Just last spring I blogged about the vibrant, resurgent north Seattle neighborhood of Greenwood. Its charming, quirky "downtown" along Greenwood Avenue, full of independent small businesses, had bounced back happily from a series of devastating arson fires 7 years ago.

After a leaking natural gas line explosion on March 9 destroyed or damaged over three dozen businesses in the heart of Greenwood, you might think this neighborhood suffers from some seriously bad karma. 

But adversity often brings out the best in people, bringing them together. The Greenwood community (and beyond in Seattle) is jumping to help. I call that pretty good karma.

People as far away as Kenmore, over 20 miles north, were awakened by the 1:40 a.m. blast, although some (like me) less than a mile or even a few blocks away, slept through it. Many thought it was an earthquake.

Gas explosion fire 3/9/16. Photo credit to www.pbs.media

TV helicopters buzzing overhead finally woke me up. In the predawn darkness, I immediately thought of the morning 7 years ago when I was also awakened by helicopters and sirens from the major arson fire that destroyed several businesses. 

 Thanks to social media, I learned what was going on quickly. #Greenwoodexplosion was all over Twitter, then I hopped to reddit, Nextdoor, and finally old-fashioned radio and television. 

Within hours, several fundraising campaigns to support the many small businesses and employees affected were set up. A gofundme site has already raised over $44,500 (as of 3/13) through small private donations.

This morning I wandered over to check out the damage and support a few of the small cafes open, despite boarded up windows.

This stretch of Greenwood Ave and these popular businesses now look like...

...this.

This block, where the explosion occurred on the left, now looks like this...

Okay, so it's winter now. But still, sad.

First at Chocolati Cafe and then over at Coyle's Bakeshop, the lines were long, longer than normal on a weekday morning. Within an hour after the blast, the "superstar" manager of Chocolati (Darla) was onsite cleaning up the shattered windows and serving coffee to the first responders.

For about a 2-block radius, shattered windows are boarded over, but most businesses are open. 

 I strolled down Greenwood across the street from the blast and stopped to chat with a man holding a very cool bicycle. It was David Giugliano (Davey Oil) of G&O Family Cyclery, whose business next to Neptune Coffee was heavily damaged. For seeing his business shattered, he seemed surprisingly calm and upbeat. 

"People say bad things about the low-income and homeless people in the neighborhood, but they were the ones who discovered the gas leak and called it in," said David. He wants to stay in Greenwood. "It's my neighborhood."

David Guiglano of G&O Family Cyclery on Greenwood Avenue

 Glass shards were still visible scattered on the sidewalk, and I almost tripped over a bucket of debris.

 
So this morning I'm headed back over to Greenwood Avenue to get morning tea, and I'll probably refill at a few businesses, just to help in a small way.  A good account of the City's response and resources to help are described in this Seattle Times article.

How about you? Did you hear the explosion or know anyone affected by it? Think about joining the conversation with a comment below, and then checking out the link below for ways to support the Greenwood community and businesses. Thanks!

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news.   

How to help

The Phinney Neighborhood Association’s website, phinneycenter.org, has a list of merchants that are collecting money to help the businesses impacted by the blast. A gofundme page has also been set up for donations.

Hiking Larrabee State Park: Fragrance Lake

I don't know that Fragrance Lake is particularly fragrant, but the hike there above Chuckanut Drive in northwest Washington is rich with scenic beauty: a serene forest-fringed lake, lush evergreen forest, and a sweeping panoramic viewpoint full of sea and sky.

This is my first time hiking in the Chuckanut Mountains, the only place where a branch of the Cascade Mountains stretches far enough west to meet the sea. It's a pleasant, mild late winter February day, perfect for a lowland hike. 


I'm here with the new Alpine Trails Book Club, organized by Ashley of Alpine Lily via her excellent Northwest-focused blog. While I'm the elder of the group by a long shot, when we're on the trail all equally enthralled by this beautiful forest, age doesn't matter.

We get a fairly early start on a Saturday, which is good because this is a very popular trail, just south of outdoorsy-minded Bellingham. I'd say this qualifies as what I call a Northwest "Greatest Hits" hike.

After parking at the main Larrabee State Park lot, we cross Chuckanut Drive, and start up the trail that plunges immediately into healthy forest, with some remnant old growth.

After hiking upward on gentle switchbacks for about 30-40 minutes, we take a quick water break. Ruby (one of the two dogs on our hike today; they didn't have to read the book :) flops over and lets us know she'd like to stay put for a while.

But she's a trooper and rallies as we continue through this beautiful forest on up to the lake.

In a flash of whimsy, I envision forest faeries inhabiting this stretch of woods, perhaps sleeping by day inside trees like the lovely old western red cedar pictured above. Maybe I'm influenced by the enchanting book we read (The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey), which has hints of magic realism.

Soon enough we arrive at the lake and stop at a clearing below some of the exposed Chuckanut Formation sandstone rock walls along the shore, where we discuss the book and nibble snacks. (Thanks to Ashley for her delicious chocolate bark.)

While the weak February sun warms us a bit, the temperature drops to chilly as we hike around the lake into the shady side. It's still winter.

Circumnavigating the lake, we cross numerous wooden walkways and little bridges over muddy areas. The Washington Trails Association gives this trail a lot of attention due to its popularity, and we actually pass a WTA crew doing trail work on our way down.

Lucca on the trail around Fragrance Lake.

On the way down we take the short (0.2-mile) cut-off to a splendid viewpoint over the Salish Sea and the San Juan Islands beyond.  Although it was overcast when we started hiking, the sky has cleared up nicely for us.

From there we've only about a mile back down, and I can't resist stopping to hug at least one of the huge old cedars (my totem tree).

After using the restrooms at the parking lot post-hike, we drop down the short trail to the beach. Who doesn't love the combination of freshwater mountain lake and saltwater beach on the same outing?

There on the shoreline is the same Chuckanut Formation we saw up at the lake (the big rocks on the right). See more shots of this formation out on Sucia Island.

 

Ruby wants to stay put at the beach, too.

After Hike Eats
We're done hiking just after noon and decide to stop in the charming Skagit flats village of Edison for lunch. It's on our way back to Seattle, just a short detour west.   

This area (Bow-Edison) has become a hotbed for artisan food and artists, with a creamery making cheese nearby, a marvelous bakery, and several little cafes in the one-block town. We decide on Slough Food, a cozy little deli-cafe where we get excellent sandwiches, salads, and soup.

Overall it's a stellar day, with a lovely morning hike, great company, and tasty local food. If you make your way up (or down) there, be sure and savor the day. And let me know if you discern the fragrance.

Happy trails and thanks for visiting Pacific Northwest Seasons! In between blog posts, visit Pacific NW Seasons on FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Northwest photos and outdoors news.  

When You Go
The Fragrance Lake trailhead is directly across the road from the main Larrabee State Park entrance. We left Seattle about 7:10 and arrived there around 8:30 a.m., with not much traffic early on a weekend morning. You need a Discover Pass to park. Dogs are permitted on leash. According to the WTA website, it's a 5.5-mile roundtrip to the lake and back; I'm not sure if that includes the .6-mile loop around the lake and the .4 mile to the viewpoint and back. But it's not a difficult hike, with an elevation gain of just under 1,000 feet.

Fellow blogger Lainey of A Day Without Rain also blogged about our hike from her perspective. I always enjoy her lyrical writing.