What a wonderful hike! It was in the lower 60s and sunny and clear. No bugs, except for the brilliant electric blue dragonflies darting here and there. From the trailhead, there's some switchy-backy elevation, but very gentle. Didn't realize we were going up, Up, UP until we came DOWN, Down, down! At the top of the first leg of the trail, we came to the first viewpoint, what a spectacular view of the entire lake...complete with bald eagle and blooming lily pads! I'm so glad we went around the lake CLOCKWISE from the first bench. It was a flat, scenic path right along the shoreline. One could walk all the way to the Beaver Pond Loop Trail and turn around and come back and have a lovely time and see the gorgeous landscape. The other side of the lake went way high above the lake (could not really see the lake at all) with a bit of up and down and though it was really pretty, the other side was more interesting and picturesque (in my opinion). We went around the lake and up to the Beaver Pond Loop Trail (unremarkable) and back around the other side of the lake.
Sarah found our gun for this hike and had a little back and forth with an angry frog! She so badly wanted a dragonfly to land on her hand and Daniel went skiing on tree roots!
Here's a handy trail map, which we took with us because we've discovered we LIKE to have the map WITH us on the trail, not just left behind on the dashboard!
On the way home, we stopped off at the Freedom Park on Camano Island because last weekend we ran out of time (and daylight)!
Wildlife:
frogs
eagle
slugs (John says the black ones are "European Slugs"...good to know!)
dragonflies
tan and green stripe garter snakes near the water's edge
mommy deer and 2 fawns off Sunday Lake Road (charming!)
Looks like fun! This is one I hadn't heard of. I'm adding it to my list. :)
ReplyDeleteAmy, I am SO enjoying your blog! Love the beautiful photography and seeing you all on the trails! Heybrook Lookout is UP! We won't be doing that for awhile!
Delete