Thursday, April 18, 2013

The new Lost Antler trail

Steve, Ward, Rita, Amy, Peggy (I took the picture)
Today we were introduced to a new trail. The day dawned dreary and cold, with rain predicted for the entire day, with more rain coming after noon or so, accompanied by wind. Not exactly a promising beginning. Plus our leader Al is out of town and would not be joining us. Then Mike called me this morning to say HE would not be coming either, as he is having some reactions to medication. I thought maybe it would be me showing up at the Senior Center alone. But lo and behold, six of us were there to hike.
Since we had already decided to make it a short day and hopefully miss the worst of the weather, Steve talked us into driving to Gates Overlook and checking out a new trail, which is not yet finished. Six weeks ago it didn't exist, but the Washington Trails Association, WWU students, and volunteers from REI have all been working on building it. The wood for the steps and gravel have all been hauled in by hand (or I should say back). It's going to be a really beautiful trail; actually it already is.
The trail will eventually meet up with the Lost Lake Trail, and Steve was very pleased to see that almost all of the stairs have been completed. He's been out of town for a month and wondered how far along it has come since he last worked on it. Those cliffs along the side are magnificent! I am sure this will become a very popular trail once it's finished and you can make a loop of whatever length you desire.
Steve joked that putting in all those ferns in was a difficult task as they had to hand drill each one. (These grow like this naturally, of course.) The trail is now about three-quarters of a mile long and will be somewhere over a mile or so when finished. He showed us the place the trail is headed, and it looks to me like they've already completed the hardest parts. When we reached the end of the trail, we turned around and came back to the Overlook.
Steve says that most people want to call it the Lost Antler Trail, but there are a few who want to call it the Rock Trail because of these stunning rock cliffs. I prefer the first name. I know I will be back on this trail and am so happy to have seen it today for the first time. We also saw our first trillium in bloom, and the first blooming bleeding heart flowers for the year.
Although it was raining when we set out, by the time we reached our cars again it was beginning to lighten up a bit. We spent a short while on the established trail that leads to Chuckanut Ridge, but we only went about two miles in total as it was getting very cold in the wind. It's 1:00pm right now, and we cut it short so that we would miss the worst weather, have a bit of exercise with good company, and see a brand-new trail in progress! A good day for sure.
:-)

18 comments:

  1. something i don't think about - building a trail. very cool.

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  2. Not a bad way to spend part of the day. By trying a new trail, you stimulated your brain as well as your body. Good going!

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  3. That sounds like a fine day. Perhaps I could have done that one.

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  4. Glad you are home safely and that you had a grand time hiking.
    I love the ferns....so pretty!
    You live in a beautiful area of our country...
    Hugs,
    J.

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  5. Looks like a great new trail to hike..Bleeding Hearts already..you have spring for sure! It is snowing again today..:(

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  6. What a beautiful trail and I do love those ferns. What fun to try a new trail on an iffy day. It would take your mind off the iffiness. I too like the Lost Antler name best. Sounds so native.

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  7. It looks like a fantastic trail! The ferns invite fingers to stroll through them.

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  8. How cool to see this kind of progress in creating the trail. That fern remark was a hoot. It must be fun to have fronds like Steve. ;)

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  9. Like the other Linda said, I could have done that one. It does look like a very cool trail. The rock walls are so dramatic. It looks like there are parts of old trails there too.

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  10. Cutting and building new trails is a lot of hard work. But maybe the hardest work is to persuade the government to commit funds that build and maintain the trail.

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  11. How absolutely beautiful. And congratulations to the builders of the trail, and to the designers too.

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  12. A new trail to explore, that is exciting. I really like the look of the rock cliff and also those ferns. The way you are all bundled up it must have been rather cold.

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  13. How very wonderful that all those volunteers worked on building that trail. It looks great. I have sprained my ankle twice on trails so I'm always happy to see one that has been worked on.

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  14. Wow....this is incredible. What a beautiful, unknown area to have such a wonderful trail constructed to enjoy such scenery.

    PS...my mother's favorite flower was bleeding heart [well, one of her favorites anyway. lol]

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  15. I am imagining there is much hard work in creating a trail of beauty. I especially liked the green array of ferns and am totally impressed by the size of that wall of rock. It must have been quite a thrill to venture on a new trail.

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  16. there's so much lush growth
    really pretty

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  17. a great green of spring unspeakable natural beauty.

    i enjoy you sharing!

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  18. How I envy your hikes. What a glorious day this must have been. Hugs to a delightful blogging friend.

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