Burnout Road and Fragrance Lake

What are we looking at?

Our luck held again today! Yesterday it rained and rained, and we wondered if we were in for a wet hike today. But no, the rain stopped and the sun came out, at least for most of the day. It was a cold start, with the temperature in the mid-thirties. Sixteen Trailblazers showed up to share today's hike from Larrabee State Park trailhead, up Burnout Road to the top of Chuckanut Mountain.

Samish Bay, with Mt. Erie in the middle

This was our first view on the road. It's a hike on old logging roads for the first part, but the view here was quite lovely. Last time we went this way there was no view at all. In the middle of this picture, you can see where we will be hiking next Thursday, Mt. Erie. If we have nice weather, it will be four in a row.

The high point of today's hike

As you can see, it wasn't all clear, at least not early in the day. There was sunshine here and there, but at this point it was a little breezy and not at all warm. We had just finished quite a long upward haul to this point through a clearcut area, so we took a quick break (after adding more clothes) before heading down to Fragrance Lake for lunch.

Peggy, Diane, Rita, Carol, Sue

Some of the ladies were lined up on the log and I asked for a picture. I had to get everyone to stop snacking for a minute so I could get a decent shot; this one shows the feeling of the day: good views, good company, not warm but not raining, and more adventures to come.

Another view of Samish Bay

At the top I also took this view of Samish Bay, quite a bit higher than the earlier one, and with the last of the clouds beginning to clear out. From this point we headed down to the South Lost Lake Trail to make our way to Fragrance Lake, where we stopped for lunch. There were several other groups already there and our good spot in the sunshine was taken, but we enjoyed a nice rest and lunch break. I had brought hot soup, which really hit the spot, as I was still not all that warm. It was delightful, and then we took the Fragrance Lake Trail down to the parking area.

Mossy stump and trees

As we walked around Fragrance Lake, I saw this beautiful old stump, which had been logged so many years ago that it's no longer an eyesore (like the stumps we saw in the clearcut area up higher). That's one thing about living in this area: trees are being logged constantly, and many of our hiking areas become defaced by logging activities. But every once in awhile you see a tree that was spared.  Peggy was glad to see we were going on the trail rather than the road, because she wanted to show us a tree she had noticed last time.

Peggy's big old tree

We stopped and admired the tree, and speculated about why it had not been logged with the others. If you look closely at the bottom of the tree, you can see a cut that had been made in it many decades ago. It has healed and for whatever reason, this marked tree was not logged. It's at least 800 years old, and we made up stories about why it was spared. We will never know, but it's a beauty, isn't it?

By the time we reached the cars, we had traveled 9.7 miles (another long one), and somewhere around 2,500 feet up and down. I am plenty tired now, but it was all worth it. We are quite a bunch of strong, dedicated hikers who live in a magnificent part of the country. Fred (tongue firmly in cheek) said he would be looking forward to reading the blog post to see if we had a good day or not. I think I can affirm that, yes, it was a great day!
:-)