Thursday, March 11, 2021

Another Chuckanut adventure

Hemlock trail

 I find it harder and harder to make an interesting post, when my friend Melanie and I keep going up the same old haunts each week during the pandemic. Today we hiked the Lower Salal, starting off on the Hemlock trail, in search of signs of new growth, especially looking for the trillium flower, one of our early spring favorites. 

The Lower Salal trail

It was a glorious sunny morning as we set out on the Chuckanut Mountain trail, and the clearing skies overnight made for a very chilly start, but still the full sun and lack of any wind made us quite comfortable as we started the uphill part of the trail.

Ferns galore

Mel said that whenever we pass this section of the trail filled with ferns, she thinks of our friend Terry, who called this place "Ferndale." (We have a nearby town with that name, but you could hardly find any venue that might rival this one for sheer volume.) We searched high and low for any signs of trillium coming up along the trail, but so far no luck. I learned plenty about the trillium species we're most familiar with, Trillium grandiflorum, when I came home and researched it, hoping we just didn't know what the sprouts might look like. For one thing, they are one of our local deers' most tasty snack. I'm surprised that we have seen any, considering what I learned from that link. (The link takes you to Wikipedia's informative site.)

Skunk cabbage

We did see some early skunk cabbage, growing out of the swampy areas, but even these were few and far between. It's just early, I guess, and in a few more weeks we will be seeing many more signs of spring, which is now only a couple of weeks away. 

One of the many directions we could take

We have been to all of these places, more than once, but today I was not up for more than a 5.5-mile trip up and down the Lower Salal and Hemlock trails. Mel kept trying to entice me to make our hike a little longer, but this was all I felt comfortable doing, what with a sore ankle that I'm nursing. We did climb up more than a thousand feet, so I got a pretty good workout, even if Mel wanted to do more.

We had a great day and saw quite a few fellow hikers out with their dogs, and everyone was in a very good mood, as we were, too. It's hard to find much to complain about on a day like this one!

:-)

16 comments:

  1. We don't mind revisiting these trails, just as you don't mind re-hiking them!

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  2. We were out and about today too, but doing urban trekking. I did find my first skunk cabbage, too, but no trilliums yet. They are not up in our yard yet either.

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  3. A pretty area.

    Trilliums here are short lived, of course, and I can only think of a couple of places where I've seen them in the city.

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  4. It looks like a beautiful day. I never tire of that place, Jan.

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  5. First and foremost: travelling with you (virtually) is ALWAYS interesting. Thank you so much for taking us along again.

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  6. What did you do to your ankle? It must not be too bad if you can hike over five miles:) Take Care!

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  7. Keeping yourself busy and interested in looking for certain flowers helps to make the day interesting.

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  8. Oh no! What did you do to your ankle?
    Looks like it was a wonderful hike nonetheless. :)

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  9. Me curious on your ankle also and hope you didn't set back the healing. Loved the ferns. They looked like a mass of dressed up spiders on the forest floor.

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  10. I'm glad Spring is near. Sign hunting is fun at this time of year. But I won't see any sprouts in Minneasota yet. In Florida, there's plenty of sprouts. Even a Sprouts grocery store!

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  11. I find that your hikes, repeated areas or not, are worthy of the beauty that surrounds you...and sharing each adventure, I look forward to each time!!

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  12. For a change you could look more for little macro photos of leaves, flowers, rocks etc. Most phones can get you pretty close -- in fact often better than big cameras unless one is using a special lens.

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  13. Ooh, sunshine and no snow. That would make for a good hike.

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  14. I hope your ankle heals soon, but sometimes it is best not to overdo it. You were wise to keep the hike relatively brief. Pretty pictures.

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  15. I enjoy your hikes, please keep them pictures coming!

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  16. It always amazes me how large those skunk cabbages grow. What a lovely hike that was. You went for a 5.5 miles hike WITH a sore ankle??? Oh my gosh!

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