Photos from this trip can be found here.
With more snow in the forecast today, we stayed west of the Cascades and resorted to another one of our Puget Sound area off-season go-to places. Two cars parked by the Chuckanut Drive/Pacific NW Trailhead when we arrived, another car pulled in just as we started hiking.
Snow-free yet steep trail through the initial long switchbacks, then tapered off at the Samish Overlook junction. Snow appeared shortly past the junction but never got more than a quarter-inch thick. Next steep section took place just before arriving at the bench overlook, great spot for a breather while enjoying some views.
Photos from this trip can be found here.
With the rise in elevation and drop in the temperature, parts of the trail became somewhat icy. Microspikes would’ve benefitted, but the ice was easily negotiable with enough attention. Pup and I passed a family of four on their way down and I briefly chatted with one of them.
Trail descended slightly before reaching an intermittent stream in the gully, then rose back up after stream crossing. A few more steep sections but with enough switchbacks to offset the elevation gain. Last stream crossing took place right before the final push to the overlook area above the cliffs.
Photos from this trip can be found here.
Like all our previous trips, we were rewarded with expansive views of Puget Sound islands both near and far. After a rare nice and quiet half-hour stay, we left the empty overlook behind and headed down. We took a side trip to Lily Lake at the trail junction.
From south end of the lake, we followed the connector trail to the left and hiked up to North Butte for a slightly different perspective of the sound. Back on the trail, we continued to hike north and descended a couple hundred feet to check out Lizard Lake, a lake several times larger than Lilly Lake.
Photos from this trip can be found here.
After a short lunch break by the lake, we reversed the route back to Lily Lake, made a clockwise loop around the lake and then hiked out.
Gear: none
