Coal Creek Falls & Doughty Falls

January 28, 2023

Wow! We ended up hiking with the pups every weekend in January and I'm super proud of them. We've hiked from this trailhead at Cougar Mountain a couple times before, but with such an extensive trail system we were able to make a new, 7.8 mile loop out of it. 

We started at the Sky Country Trailhead at 11:00 am on a Saturday. There was still plenty of parking available with a handful of people leaving as we arrived. No pass is required.

Puppy parade!

There were a good amount of people hiking and running, but the trail never felt crowded. Lots of good doggos off leash, too. We decided to give Toby a try at hiking off leash and he did great!

Andy mapped out a great loop, taking us to Cougar Mountain Lookout, Doughty Falls, and Coal Creek Falls. Turns out I didn't take many pictures this time around.

Water break

"Official geocache"

Coal Creek Falls

That's about it! Nothing too exciting, but the pups sure had a great time. We stopped by Formula Brewing for some après hike beers and pizza then headed home for a nap to dream about the day 😊

Lizard & Lily Lakes

January 22, 2023

Though it was a rainy Saturday, Sunday was dry and cloudy so we harnessed the pups, packed our water and snacks, and headed to Samish for a day hike up to Lizard and Lily Lakes. 

The road to both the Blanchard Mtn lower and upper trailheads were well maintained with few potholes. From what I could tell, only the lower lot had facilities. It's <1 mile between the upper and lower lots but there was still plenty of parking at the upper lot at 10 AM on a Sunday so we parked there. A Discover Pass is required. There's signage and maps at the lot to help orient yourself.

From the parking lot, there are three directions you can go: to the lower lot, to the Alternate Incline Trail, or to Lily/Lizard Lakes. We walked briefly down the road we drove up to the Lily/Lizard Lake TH. 

At the trailhead there was a sign indicating the WTA trail crew was at work. Thank you WTA!! They were doing an awesome job. 

The fog persisted through most of the hike, which made for beautifully eerie surroundings. There was a dusting of snow in areas and at the lakes. We packed a liter of water for Toby and Mario, but small flowing streams were scattered along the hike which made great hydration stations for the pups as well.

It was a steady gentle climb until we arrived at the split for Lily Lake Trail or Lily Lizard Trail. We decided to continue on the Lily Lizard Trail. At this point the trail was flat to Lizard Lake. There are benches and fire pits. This designated camp area provided a nice spot for us to take a quick snack break.

Lizard Lake

Lizard Lake camp area

Mario admiring the benches and fire pits at Lizard Lake

My boys <3

After Lizard Lake, we headed to Lily Lake. Along the way I took a picture with a huge rock.

Huge rock pose

We only passed by Lily Lake.

Trail along Lily Lake

Feeling good and with the pups still energized, we decided to make this an even longer hike by taking a detour to check out Samish Overlook. Though the trail connects to Oyster Dome, we'd already been to Oyster Dome a few years back and wanted to check out a new spot. Part of the hike up there was along a newly constructed gravel road so we had to watch for cars. The area appears to still be in the works. Part of the way up, there were cars parked along the side of the road. We didn't go all the way up to the overlook point because the pups looked like they were getting tired and we still needed to hike back down. Luckily for us the weather seemed to clear just as we approached a clearing not far from the overlook point.

Section of Henry's (?) Trail heading to the new road

Clouds rolled away for a few minutes near Samish Overlook. Lucky us!

Clouds rolled in once we got back up to Henry's Trail. What good timing for us.

On the way down we took Max's Shortcut and the Lily Max Connector. All in all we hiked 11 miles in 3.5 hours. I really enjoyed this one and am so proud of Toby and Mario!

Après hike beer and pizza at the dog-friendly Terramar

Barnum Point

January 14, 2023

Barnum Point is a relatively new park on Camano Island with a series of easy forest trails. There was plenty of parking at 9 AM on Saturday. There was one honey bucket and no garbage cans. It appeared that most of the folks we ran in to were locals getting some early walking in before the Seahawks game. We ended up walking the whole series of trails which ended up being 3.5 miles. 

Since we finished the walk so early, we stopped for coffee and burgers at the Camano Commons Marketplace where we once again ran into a few folks we saw at the Barnum Point. There were plenty of tables outside so we enjoyed brunch outside with the pups. Gotta love these sunny winter weekend days. After brunch we were still too early for any breweries to be open so drove around some more and found Heritage Park. We walked a bit around there, then finally headed to SAAL Brewing where they first served our pups water <333 then they served us. Loved that so much.

Paradise Valley Conservation Area

 January 2, 2023

Started off the new year with a stroll through the Paradise Valley Conservation Area in Woodinville. We weren't looking to get too muddy and we'd been pretty active with the pups during the holidays so we opted for a relaxing hike close to home.

Since we got a late start after noon we did a shorter walk by taking Mainline Trail and forked off to Lloyd Trail  which made a nice 3.2 mile loop taking about 70 minutes to complete. There was good signage all around and the trail was mostly wide. Pups had a great time sniffing and pulling us around.

Tumalo Mountain Snowshoe

January 16, 2022

For my annual bday snowshoe adventure Andy planned a weekend a trip to Bend, Oregon. I hadn't been there since researching at Mt. Bachelor in college! Aside from snowshoeing, we ended up visiting a few breweries and ran along the Deschutes River. Such a cute small city.

It was a long ass drive to spend two days there so next time we visit we'll be sure to stay a few days longer! All the past trip reports about snowshoeing at Mt. Tumalo indicated that parking was limited and  filled up quick. Luckily, Andy and I can be early birds for situations like this, so we woke up at 4:30 AM and when we arrived at the trailhead just before 6 AM it was already full except for one last glorious spot which we took immediately. Since we were unfamiliar with the area, we waited in the car until dawn so there'd be some light to guide the way. 

While the Dutchman Flat Sno-Park northwest of the parking lot was indeed very flat, we opted to snowshoe east up to Tumalo Mountain. With no clear snowshoe trail, we basically just went straight up. We saw a handful of other folks but since we were all making our own paths up it ended up being a quite, clear and brisk morning perfect for a sunrise snowshoe. 

Nearing the top

It was sunny, clear and generally flat at the top with great views of Mt. Bachelor right next door, Sisters and Mt. Hood. We had a quick snack, watched a snowmobiler appear and disappear from the snowy edge (snowmobile areas are clearly marked off for safety), and snapped a few pictures before heading back down.

Heading down

Waihe'e Ridge Trail - Maui, HI

October 22, 2021

I'm always down for a morning hike when vacationing in Hawaii and this time was no exception. We were looking for a quick one and decided on Waihe'e Ridge Trail in west Maui. It's a straightforward 4 mile out and back hike on a well groomed trail. Honey buckets were available at the TH and were being cleaned out as we arrived.

Most of the elevation is at the beginning which served as a mean warm-up on a paved road next to a private farm. The rest of the hike was generally mild from what I can remember. It was a clear, sunny day and we didn't have issues with muddy/slippery areas. We were treated to dramatic views of Waihe'e Valley and lucked out with just a few passing clouds.