Month: March 2017

L-R Mike, Greg, Ken, Mark and Carl.

We met at the May Valley Rd trail head today, starting on the trail Carl and I hiked back on 3/1 but this time veering west at 2.3 miles in to visit Debbie’s View (a spot we visited back in December, via the Margaret’s Way trail).  From there we hit the West Peak en route to the Bullitt Fireplace.

We tried to find Central Peak but didn’t quite make it.  Will try again some time in the next few weeks.

My Garmin did not work (I think I fixed it just now) so no track.  About 8 miles, probably 2K gain (several ups and downs and three or four really steep sections).   A fun hike and a nice workout.

Not a scenic hike on Saturday.  This hike is a good workout through a nice forest but we turned around at the Chybinski Point sign so we did not visit any view points.

It was great to get out with Derek and Ryan, who are going to Alaska in April and trying to get in some hiking before they leave.  So we did this hike in spite of the pouring rain.  Spring (or any other season) in the Puget Sound!

Jan, aka Granny, was babysitting Camden while we hiked.  We took the little guy home and he stayed with us overnight.  What a cutie and he is such a sweet guy.

The plan was to meet Carl, Mike, Ken, Mark and Greg in the Poo Poo Point parking lot at 7:30 but I figured since all those guys are faster hikers than me – particularly on a really steep trail like Chirico – I would start a few minutes early.  So I left the lot about 7:10 or so, and I believe they wound up heading up about 7:25.

In either case, I hit the summit and hung out there for a few minutes before they made their way to the top.  Fun outing.  Nice view, as above, and this is where hangliders/paragliders launch when the weather is decent.  There are several launching points:

There is gear up at the top but none of us knows what it is:

I descended with Mike (who shared the happy news that he is retiring in June) who pointed out a cool spiral staircase going up a tree in a nearby back yard:

Nice place to hang out on a sunny day, and a good spot from which to check out the hang gliders gliding by.

Our track:

http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/poo-poo-point-3-11-2017/#.WMRWdk2QxD-

 

Nice, vigorous hike today with Mark, Greg and Carl.  We parked by the side of the road just off exit 20 – High Point – and started hiking about 7:30.  By  the time we got back at 10:30 the road was jammed:

There is a Murat Bridge, a memorial to someone who died in 2013 at the age of 33.  I am going to try to figure out who he/she was.  Impressive they inspired such a nice bridge:

We were glad we had our micro-spikes along, it was pretty icy for the last mile or so.  Wintry and snowy on the summit:

And of course on the peaks around here you share the summit with technology:

Nice workout, lots of fun.  We are so lucky to live around here!

The track:

http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/west-tiger-2-via-k3/#.WLssx02QxD8

 

Our goal was the central peak on Squak Mountain.  We started at the May Valley Road trail head.  We didn’t quite make it; we went past the Bullitt Fireplace (named for a local rich guy who used to own the mountain; his house burned down a long time ago, leaving only the chimney) looking for the peak.  We turned around when the trail started going down, but looking at the Garmin track:

http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/squak-mountain-3-1-2017/#.WLcrgU2QxD8

It looks like we needed to keep going where we turned around.  Live and learn.

Although this hike is not arduous (but in the slushy, slick snow pretty challenging) and there are no terrific views.  However, the woods are beautiful:

And we had a great time and a very nice workout.