Heather Lake Trail 2 - Washington State

When Bogie and I went to Heather Lake last week, it was a spur of the moment thing. I was wearing regular tennis shoes, so I couldn’t do much with the snowy incline the last 1/2 mile or so. So I took April, Bandit and Patches out there to finish the job and make it all the way to the lake. The lake was beautiful but we couldn’t walk around it. There is a boardwalk around the lake but it was still packed in areas with many feet of snow. We sat and nibbled on some trail mix and jerky, enjoying the view.

Bandit, not realizing the dense coverage of pine needles was not dirt, dove into the lake. The water was frigid (to say the least) and her eyes got about as big as dinner plates. After getting her out and laughing, Bogie did the same thing on another end. Still laughing, Patches repeated this at yet another end of the boardwalk. All three animals had the same dinner plate eye effect and all three say what happened to the other. Patches later on got too close to a snow shelf, which gave way and dropped her in the drink one more time. Finally, Bandit twirled fast one time and Bogie was pushed into the drink once more.

Got to love it with the dogs decide to imitate the three stooges!

Here are some photos! Click them to enlarge!

Bogie having a creek sit / drink on the way up.

The dogs discover there is no and react to it as puppies, almost instantly.

April at the end of a large log that was wedged against the boardwalk.

I'm at the end of this log now, taking Aprils picture from the boardwalk.

Bogie and Patches investigate a very small ice cave.

Bridal Veil Falls Trail - Washington State

After doing the Heybrook Lookout Trail, we popped over to the Bridal Veil Falls Trail. This trail branches off to the Lake Serene Trail but we didn’t want to go that far that day. It was your typical beautiful Northwest trail that waited until the end before you had to climb a series of steps. The steps were short (about 1/2 typical stair height) but there was a lot of them. At the top of the stairs, it branches with one set going up and one set going to the left. We took the left steps and was practically underneath the falls. We then realized the other set of stairs was part of a loop and we got closer to the falls themselves. It was absolutely beautiful and I recommend this trail highly.

Here are some photos! Click them to enlarge!







Being the last week of June, there wasn't too much snow but Bogie still found a little bit to munch on.

Heybrook Lookout Trail - Washington State

So I decided to take most of Thursday and Friday off last week to do some trails with April. We ended up going on 3 hikes and each had a very nice payoff at the end. On Thursday, we decided to head east on Route 2 and give the Heybrook Lookout Trail a go. After that, we would see where we wanted to go for part 2 of the days hikes.

The payoff on this hike is a restored fire lookout that is only a couple miles from the parking area of the trailhead. The trail is very beautiful, short but somewhat steep.

Here are some photos! Click them to enlarge!









Bogie and Bandit on the first story of stairs. Only Bogie felt comfortable going all the way to the top.

Looking down on April, Bandit and Patches.

Not a bad picture from the top, even with my very basic camera.

Bogie feeling quite comfortable at the top.

Lowell Riverfront Trail - Snohomish Washington

So last Tuesday for lunch, Bogie and I went down to the Lowell Riverfront Trail in Snohomish Washington. My boss from a previous job pointed this trail out to me and it is a nice little 2 mile or so flat trail. It winds along the Snohomish river and is quite nice for a quick trip with your puppy. There is a boat dock at one end that is nice for your pooch to take a quick dip to cool off.

Here are some photos! Click them to enlarge!











Ah, a post trail dip in the river!

Rattlesnake Ridge Trail - Washington State

I was a good boy and worked most of the weekend, just so I could get out to hike today. I don’t even try to hike weekends due to the crowds. No kidding, many times you are denied a parking spots in most of hike trailheads. So today, I worked in the office until noon and headed out to Rattlesnake Ridge Trail.

Rattlesnake Lake and the Rattlesnake Ridge trailhead is located just southeast of North Bend and about forty-five minutes to an hour east of downtown Seattle. I did the scenic route 202 from Duvall to Carnation to North Bend and to Highway 90. I knew that I was within a couple miles of the exit I needed to get to the trailhead. Since I had a 50 / 50 shot at picking the correct direction, I obviously chose the wrong one. It took about 5 miles before I could head back east to Exit 32.

So it was a pretty straight shot getting there and we parked about 1:30 PM. We hit the trail about 2:00 PM and got back to the truck about 5:10 PM. Took until about 6:15 PM to get back and I’m blogging about it a 7:40 PM. So in under 8 hours I was able to take a hike, take photos and blog about them. Not bad!

Here are some photos!

Heather Lake Trail - Washington State

Well, I’m a little behind in blogging this but I wanted to get out for a trail last Thursday. I was looking through my “Sixty Hikes Within Sixty Miles Of Seattle” book and decided to do Mt. Pilchuck. I didn’t get out there until about 1:30 PM. I accidentally parked at the Heather Lake trail head and then started driving further to the Pilchuck trail head. Along the way, came across a couple guys with a Xterra with a flat tire. Guy looked at me and asked if I had the 4 ft long bar that is needed for him to get his spare tire. Since my Nissan Truck was a 2007 like his Xterra ... turned out I had just the thing for him.

After doing my purely by chance “white knight” duty, headed for the Pilchuck trail head but was stopped by how much snow was on the road. This is the middle of June! So I went back to the Heath Lake trail head and started out.

Loved this trail and will probably do it again very soon. Here are some pics!