I am nearing completion with my final internship! I'll be job-hunting in the upcoming weeks and preparing to move. I don't know where yet. Someplace with good hiking. I do not know how quickly I will find a job or where, but moving will definitely be involved. It's scary and exciting and nerve-wracking and stressful!
I did recently get out to Anacortes for some hiking. I wanted to hike Sugarloaf again,
which I have detailed before, but I wanted to make it longer. The map showed "Sugar Cube" and "Toot Swamp" nearby. I didn't feel up for going for both, since I had homework to get back to, so I put it to a vote on Facebook.
Everyone wanted Toot Swamp, that's what I went for. This hike took me around Whistle Lake as well.
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Sugarloaf/Toot Swamp/Whistle Lake
City of Anacortes
Parking permit: none needed
Distance: 6 miles
Elevation gain: 893 feet |
I started off finding parking at a very busy trailhead off Heart Lake Road south of Anacortes. First thing I did was summit Sugarloaf, a short but rather steep climb to a lovely lookout. You start out on trail 215, and it climbs quickly after the first junction.
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| It gets a bit steep |
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| "Do we really have to go up this way?" |
It doesn't get much better when you see the trail junction for 227.
Actually, as steep as the junction is, it starts to level off shortly afterward, and then opens up to a lovely meadow with views of Puget Sound.
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| Cute hiking buddy is cute |
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| You can see I still have purple fuzzy handcuffs on the hiking pack...oh yes I do! |
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| Island views and stuff |
We met a couple mountain bikers and their dog up top as well. There's no biking at the very top, but they were tearing down the lower trails.
I was hoping to see more wildflowers. I missed the blooms somehow. There were some nice purple ones though.
I took trail 226 down the other side of Sugarloaf and made my way toward Whistle Lake.
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| Looking back uphill toward the summit. |
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| Pretty sunlight and stuff |
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| Root-ball with a puppy-sized hole |
226 lead to 230 which lead to 21, where I found a handy simplified map for anyone who was lost in the labyrinth of ACFL trails.
I then took trail 22 toward Toot Swamp. As I got closer, the bugs increased, so I reapplied bugspray.
There's always lots of checking and double-checking your trail numbers out here, but once I turned on 205 toward the swamp, my route became simple: 205, 204, 203, until I rejoined trail 21.
Toot Swamp was...not spectacular. You could barely see it through the brush.
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| This is it. This is all. |
Hiking around the south end of Whistle Lake was rather steep and rocky. There was a lot of up-and-down.
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| Emphasis on the rocky here |
The lake views from the south end are obscured by lots of trees and brush.
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| Creative place for trail junction signs. |
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| Steepish lakeside hills |
Eventually you join up with Trail 20 briefly, and the shore opens up. There's a not half-bad swimming hole.
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| Mt. Erie in the background |
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| Open space at the end of Trail 20 |
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| Would make a decent swimming spot |
I did not bring a swimsuit. But next time, I may consider it. It was a very hot day out, and that water looked inviting (though it was likely freezing cold).
Trail 20 leads you to Trail 204, and I started heading back to the trailhead from there. Trail 204 had a special dedication.
Once I reached Trail 21, I stayed on that one almost all the way back to Heart Lake Road. Trail 320 provides a connection back to the trailhead parking.
When you look at the overview of the ACFL trails, there are lots of different ways to mix and match routes. Anacortes does a good job of marking all the trails, so as long as you bring a map with you, you shouldn't get lost.
