Toot Poot - Sugarloaf and Whistle Lake

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.

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.

It gets a bit steep

"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.

Cute hiking buddy is cute

You can see I still have purple fuzzy handcuffs on the hiking pack...oh yes I do!

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.

Looking back uphill toward the summit.

Pretty sunlight and stuff

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.

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.

Emphasis on the rocky here

 The lake views from the south end are obscured by lots of trees and brush.

Creative place for trail junction signs.

Steepish lakeside hills

Eventually you join up with Trail 20 briefly, and the shore opens up. There's a not half-bad swimming hole.

Mt. Erie in the background

Open space at the end of Trail 20

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.