Safety Not Guaranteed - Connelly Nature Creek Corridor

I didn't have time for a big hike this week. I finished finals last weekend but won't get an actual day off until next weekend. Even then, the weather has been crap lately.

Tuesday, though, I managed to finish and turn in my last term paper and had a bit of time before work. We're also getting a brief sunny break in the weather, so I was able to take the dog for a walk.

Connelly Creek Trail isn't much of a trail. There's no real trailhead parking. It's mainly for those who live in the neighborhood, and it stretches a mile from Ferry Ave to Donovan Ave.

Connely Creek Trail

City of Bellingham

Length: 1 mile (one-way)

Parking: Street parking only

I added some red "P"s to the map to show decent parking (the one by Sehome HS at the end of Voltaire Ct is the faculty parking lot, so it is only available when school is out).

We started out trek at Ferry Ave trailhead, which is at the corner of Ferry Ave and 31st St.

Helpful sign tells you what's to come

It's a nice trail to walk down during the day, but I do not advise going after dark. I have learned this from experience.

Adams Ave trailhead, and trail marker that's been well vandalized

Happy Valley is not the worst neighborhood in Bellingham, but it's also not the best. During the day, it's usually safe, but after dark you can run into...interesting people. It's not as bad as it used to be, but if you look close you can still sometimes find evidence of where people camp in the woods.

Trailhead by Sehome High School, just off the faculty parking lot.

The trail was surprisingly clean today, though, so I think a work crew may have recently been through here.

Some minor trash on the trail. Not as much as I am used to seeing, though.

Even in daylight, this trail has seen more than it's fair share of assaults, so always be on guard. I make sure I get text alerts from WWU so I can be apprised of any criminal activity going around in the neighborhood (non-students can still get the alerts).

Not much growing at Joe's Gardens on Taylor Ave yet.

It's not all doom and gloom, though. During the daytime, there are plenty of legit trail users walking, running, and biking through the corridor.

Puppy looking adorable on a fallen tree.

After all, we ran into three other trail users, and only one of them had meth mouth!

The namesake Connelly Creek. This is it.

Despite it all, the trail is an important connector between the Interurban Trail and Sehome Arboretum, as well as connecting many apartments in the area to WWU's campus and corresponding bus routes.

Donovan Ave trailhead.

Just remember to always be aware of your surroundings, on this trail and others, and try not to carry too many valuables. It's good advice in general, and it especially holds true for this trail.

Don't mind the bullet dents in the sign.

And hey look, butterfly!

Springtime!

Dead Week

I have finals this week so no hiking or much of anything. The good news is hopefully there will be hiking over spring break. Things are planned anyway.

In the mean time here is a picture of one of our rats. Her name is Thelma and she bites.

The look of a cold-blooded killer.

That is all.

Short, Sweet, and Steep - Sugarloaf Hike

So earlier this week I was annoyed. I had two days off, and guess what was forecasted?

Guess which days they were?

So Thursday morning when I woke up to sunshine, I knew I had to do something!

It was again also the Husband's day off, so we went back to Fidalgo Island to hike Sugarloaf.

Sugarloaf

Anacortes Community Forest Lands

Parking Permit: none needed

Distance: ~ 2.5 miles roundtrip

Elevation Gain: 893 feet

How I always reach the trailhead is to turn on Lake Campbell Road from Highway 20. Follow that until you reach Lake Erie Grocery and hang a right at the fork; that puts you on Heart Lake Rd. From there, go past the two big trees (you'll know them when you see them) and turn right at the sign for Mr. Erie Lookout. You can drive all the way to the top of Mt. Erie if you want, but for the Sugarloaf trailhead park in the lot at the base.

Here's a zoomed in map:

I need to point out the little hill east of Sugarloaf is called Sugar Cube.

The trailhead is right behind the big information station.

Ozzy the dog decided to add his own trail marker

For the most part, the trails are well marked. The map can seem a bit intimidating, as the ACFL has a pretty extensive trail network. As long as you plan your route ahead and note the trail numbers, you'll be fine. To get to the Sugarloaf Lookout, we take trails 215, 227, and 238.

Each trail marker also shows what uses are permitted on the trails.

 The husband found a snail shell (snail missing) not too far from the trailhead:

And the dog found a fashionable wig!

While most trail junctions are well-marked, some are a bit more vague. Usually unmarked trails will loop back to each other, but when in doubt, just go uphill.

The total hike is pretty short; just about 2.5 miles round-trip. You climb almost 900 feet in about a mile, so while it's short, it has a pretty good grade to climb up. It's a great conditioning hike that you can do in a short afternoon.

The junctions for 227 and 238 tend to sneak up on you, so always keep an eye out. Remember, we're always turning uphill!

Recent rains from last night made the trail a little muddy and the rocky parts a bit slick, but compared to a lot of other trails I've been down, it wasn't bad at all.

Once you reach the top, you can enjoy the views! There's a nice meadow on top which makes a perfect picnic spot.

There are lots of rocks to sit on. I also discovered that they're good for reflecting sound, so you can get some Pandora going on your phone and place it just right to amplify the sound and have a mini mountaintop dance party!

Husband: "What are you doing?"
Me: "It's a dance party! Come on!"
Husband: "I will once you take your medication."

Long story short, he refused to join me and I was left awkwardly dancing by myself.

I tried to get the dog to join in, but he ran away from me.

One thing I love to do is bring snacks for the dog and toss them for him to make him run up and down the hill. It wears him out with minimal effort from me!

There were a few flowers just starting to peek out.

Today was fairly bland, however in a few weeks as we go into April you can expect this meadow to explode in color! I may have to try and make another venture up here around then, as this place becomes wildflowers galore. Alas, it's too early for them right now.

Final shot of the husband and dog taking in the view.

Under the Roar of the Jets - Deception Pass Headlands

Last month, I had a day off that corresponded with sunny weather and a low homework load! I packed my bags the night before and...I was called into work.

Two weeks later, I had a day off that corresponded with sunny weather and a low homework load! I packed my bags and...I was called into work.

Last week, I had a day off that corresponded with sunny weather and a low homework load! I packed my bags and waited to be called into work, but it never happened. When the day arrived, I quickly ditched town to head out on my first hike of the year.

The north end of Deception Pass State Park doesn't have the best cell service either, so if work needed me, they were SOL!

Deception Pass State Park

Parking permit needed: Discover Pass ($10 a day or $30 a year)

Miles: ~4 (if you don't get lost)

Elevation gain: 350 ft

My husband somehow ended up with the day off, too! So we drove out to Fidalgo Island and parked at Rosario Beach on the north end, with our aim being our favorite picnic spot near Lighthouse Point. From Highway 20, turn on Rosario Road (just at the south end of Pass Lake), then take another left on Cougar Gap Road, and keep hanging left until you reach the parking lot.

Purple path = what we did

We parked at the red "P". (I'll get to the red question mark in a bit.)

We've had gorgeous weather out here in the PNW lately. It's been killing the ski resorts, but it's great for an early start to the hiking season!

I got to try out my new hiking pack!

Zombie Stryke!

I bought it off off Woot.com for next to nothing. It was oversized for the short day hike we were on, but zombies, okay?

I am unsure of the official capacity for the pack, but it seems decently large, and it is hydration bladder compatible, which is a must for me!

Husband: "So, when did somebody decide zombies are colorblind? Because that pack sticks out like a sore thumb."
Me: "Shut up because you're just jealous."

We started off hiking around Rosario Head, which is a very short jaunt from the parking lot. We were the only ones there at the time, though in the summer it can get fairly crowded since it's so accessible. With views like this, can you really blame people?

One thing I love about Deception Pass (and Fidalgo/Whibey islands in general) is that you get a nice combination of decent cliffs for good views and level beaches for playing at the shore. Rosario Head has these cliffs, but not very away near the parking lot you have level beach that's a rock/sand mix.

It's a beautiful hike, but noisy, The Naval Air Station in nearby Oak Harbor regularly does training runs, so there's a constant background roar of jets. You can tune them out fairly quickly, though.

The last thing to check out before moving on is the totem pole of K?k^wál?l^w?t, the Maiden of Deception Pass:

Compare the beach in the background with the cliffs from the other pic! They're not far apart at all.

After our short jaunt around Rosario Head, it was time to head east to Bowman Bay and Lighthouse Point. We passed this cryptic sign along the way.

100 feet to what? And what's with the baby shoe? Wait, is this pointing us toward 100 BABY FEET?!?!

This is the Salish Sea after all. Feet washing up on shore has been known to happen...

We didn't find any feet as we passed the Bowman Bay campground and boat launch. From there, we followed the signs toward Lighthouse Point. (Bowman Bay is a good alternative parking area for Lighthouse Point if Rosario Beach parking is full in the summer; after turning on Rosario Road by Pass Lake take an immediate left and just keep hanging left until you find parking.) From the bay you stroll east until you get to a decent hill, and as you descend the other side you head out on a trombolo to another point of land to the south.

Husband: "What are you saying?"

Me: "Trombolo! Trombolobolobolo!"

Husband: "What the hell is that?"

Me: "It's a sand spit connecting two points of land! Trombolobolobolobolo!"

Husband: "Why don't you call it a sand spit then?"

Me: "Because it's a TROMBOLOBOLOBOLOBOLOBOLO!"

Husband: "I think you're adding extra syllables there."

Me: "I am! TROMbolobolobolobolo...."

Husband: "Please stop."

Me: "....bolobolobolobolo...."

Anyway, we stopped as we always do at our favorite picnic spot, which has the best view of Deception Pass bridge in the entire park.

This is our "secret" picnic spot. I was talking to a classmate from Anacortes about the Lighthouse Point hike, and he mentioned a "secret" spot that sounded exactly like my "secret" picnic spot. So, apparently it isn't a huge "secret", but there has never been anyone else there when we've been here.

In fact, it was so quiet, we took some time to enjoy the scenery. By that I mean..."enjoy the scenery". The jets were flying overhead. One took a low pass, then came back around a second time even lower. Unfortunately it's hard to "enjoy the scenery" when you brought along a dog who gets bored easily, so we were starting to pack up by then.

As secluded as our "secret" spot was, you're never hidden from the jets overheard. They see all...and we didn't even care!

Back on the main trail, you can see why it's called Lighthouse Point, though just barely:

Can you see that square structure in the middle? That's the lighthouse. It's a modern, boring-looking kind, not the fun old-school kind. There's no easy or legit way to get much closer than this; there's a sketchy climb down, over, and up some cliffs to get to it. I've never attempted it because it's not something I'd want to bring the dog along on.

Coming along, we reached the turn-around point of our hike. That grassy point in the middle across the bay is Rosario Head where we began:

I put a red question mark on our map, and that's because we got lost. It's not that big an area, but we managed it. We took a wrong turn and ended up on an illegitimate trail:

I'm going to blame the husband here, 'cause as you can see he's obviously leading the way. Despite realizing we had gone off the designated trail, we pressed on anyway. After all, it was going the general direction we wanted to go.

After a steep descent, though, we ended up at a dead end:

If the tide had been out, we may have been able to shimmy around the rocky cliffs, but the tide was not out, and there was no way around.

So we had to climb all the way back up the way we came. I mentioned it was steep and not a legit trail, right?

Always stay on the trail, kiddos!

Even the wildlife bitched us out. As we hiked back toward the car, I heard eagle chatter overhead, and was barely able to snag a pic of this guy:

Do you see him? (Or her?) If he hadn't made noise, we probably would have walked by none the wiser!

Our little detour added mileage and elevation effort, and as we returned to the car our dog Ozzy started whining because he was tired. We were a mile from the car, and he was whining. He has a lot of energy and never gets tired, so this was a victory! He passed out for part of the drive home.

We were spied on by some peeping jet pilots, and got a little lost, but overall it was beautiful weather and a great day to get out of town for a bit and go on a short coastal hike!

Extra Credit: For more bridge views and extended hiking, you can explore the trails around Lottie Point, which is just east of Lighthouse Point on the map.