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.

Anacortes Internship Special! Part 5 - Revisiting Guemes Channel Trail

My internship has ended. It was such a wonderful experience!

Before I left, I revisited Guemes Channel Trail. It was extended from when I last visited it. There's currently about a mile of trail, so you're looking at about two miles round-trip from the trailhead at the end of Edwards Way.

I stopped to take a pic of the two boats that were at the ferry dock.

Bilateral Boats.

This is where the trail ended last time. It's open!

Ain't nuthin' holding me back!

Sure enough, as I came around the corner, I saw it!

It!

Unless you really know what you're looking at, you just see some boats and a plain ol' breakwater.

Until you get closer. And you see the breakwater looks....different...

Hmmm...

And you notice it's not a normal breakwater at all....

It looks suspiciously boat-like...

In fact, that is the hull of La Merced, which was a 4-masted schooner built in 1917. It spent some time as a floating cannery in Alaska. In 1966, it was sold to Tony Lovric, who towed it to the marina he was building and turned it into the breakwater you see today.

Consider how it stands against the boats next to it. Now imagine it in its heyday with four tall masts. It was a fairly impressive-looking boat!

I maxed out the zoom on my cell phone camera to try and get a pic of it.

Cell phone pics are....well, cell phone pics.

The trail ends just before you actually get to Lovric's, so this was as close as I could get.

You shall not pass.

Eventually the trail will connect with the Tommy Thompson Trail near the Anacortes Marina. They've been making great progress!

I noticed a twisted tree on the return trip.

Twisted!

One of the boats was finally heading out when I got back to the trailhead.

Boat!

So long, Anacortes! I'll visit again soon!

Anacortes Internship Special! Part 4 - Sharpe Park/Montgomery-Duban Headlands

My internship in Anacortes is sadly nearing a close. There will only be one more internship special after this! At least for Anacortes; I still have three more internships to go, and who knows where they'll be?

I found this hike listed as "Sares Head" through Washington Trails Association. However, no one in Anacortes knows "Sares Head". They do know "Sharpe Park", though, which takes you to the Sares Head viewpoint. So if you're asking for directions, ask for "Sharpe Park" and someone will tell you how to get there.

The park is not far from Deception Pass State Park. From Highway 20, you can head East on Rosario Road just before Deception Pass and follow it until you get to the trailhead. The little gravel turnout is "Parkview Road", and there's a nice big sign out front to let you know you've arrived.

Signage

Note on the official map that north is to the right. That just bugs me, when north isn't up...

Sharpe Park/Montgomery-Duban Headlands

Skagit County Parks & Recreation

Parking Permit: none needed

Distance: 2.2 mile loop

Elevation: 400' difference

There are lots of shortcuts. I decided to make a loop around the perimeter of the park. Including the jaunt out to Sares Head, it would be 2.2 miles.

There's a plaque and some signage at the trailhead....

More signage!

I had packed hiking boots, but had neglected to pack a change of pants. So I set out in dress slacks for this hike!

Impeccable fashion sense!

You start out passing some nice wetlands. There were lots of birds. There's a trail that goes off to a "wetland view", but it was somewhat overgrown and I still had delusions of sparing my dress slacks at that point, so I stuck to the main trail. It still had decent marsh views.

Marsh!

More marsh!

Pretty soon, you reach the first major junction and are faced with a choice:

The Choice

I knew I wanted to make it out to Sare's Head, but "Rocky Bluffs" was tempting, so I went right and began a large counter-clockwise loop around the park.

Not long after, I had another choice for "Upper Loop" or "Lower Loop". I took the upper loop, because why the hell not?

Quickly, the nice level gravel path turns into something a bit more rugged...

Rugged trail

It's not a large park, but it makes up for its lack of size with some rather ankle-twisty trails with plenty of rocks and tree roots jutting out.

I liked how the trees were curving over the trail in this shot:

Framed in green!

There are also a lot of madrona trees in the park, of which I took great pleasure in photographing.

Madrona!

More Madrona!

The "Upper Trail" takes you up a big rock, but there's not much to see. I didn't even take a pic from the top. It's just a big hill to give you some extra elevation gain for you hike.

I did take a picture from the bottom of the rock, though.

I wondered...was this sign bluffing? Hmm?

Thank you, I'll be here all night.

As I descended down the trail, I started noticing odd light-colored spots on the hill.

Nope

I took a closer look and....

Nope

The hillside was covered in spiderwebs. The entire hill. The sign was bluffing!

Nope nope nope nope nope.

I had recently met a gentleman who had gotten bitten by a brown recluse on this very island, while he was sleeping in bed, so I was not feeling very amicable toward spiders.

I also found this ominous piece of graffiti on a tree.

Good advice on a spiderweb-coated hill.

Oh look, more madrona trees! Yes, trees, lalala....

Madrona!

Madrona grove!

Is that water down there? Are we almost out of the spider-infested woods?

Madroooooona....

Phew, finally the woods opened up and I made it to the Montgomery-Duban bluffs.

Bluffs!

More bluffs!

There are lots of sharp rocks at the bottom, so don't fall!

I can't actually advocate that you stand this close to the edge.

Despite the gray skies, plenty of boaters were out doing their boater things.

They're on a boat!

I tried to capture all the bluffs on both sides of me, first by taking a pic out toward the water...

Water!

Then I turned around and took a pic of the land...

Rocks!

Then I gave up and took individual pics of each side for you:

More rocks!

Even more rocks!

I found some shrubs that I don't think I've ever come across before. I haven't been able to identify it. Anyone know what it is?

Red and green leaves

As the trail bends away from the shore, it's sufficiently steep and rocky.

Steep stuff!

We follow the trail, and....

....bluffing?

Wait a minute...

Intended route...

Hold on....check the map again....

Oh, shit.

Somehow I ended up taking the Starbucks Connector back to Bluff Trail. I made a loop, but it was not the loop I intended!

Apparently, when you want to head south along the Starbucks Connector to head out toward Sares Head, it's not obvious. Here is the junction, with the path I needed to take breaking off to the right:

It's hiding in plain view.

I had to step up on a rock to get that pic. From the trail down on the left, you barely notice it! So fair warning, it's almost immediately after the steep stuff that you need to find this junction. A simple trail marker would go a long way here!

Back on the trail, I found where the Bluff Shortcut meets up with the Starbucks Connector.

And there's a bench, too.

More madronas!

Madronas!

This boardwalk has seen better days.

It's about function, not form!

Madronas!

Yay!

The trail out to Sares Head is well-traveled and better maintained than other trails in the park. There's been some recent trail clearing and leveling work through here that still appears to be ongoing.

Seems legit.

One final climb, and when you get to Sares Head, it's absolutely fantastic.

View!

So much view!

VIEW!

Sares Head is a big, moss-covered rock. There's a well-graffitied bench to sit at, though I think I'd just bring a blanket and spread out on the rock itself.

Rock!

To the north you can see Anacortes and to the south, a bit of Oak Harbor is visible. The tiny speck in the clouds about 1/3 in from the right was a jet on a landing approach at the naval air base; they were doing training and had been noisily flying over Anacortes all day.

You can't quite see Deception Pass, but it would be just up that channel to the left.

More view!

This park is small, but it would be very easy to combine it with some hiking in Deception Pass State Park. It would make a great add-on to the Deception Pass Headlands on the Fidalgo side of the park since it's literally just up the road, so I think I will return again. It was fantastic on a cloudy day, so I expect that it's truly spectacular when it's sunny and clear!

Next week: Part 5, the final part of the Anacortes Internship Special: Return to Guemes Channel!