I normally love hikes that are very steep uphill and lead to a beautiful view, but this one was especially brutal for some reason. I think that maybe running 6 miles (farthest I’ve gone in a long time) followed by a very steep 5+ mile round trip hike the next day was just too much for my body. It was definitely a fantastic hike but my legs were not happy with me by the end. I wanted to do this hike because it was a long weekend, so I wanted to venture a little further away from home. However I was also aware of the fact that a lot of the mountains inland had gotten snow recently, and I did not have any gear for hiking in snow. Luckily the snow at this trail was all melted the day I went up.
This hike was actually rather difficult to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for. It starts along the Pacific Northwest Trail and the trailhead is on Chuckanut Drive. There is no parking lot, just room for parking on the shoulder. I passed by it at first and had to turn around and come back. I also had no service out here which led to my husband being a bit worried about me for a while! Anyways it’s a very unassuming trailhead and begins by switchbacking up a very steep hill.
After about a mile, there’s a nice view with a bench. Rain was threatening all morning but luckily it stayed mostly dry.
The trail continued uphill most of the way. At one point it becomes very steep and there was some trail maintenance halfway done to turn it into switchbacks. This was the only time I got confused because I wasn’t sure if the switchbacks led to a different trail at first. There were a couple other places where the trail split into two paths but would converge not long after. There was also one larger stream that you have to cross and I ended up balancing on some small logs that spanned the water. Even without the views, I love the forests here in the Pacific Northwest; the trees are enormous and the ground is so spongy with pine needles! Finally I got to the top!
The view was very pretty. I could see Anacortes across the water. It was too cold and windy for me to stay long, however, so I headed back down after taking some pictures. Sometimes I feel like a long downhill section is worse than uphill because it’s so much more pounding on your legs! Eventually I got back down and got some tasty Chipotle in Burlington! Overall a fantastic hike and highly recommended.