Hiking the Pacific Northwest Trail along Puget Sound
In Port Townsend, Stacey and I synchronistically met old friends and acquaintances of mine. Lynne, whom I worked with out on the Olympic Outer Coast picked me out from a car on the road while I was walking back from the Co-op to the Tide's Inn Motel. Her husband Ches is in a band that was playing a Gig in town at one of the many interesting local taverns. I also met Brian the next day who used to be in the very same band. The day before we arrived in town we ran into a group of about 14 backcounty bikers around sunset along the Dungeness River. Two of them used to live across the street from me when I used to live in the village of Dungeness near Sequim. It's a wonderful small world we live in.
You never look at the Olympic Mountains the same way after you have just hiked through the heart of them. It was wonderful to see these giants from sea level as we took the ferry across to Whidbey Island to Keystone. Marbled Murrelets, Rhinosaurus Auklets, Pelagic Cormorants, Pigeon Guillemots, and Harbor Seals entertained us as we entered a new hiking realm. The beach walking towards Oak Harbor was absolutely beautiful with constantly changing views of where we just came from and where we were hiking to towards the San Juan Islands. We Highway Walked the next day till we made it around the Naval Air Station to Deception Pass State Park. There were probably thousands of people there and no one really took notice that we were carrying ice axes. Everyone was off in their own little worlds as we witnessed a cross section of local life on a scenic island.
We then found our way across the Deception Pass Bridge and onto Fidalgo Island on route to Anacortes for the evening. Anacortes has a wonderful little recreation area with lakes and trails around Mt. Erie. However, when we took the revised and updated PNT route, we came across a private property sign and diverged off the trail to what turned out to be a rock climbers route. Man, did we get scratched up by lots of roses. We should have ignored the sign because we ended up bushwhacking for over an hour around Mt. Erie and ran smack into a survivalist or para military camp hidden in the back woods. There was an extensive course of elevated wood trails that took the shape of a roller coaster ride. Good thing it was fathers day and that no one was around to see that we blundered into their secret hideaway.
From Anacortes we road and highway walked most of the day near or on the waters edge to finish up our Puget Sound segment at the base of the Chukanuts. Stacey's parents live near Bellingham and picked us up at Colony Creek. We are taking three days off to relax and to perhaps regain a little bit of the weight we just lost. I lost 13 pounds and Stacey lost eight pounds along the approximately 270 mile route that we just pilgrimaged. Just another 900 miles to go!
Next on our journey, we will make our way up and next to Mount Baker, through North Cascades National Park and the Pasayton Wilderness following the Canadian Border into Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, and finally into Glacier National Park, Montana.
Our journey has just begun! It has given us the chance to listen to and see the multitudes of birds in our forests and the flowering plants along our foot path. Every step brings us a new perspective in life and a chance to see nature in motion as it changes and evolves with each step we take.
Enjoy the summer Everyone!
Love from Wayfaring bern and Enchanted wart