Dogs on the PCT

Since this is a blog about hiking with dogs I thought I ought to address this. Just in case some random internet troll comes along and starts yelling at us about how we're torturing our dog. Don't worry little troll Jaxx isn't going. This is a bummer for me, but it's the right choice.

Dogs are allowed on a large portion of the PCT, but in my opinion it is a cruel thing to do and not terribly practical either. Here's why:

• Your dog cannot mentally prepare for what it's going to mean to be hiking every day for 3 months. 
• There are places on the PCT where you go 30 miles without water. Are you really going to carry all the water you need, and enough water for your pet? If I really skimp I could make it two days on 6 L, having to carry double that for my dog as well is a LOT OF EXTRA WEIGHT.
• Same thing for food. Except multiple it by 3 months, and remember you're eating more, your dog would need to also.
• You can mentally push yourself through pain. Blisters. Toenails falling off. Etc. What do you think you'll do if your dog just stops? I've carried Jaxx 1.5 miles when he couldn't hike anymore and it sucked for both of us. 
• For the sections where dogs are not allowed, are you planning on having somebody pick you and your dog up and drop you off on the other side? Logistical nightmare.

Instead, Jaxx will be staying with my Mom for the three months we'll be gone. I'll miss him, but he probably won't miss me too much. My mom has two dogs, that Jaxx loves playing with and she lives on half an acre so he gets to run around and play ball everyday. On the whole a much better option than misery and cracked foot pads.

Trapper Creek Wilderness - Memorial Day Weekend

Trapper Creek Wilderness

Southern WA

Mileage:??

Elevation Gain

Difficulty: Intermediate-Hard

Dog Friendly

With how long it takes to drive down to the Washington-Oregon border from Seattle, we figured we better do another hike down there besides Dog Mountain. Unfortunately because it was so early in the season I didn't have the option of doing some of the hikes I really wanted to do (Indian Haven, The Tieton River, Goat Rocks etc.). After some looking we settled on Trapper Creek Wilderness since it was the most likely to be melted out. 

This overnight was not nearly as successful as Dog Mountain. We camped at an actual campground between Dog Mountain and the Trapper Creek hike, though I am sorry we did that, it was nice to have some creature comforts at the campsite, but I think we could have made more of the day had we camped a mile or so in. The one bonus is that we got to "Ice" our friend David. Now for those who are unfamiliar with this particularly cruel, though very funny prank, you hide a Smirnoff Ice where somebody is bound to run into it. If they see it they have to take a knee and drink it, but here's the rub, if THEY have their own Smirnoff Ice you have to drink both. However, we were relatively certain that David hadn't brought any with him. So we parked one outside of his tent first thing in the morning, cause we're sadists. 1 down 5 more in the six pack to go, and Chris was committed to bringing them with us.

After the Icing we had breakfast, struck camp and headed for the trail head. It's worth noting that the directions to Trapper Creek Wilderness in my hiking book were... insufficient. At best. We ended up having to do some exploring and there was absolutely no cohesion between what was written and the actual numbers on the forest service roads.

The hike itself was very nice. You start off walking through the forest and for most of the hike you're walking alongside Trapper Creek itself. We were trying to get to Observation peak, but either because it was one of the first real backpacking trips of the season and we were all out of shape, or because there were some major discrepancies on the mileage we didn't make it. The other unfortunate part is that it was Memorial Day weekend and part of the reason we didn't push through to the peak had to do with reports that there was no way we were going to find camping up there, apparently there were tons of boy scouts and folks who had taken both of the main campsites. We pushed on hoping we'd find some smaller campsites.

Around this time folks started to get really tired. I kept pushing, but we were taking frequent breaks. We ran into some people and they told us there was still a good 3.5-4 miles to go. About 10 minutes later 2 people in our group ran out of water. We had passed a stream back a little ways, as well as a smaller campsite. So we talked it over, and after taking a long, hard look at some of the group Chris and I made the executive decision to turn back and bed down for the night. 

There's something especially disappointing about not being able to finish a hike, it irritates me like a bug bite on my back that I can't quite reach to scratch. So I was disappointed, but it was the right choice. Knowing when to stop, and seeing the limits in others is SO important. When I was a kid my mom told me if you think you can do one more ski run, then you're already done. It's so true, pushing yourself is a very good thing sometimes, pushing yourself too far means you're more likely to get injured and ruin your whole weekend, or more... 

Just as we got back to the place we were going to camp it started to rain. Hard. All of the established campsites were full. So we ended up flattening out, and in some cases digging out, some space by the creek to pitch our tents. We also strung up some tarps to have a bit more coverage, a couple of us spent a very wet night. Even so, there's not much that beats sitting around a campfire, having some food and spending time with friends.

EXCEPT ICING DAVID. AGAIN AND AGAIN.

The next day we walked out, and headed back to civilization. Even though it hadn't been anywhere near perfect we were all better for having done it. Except David.

East Peak via Rattlesnake Ridge Trail

At only 35 miles from downtown Seattle, Rattlesnake Ledge is one of the most popular hikes in Washington and definitely offers unquestionably the best visual payoff vs difficulty of any hike this close to Seattle.  We decided to do a modified version of the traditional 3.8 mile hike to Rattlesnake Ledge, tacking on an additional 5 miles and 1600 ft of elevation gain to reach East Peak.  The view in the picture above can be reached just above Rattlesnake Ledge and is one of the best views I've seen anywhere in Washington.

Unfortunately, because this hike is very close to Seattle and relatively easy, compared to other hikes in the region, it is also very popular.  The main parking lot was almost full when we arrived at 11 a.m.  We passed throngs of other hikers on the way up to Rattlesnake Ledge.  Amazingly, Allison and Katie have done this hike before and assured me that the crowd was actually much smaller than it had been on their last outing.  Despite the population density, we had a great and quick hike up to the ledge.  We hung out for a few minutes, had some food and then continued our way up hill.  Most of the hikers only go up to the ledge, so we got a nice break from the crowd for the majority of the middle section of the hike.

  About half way up to East Peak, we ran into patches of snow which continued sporadically all the way to the peak.  It was an absolutely a beautiful day during the entire hike, and we had seen pictures of a view of Mt. Rainier which was supposedly taken from East Peak.  Unfortunately we were slightly disappointed with the view, which did not rival the view from the Ledge and did not contain Mt. Rainier, when we finally reached the peak.  We had a nice hiking lunch, chatted a bit with a fellow hiker and headed back down the mountain.  The trip down was fairly uneventful except for a small detour where we ventured out onto a rather precarious ledge a little above Rattlesnake Ledge.

This ledge was surrounded on three sides by a several hundred foot drop.  It has been a long time since I have been near the edge of something like this, and I have to say that I'm a bit more afraid of heights at this point in my life than I remember having been in the past.  Needless to say I was relieved when we made our way off the ledge and back onto the trail.

Overall this was one of the groups favorite hikes, despite the crowds, especially the Rattlesnake Ledge portion of the hike. It has great payoff, the trail is graded well, and it's a very manageable drive.

WTA Link

Mt. Si via Boulder Garden Loop and Old Si Trail

Mt. Si - April 27th, 2014

Mileage: 8.4 miles

Elevation Gain: 3150 feet

Snoqualmie Pass - North Bend Area

Dog Friendly

Difficulty: Intermediate

Pass Required: WA Discover Pass

The pacific Northwest is a paradise for anyone who likes the outdoors.  From many locations in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia you can hop in your car any day of the year and have relatively fast access to an enormousness amount of different landscapes and biodiversity including snow capped mountains, the pacific ocean and sound, deciduous rain-forests and desert. 

One of the few problems you encounter in this region is snow in the mountains...  Snow that stays way into the summer months in many of the regions we like to hike.  I'm sure if you grew up or spent any time in a mountainous region, you probably wouldn't be surprised to run into a trail that was impassable because of snow coverage in July, but having grown up in the South, I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that I have to worry about snow in the summer.

Because of the snow, many of our favorite mountain hikes don't open up until very late in summer, which means we are left with very limited options when we want to do a hike with any elevation gain.  One of these options is Mt. Si which is mostly clear of snow, except at the very top, quite early in the season.  This was the third time I've taken the hiking group up Mt. Si already this season.  Luckily, there are three different ascent options for this particular mountain.  On our latest hike we decided to take the old trail which is no longer maintained and much more difficult and technical than the newer trail.

The old trail ended up being difficult enough that about halfway through the hike, I was starting to wonder if I was going to scare some of the members of the hiking group away from future hikes!  This was the second consecutive hike we did that weekend and most of the members who attended the first hike at Rattlesnake Ledge also came to this hike.  As a result, some of the members who haven't been hiking as much this season, as well as some who have, were completely exhausted by around mile 3.  The weather was also challenging on everyone's moral.  It started raining almost immediately after we arrived at the trail-head and the rain proceeded to turn into snow as the temperature dropped below freezing  at about 3000 ft.

Luckily everything ended up being OK in the end. We took lots of breaks, had some food and slowed the pace down significantly and everyone was able to make it to the summit in one piece.  Everyone was so tired by the time we reached the summit that we made a group decision to take the newer, well maintained trail on the way down.  The only downside of this option was that by taking this trail we would arrive at a parking lot that was 2 miles away from where our vehicles were parked.  We decided I would either walk to get one of the cars or hitchhike.  I ended up walking which increased my total mileage for the day to 10.4.  Lets just say I slept like a baby that night!

Overall it was a very difficult, but still very enjoyable hike.  I was quite pleased with the reactions of everyone I hiked with after we were talking about the hike a few days later.  The group consensus was that we need to train more rather than do easier hikes, a sentiment that mirrored what I was thinking.

Skyline Lake Snowshoe

Skyline Lake Snowshoe - April 14th and again May 13th, 2014
Mileage: 3.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 1400 feet
Central Cascades - Stevens Pass
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Very Difficult

Recommendations: Winter survival training and gear 

Special Requirements: Snowshoes and ice axe

Editor's Note:

Katie and I did this snowshoe for the first time more than a month ago and she was awesome enough to write hikingtrailsandpuppytales' first guest post below. I liked the snowshoe so much that I took Allison and our buddy Nick up to do it again a week ago. The below post contains photos from both trips.

Chris and I decided to do another weekday hike prior to me leaving for vacation. I let him choose where we would be going and planned to meet around 9 AM the following morning. The hike was almost canceled due to an injury that morning, but Chris made a speedy recovery and we were off on our adventure. 

Katie at the top of the world!

We stopped at Sports Authority to rent our snow shoes (only $10!) and poles. We then headed towards Steven's Pass. We parked in the lot across from the ski area and headed toward the trail head. We strapped on the snow shoes almost immediately and quickly set to work. 

Steven's Pass ski resort parking lot (beginning of the hike)

The hike was a lot more steep and strenuous than I had anticipated and the altitude did not help. We had to take several breaks throughout, but we soldiered on. The snowshoes were really cool and allowed us to hike through steep hills covered in deep snow with ease. 

It was easy to keep up with the trail for the first bit, but we were unsure of the trail about halfway up. We decided to just continue uphill following tracks from other hikers. According to the WTA website the snow-covered lake was supposed to be 0.5 mile from the trail head, however we never saw any sign of the lake. We reached an open area with marvelous mountain views and were almost ready to head back down, but spotted another set of tracks heading through the woods to a peak above and decided we still had the energy to continue on. 

Nick at the top

We followed the tracks uphill on what appeared to be a 45 degree angle at times, but our snowshoes dug right in and we made our own set of stairs in the snow. After a short, steep hike we reached our summit. It was magnificent. We had mountain views all around, clear, blue skies, and white snow on the ground. It felt like a huge accomplishment to get to an area of the mountain where not many people had recently traversed and the view was a great reward for all our hard work. The descent was a little more treacherous and led to a lot of sliding down on our butts (some planned, some not), but we made it back to the parking lot without any major issues. 

The second time we did this hike we brought Jaxxon with us.  We purchased a pair of booties for his feet, which ended up being a bit too small to stay on properly.  Luckily we were doing it late enough in the season that it was quite warm (75° F).  So, he was quite happy to be running around in the snow for hours.  If you are hiking with your dogs in snow, especially in lower temperatures, you need to be very careful to take care of your dogs paws.  You should have booties for your dog when doing extended snow hiking.  If you can't get booties or your dog won't allow them to stay on, you should check your dogs paws every 30 minutes to make sure they aren't being rubbed raw or bleeding because of ice crystals in the snow and also check between the pads to make sure ice isn't forming as this can lead to frostbite.

The road where we began the hike from the summit

Deception Pass State Park Redux

Location: Whidbey and Fidalgo Island
Difficulty: Easy to Easy-Medium (couple of short steep sections)
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Mileage: Variable
Passes: Discovery Pass for Day Use,
Season: Year round, but I recommend off-season

So we went back out to Whidbey Island and this time we brought friends. We had such a nice time camping out there last year and were so ready to have our first camping trip of the season it seemed like a great fit. The weather was not as cooperative this year, but we still had fun. I won't go over all the stuff we did, since we did a pretty similar set of hikes. In fact: here's a link to our original post. So read that if you want.

Mostly what I'm going to talk about are the differences, and some things unique to this trip.

1st: big difference Jaxx did not run away in the middle of the night. So thank goodness for that. He did fake that he was completely paralyzed when I put his coat on in the morning and proceeded to walk in backwards circles, which I really ought to take a video of cause it's HILARIOUS. He had everybody in camp just cracking up.

Instead of the Lower Loop campground (near Cranberry Lake), we camped at Bowman Bay. UPGRADE. This campground is way awesome. The views are gorgeous. You're a quick walk out to the point, and an even quicker walk to Bowman Beach. There are great views of Bowman Bay, whereas the Lower Loop your best chance for a view is looking into the forest and you're much more likely to have a view of somebody else's camp. The map is a little misleading cause it makes it look like the sites themselves are much more spaced out, they're not, don't believe it. The campground is much more open as well, which allows for views but don't expect a ton of privacy.

As I mentioned earlier, the weather was not entirely cooperative. It sprinkled off and on during the day and was pretty wet and rainy in the evening. Because the weather was kind of nasty we sort of invaded this little picnic shelter place. Technically this place is by reservation only, but since it's the off-season and we were pretty quiet nobody told us to leave, and we were there from maybe 4-5pm till about 10:30. We made pie-iron pizzas and s'mores, the pie-irons were awesome! And 3 people out of our group (who weren't raised in America and are consequently not huge fatties) had never had s'mores so that was pretty exciting. There are two keys to good s'mores: HoneyMaid graham crackers, off brand is not acceptable, they don't taste right. Good chocolate, my personal favorite is to get the Ghirardelli dark chocolate and caramel dudes cause that's just a delicious combination. Nick played guitar and we sang some songs and told ghost stories.

Around 9:45 a very nice gentleman came down to let us know we were not supposed to be there, but since there was no demand and we hadn't been making a ruckus he just asked that we be out and have the place straightened up by 11 pm.

The only not so good thing that happened on the trip was that Jaxx got kind of sick at the very end of the the hike on Sunday. Hey kept on throwing up, I carried him for a bit, but I ended up sitting with him while the others walked the last mile or so to get the car.

Overall it was a very good weekend. I love doing stuff like this and I especially enjoy it when it's combined with hanging out with awesome people. The whole weekend was perfectly capped off by getting some really god-damned delicious burger. On the way north on Hwy 2 there's this little shack with a sign advertising oysters and other sea food. It's right across a small road from a fire station and holy god is it delicious. I got a crab burger and Chris got the Big Kahuna Burger (beef patty, fried spam, pineapple and an onion ring). Everything was awesome. I'm a little bummed I didn't get the chance to try their milkshakes. Next time!

St. Edward State Park

St. Edward State Park - April 9th, 2014

Multiple Trails, Combined Mileage: 3.5 miles

Elevation Gain: 400 feet

Kirkland, WA

Dog Friendly

Difficulty: Easy

Pass Required: WA Discover Pass

Saint Edward Seminary

Saint Edward State Park is a 316-acre park on the Northeast bank of Lake Washington.  It stratles the the cities of Kenmore and Kirkland and is only a 20 minute drive from Seattle making it the closest state park to the city.  There are around 10 different trails that can be connected with a resulting total distance of around 6 miles.  Katie, Koko, Catherine and I decided to do a combination of trails that make a circle around the perimeter of the park for a total of 3.5 miles.  It was a very easy training hike compared to the one Katie and I have been doing most recently.

Saint Edward is a really beautiful park full of lush ferns, banking the multiple streams that run through the park, a pretty sizable canopy and pretty beach on Lake Washington.  The perimeter trail also has a sizable amount of elevation loss and gain which is somewhat unexpected just because of the short length of the trail.  The park also encloses Bastyr University, which is a fully functional 4 year university.  There is also some really cool architecture.  The above picture is of the coolest building in the park, Saint Edward Seminary, which was recently added to the national historic register.  

Overall the hike was uneventful and short, but it was still good to get out, get some exercise, hang with friends and spend some time in nature.

Mt. Si

Mt. Si - March 30th, 2014

Mileage: 8 miles

Elevation Gain: 3150 feet

Snoqualmie Pass - North Bend Area

Dog Friendly

Difficulty: Intermediate
Pass Required: WA Discover Pass

The WTA entry from Mt. Si reads as follows, "Mount Si should be experienced at least once by every hiker. In fact, a significant number of Puget Sound residents do just one hike per year, and these annual hikers almost invariably turn to Mount Si every time."  The author is definitely correct in this statement, and there is a really good reason why this is the case.  Well the hike up to the summit of Mt. Si isn't for the faint of heart or the out of shape, the payoff is an absolutely unforgettable view which includes the Upper Snoqualmie Valley, the Puget Sound basin, Downtown Seattle and Bellevue.  

I hosted the event through our online hiking group called Allison Pushes People Up Mountains (APPUM).  We had a strong turnout with 7 of the 30 members showing up for the hike.  We were initially planning to summit Mt. Si via Teneriffe Road Trail which is the longer/less steep cousin of Mt. Si Trail. It apparently has a much better view combined with much fewer people.  Well the later ended up being true, the much fewer people part was not true.  We got to the Teneriffe Road parking lot only to find it completely full.  

The parking lots for both Teneriffe and Mt. Si's trail have no overflow parking and tow away zones extend for several miles each way on the road by their parking lots.  So, we decided to turn around and drive to the Mt. Si trailhead and summit the mountain via this route.  I had promised the party that we would be summiting via Teneriffe because it was an easy hike and I didn't want to scare people off from attending future hikes because of the difficulty of Mt. Si trail.  So, several of my hikers were a bit apprehensive when they learned that we were in fact going to do Mt. Si trail afterall.

The really difficult part of the trail is the first half mile.  The trail immediately starts uphill and continues relentlessly until you reach the top of the mountain.  The reason the first half mile is hard is because you've just gotten out of the car after sitting for about an hour to commute out to the hike and your cold muscles are not exactly thrilled to go from still to a good percentage of their maximum capacity.  So, we slowly trudged through the first half mile with many rest breaks.  We ended up losing Amber around the first half mile to do hip trouble.  She had to have a hip replacement a couple of years ago, and going uphill isn't always doable.  After we got warmed up, our pace quickened and we began taking fewer breaks.  We ended up making it up to the summit in 3.5 hrs, which is a pretty good clip for that sort of elevation gain, especially considering our slow start.

Three of the seven hikers that were with us for this hike are originally from countries other than the United States.  Daniel and his brother Jaime are originally from Mexico and live and work in the US and the third, Koko, is a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands.  The three of them go on many of our outdoor adventures and it is really fun to be able to share the amazing natural beauty of our country with people from other countries, and Mt. Si did not let us down.  It was a bit overcast all day, but we were able to see about half of the view for about a minute or two when we arrived at the summit and before it was completely obscured by clouds.  The last quarter mile of the hike was covered in snow.  We were able to navigate it with only a few minor slips, but I could have really used a set of micro spikes (sets of small spikes which are worn over normal tennis shoes or boots), which I'll be purchasing next season.  After getting to the summit, we took some more pictures, had a bite to eat and then quickly got uncomfortably cold because of the wind chill and headed back down the mountain.  

Katie and David decided it would be a good idea to feed some of the wildlife.  I'm completely against this as it leads to a slew of problems, which I won't go on a tirade about that here.  Having said that, it was still cool to see birds fly up and sit in their hands while they ate the trail mix they were offering.

The hike back down the mountain took another two hours.  Our buddy Nick serenaded us with his ukulele while we descended the mountain.  We all had rubbery legs by the end of the hike.  Overall, it was a great day spent with great friends.  

Tiger Mountain: West Tiger #3

West Tiger 3 - March 23rd, 2014
Mileage: 5 miles
Elevation Gain: 2100 feet
Issaquah Alps: I-90 Corridor
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Intermediate

As we began to hike Tiger Mountain we had many questions, most of which we initially kept to ourselves. It's hard to talk and breathe heavily at the same time... However after about 3/4 of a mile our muscles were warmed up and we could speak again. Why the hell is it called Tiger Mountain? There are no tigers, to my knowledge Tiger is not a Native American word, nor is it a popular surname. So why? The other two popular hiking areas in the Issaquah Alps (Soaring Eagle and Cougar Mountain) both have appropriate Pacific Northwest Names? So who fell down on the job with Tiger Mountain? What's more did they just suffer from the most stupendous lack of creativity ever? Not only did they give it some arbitrary animal name, but they actually named THREE mountains that! This is how I imagine the dialogue:

Nameless Bureaucrat #1: Hmmmm how about an animal?
Nameless Bureaucrat #2: Well you've already used Eagle, Cougar, Rattlesnake is just up the way a little bit, what animal do you propose?
Nameless Bureaucrat #1: Well my daughter likes tigers....
Nameless Bureaucrat #2: But sir there's actually 3 mountains!!
Nameless Bureaucrat #1: Damn it man! I'm an ideas guy! I'm not practical sort it out yourself!!
Door slams
Nameless Bureaucrat #2: Fuck it. I'll just number them.

And that is the completely realistic, definitely NOT completely fabricated story of the naming of Tiger Mountain!

Aside from the inane naming (say that 3 times fast!) we really enjoyed this hike. We had some later engagements so we did this hike pretty early in the day, which was nice for a couple of reasons. 1) Fewer people, by all accounts West Tiger 3 is pretty crowded, so I'm guessing (especially later in the season) do this hike early. 2) There is something awesome about summitting a mountain early (even if it's just a small one) you feel very accomplished and you've still got the rest of the day to gorge on nasty food! Hey you earned it!

Overall the trail itself is in very good condition. The grade isn't terribly steep, but it does pretty much start out going up with no real warm up (the virtues of which I've expounded on before). Maybe if you park at the lower parking lot that would help and then you could avoid the horrendous pot-holes on the road up to the upper parking area.

My biggest problem with West Tiger #3 is the lack of payoff. You do a fair amount of work 2100 ft of elevation gain in a little over two miles is no slouch. Despite what WTA says though, the soaring views of Issaquah, Lake Sammamish and paragliders off of Poo Poo Point just really aren't visible through the tree tops. You get glimpses and you keep thinking it'll open up, but it doesn't. For better views in the area I would say Mt. Si, Poo Poo Point, Rattlesnake ledge (if you can bear the crowds), are all better options.


Overall I think this is a pretty good hike as long as you are enjoying the hike itself and not looking for a reward. The grade is decent, the trail in nice condition and the interior pretty. But if you want views go elsewhere.

Thanks to our friend Daniel for the pictures. Our memory card got fried!

Poo Poo Point via Chirico Trail

Poo Poo Point via Chirico Trail - March 20th, 2014

Mileage: 3.6

Elevation: +1700 ft

Issaquah Alps

Dog Friendly

Difficulty: Medium

It amuses me to no end the forest service allowed a five year old to name this trail. Probably the best part of the fact that is is call Poo Poo Point is the complete lack of explanation about the origin of the name.  Don't let the name fool you, though. Regardless of the childish name, there is nothing childish about gaining 1700 feet of elevation gain in just under 1.8 miles.  Imagine walking up normal height stairs now multiple this by 3,600 and enjoy. While this may sound pretty daunting, the trail builders did an amazing job grading the switch backs on the trail.  They seem to alternate between one steep switch back and one gentle switch back, which gives your legs a much needed rest without having to stop completely.  

At about 1.6 miles into the first part of the hike you emerge from the woods into a perfectly open meadow with a beautiful 180 degree view of the valley below.  We were lucky enough to arrive here just before sunset on a clear day and could see for many miles.  The trail continues another .2 miles to end at Poo Poo Point itself.  This also has a really nice 180 degree view facing the opposite direction.  This point is a popular launch location for para gliders and we were lucky enough to summit just as one was taking off.  

Our friend Nick brought along a musical instrument and picked around on it while the sunset.  After taking a much earned break we strapped on headlamps and started the descent which took about half the time as the ascent had.  We arrived at the car just before it was completely dark.  

I would recommend Poo Poo Point to anyone who is in moderate physical shape and would like a challenging, yet doable training hike to increase their uphill endurance.  It also has a pretty great payoff for the amount of work.  We will be doing this hike as a training hike, once a week throughout the summer 2014 season.

WTA Link

Evans Creek Preserve

Evans Creek Preserve - March 9th, 2014

Mileage: Various
Elevation Gain: Negligible
Off Hwy 202 in Redmond
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Very Easy

After we finished Cedar Butte a few of us still wanted to be hiking. So we went to Evans Creek to walk around. This is a very pretty little park. We did a circuit of the outside, which was about 1.5-2 miles. The trails were in very good condition and they have some very nice little boardwalks and bridges through the wetlands. There's apparently a pretty big bridge that spans the majority of the wetlands, but somehow we missed the turn to go see it and were pretty ready to go home afterward so we didn't go back.

This is definitely not a spend all day walking around type park (like Discovery, Tiger Mountain, Soaring Eagle or Cougar Mountain would all be better choices for something like that). It definitely would be a great place to go for a picnic and a stroll. My favorite part of this park is that there are little gnome statues all over the place. We found one that had a note attached to it that read something like this:

Hello! You've found [insert cute gnome-name] of Evans Creek. You'll now receive 999 wishes! But you have to put me in a new secret hiding place. 

So, that was pretty adorable, and we did in fact re-hide him. One of the group took a picture, but I don't have copies. Just imagine a gnome. Good. Is he really cute and about 3 inches high? Perfect.

The rest of the hike was pretty uneventful. There were some wetlands, a really pretty meadow and nice mossy tree areas (my favorite). The trails themselves are pretty flat and very well maintained. We saw a couple pushing a stroller along them, and it wasn't one of those crazy off-road strollers, so that gives you an idea about how nice they were.