After that first gorgeous day and my walk through O.O. Denny Park, I have been feeling antsy about the approaching summer and all that comes with it. Most of which means roads opening, snow melting and trails becoming accessible to those of us that aren’t as thrilled to do activities in the snow.
Mountain Loop Highway is a scenic highway that runs from Granite Falls to Darrington, up through the Cascades. Because of its location, elevation, and the fact that a portion of the road is unpaved, this road closes at Deer Creek on the Granite Falls side in the winter and is limited in travel until the summer. This weekend the highway opened up to Barlow Pass. You cant drive the whole road yet, but we’re close!
With this information and the fact that I have been itching to get out and go, Shaun (that’s my husband) and I decided to get the kiddos into the car and take a lovely weekend drive up to Barlow Pass. The sun was shining, the day was warm and we wanted to check things out. More like, I wanted to see just how close we were to the trails melting out and my official start to the season.
The drive was spectacular and we stopped at the Big Four Ices Caves Picnic area for a break and to check the trail out. We walked the boardwalks over to the main trail but soon discovered that, less than a 1/4 mile in, the trail was still packed with snow. I would have said forget it, lets try but unfortunately we forgot the girls hiking shoes. I didn’t want the first official hike of the season to be one of whining and complaint.
We enjoyed what we could reach. The skunk cabbage was starting to flower and bloom. And yes, there is a reason they call it skunk cabbage! Despite it’s beautiful blooms it stunk like a… skunk. Gee, I wonder how it got its name?! Along with the skunk cabbage, other small plants were starting to flower. You could hear meadowlarks chirping in the distance and around the small beaver ponds you could see the swallows flying. It was a perfect late Spring day!
And now the need to hike has become almost all consuming. I need to hike! Hopefully we will be able to do some on our trip to Yellowstone, which we leave for in less than a week!
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Pavement to Trail 