Hiking Bucket List 2012

Well, here goes my hiking aspirations for the coming year! In no particular order. :-) Please comment if you have suggestions, reviews or corrections.


Meadowdale Beach Park


Roundtrip: 2.5 miles
Difficulty: moderate
Drive time (from North Everett): 30 minutes
Parking Pass required: No


Mercer Slough Nature Park  - More here


Roundtrip: 6 miles of trails
Difficulty: Easy
Drive time (from N. Everett): 40 minutes
Parking Pass required: No


Wallace Falls State Park - WTA link -done


Roundtrip: 5.5 miles
Difficulty: moderate to difficult
Drive time (from N. Everett): 45 minutes
Parking Pass required: Discover Pass


Bridal Veil Falls 


Roundtrip: 5 miles
Difficulty: moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 50 minutes
Parking Pass required:  Recreation Pass required


Iron Goat Trail 


Roundtrip: Variable - up to 10+ miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 20 minutes approx to Iron Goat Trail Interpretive Site Trailhead
Parking Pass required: Recreation Pass required


Big Gulch Trail - Yelp trip report -done


Roundtrip: 2 miles
Difficulty: moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 15 minutes
Parking Pass required: No


Japanese Gulch Trail - Maps - more info -done


Roundtrip: 14 miles of trails total
Difficulty:easy - difficult
Drive time (from N. Everett):15-20 minutes
Parking Pass required: No


Lake Twenty-Two


Roundtrip: 4-5 miles roundtrip
Difficulty: moderate - steep
Drive time (from N. Everett): one hour approx.
Parking Pass required: Recreation Pass required


Ashland Lakes



Roundtrip: 5.5 miles
Difficulty: easy terrain - longer distance though
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 15 minutes
Parking pass required: No


Bob Heirman Wildlife Preserve


Roundtrip: 3 miles
Difficulty: easy
Drive time (from N. Everett): 25 minutes
Parking pass required: No


Rockport State Park 


Roundtrip: 3 miles
Difficulty: Easy - moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 25 minutes
Parking pass required: Discover Pass


Sauk Mountain


Roundtrip: 4.2 miles
Difficulty: moderate - difficult
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 50 minutes
Parking pass required: No


Cougar Mountain - Past hike there


Roundtrip: Varied - 36 miles of trails
Difficulty: easy - difficult
Drive time: (from N. Everett): 55 minutes
Parking pass required: No


Brightwater Center -done


Roundtrip: 3 miles of trails
Difficulty: easy  - moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 30 minutes
Parking pass required: No


Rasar State Park


Roundtrip: 3.7 miles
Difficulty: easy - moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 15 minutes
Parking pass required:  Discover Pass


Paradise Valley Conservation Area


Roundtrip: varies - 13 miles of trails
Difficulty: easy - difficult
Drive time (from N. Everett): 35 minutes
Parking pass required: No


Lime Kiln Trail -done


Roundtrip: 7 miles
Difficulty: moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 35 minutes
Parking Pass required: No


Canyon Lake Trail


Roundtrip: 6 miles 
Difficulty: moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 15 minutes
Parking pass required: No


Pinnacle Lake Trail


Roundtrip: 3.8 miles
Difficulty: Difficult
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 20 minutes
Parking pass required:  Recreation Pass required


Carkeek Park


Roundtrip: 6 miles
Difficulty: easy - moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 35 minutes
Parking Pass required: No


Franklin Falls


Roundtrip: 2 miles
Difficulty: easy
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 25 minutes
Parking Pass required: Recreation Pass required

Twin Falls

Roundtrip: 3 miles
Difficulty: easy - moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour and 10 minutes
Parking Pass required: No


Boulder River


Roundtrip: 2.5 to 8.6 miles
Difficulty: easy to moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 10 minutes
Parking Pass required: No


Talapus Lake Trail


Roundtrip: 4 miles
Difficulty: Difficult - steep
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1hour 20 minutes approx.
Parking pass required: Recreation Pass required


Little Mountain Park - Mt. Vernon - WTA link


Roundtrip: 4 miles of trails in total
Difficulty - moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 45 minutes
Parking pass required: No


Little Cranberry Lake


Roundtrip: miles of trails
Difficulty: easy - moderate
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 5 minutes
Parking pass required: No


Whistle Lake - more info


Roundtrip: miles of trails
Difficulty: easy - difficult
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour 
Parking pass required: No


Heart Lake


Roundtrip: miles of trails
Difficulty: easy-difficult
Drive time (from N. Everett): 1 hour
Parking pass required: no

Mercer Slough Nature Park ~ September 22nd 2011

This is a great area to explore and check out some wildlife.

We've seen this same turtle or tortoise, I'm not sure
which it is, both times that we've been here!

It's not too far to drive and the hike (walk) is not too long. Most of the trail is stroller friendly, although you may need a hand to get over a couple of areas. There are over 7 miles of trails, but there is no need to hike all of them. There are several nice loops that you could take your time exploring.

I would recommend printing and bringing this map along. I forgot it this time and it was much easier navigating with it the time before!

I saw lots of beautiful colors, including some fall color starting to show.

I love the Bellevue city skyline in the background. I think it's really great that there are natural, wild places left in urban areas!

Happy Trails!

Meadowdale Beach Park Trail ~ September 8th 2011

This was the first time that I had been to Meadowdale Beach Park. It was a great short hike .The trip to the beach is all downhill and you get a good cardio burn on the trip back up. It's 2.5 miles round trip. We saw lots of people and dogs on the trail. The parking lot was almost full at 11:15am when we got there. The kids had a great time playing in the creek along the trail, exploring the beach and going under the tunnel when the train went by!

I loved this sign along the trail:

Happy Trails!

Barclay Lake Trail ~ August 18th 2011

This is a nice easy hike, with a rewarding destination! Barclay Lake and views of Baring Mountain greet you after a little over 2 miles of walking and 225 feet of elevation gain. The drive up the forest road is beautiful as well. We encountered a fairly full parking area when we arrived at 11:30am on a Thursday. The trail was in great shape and the weather was mild.

Barclay Lake

Baring Mountain

My kids have some favorite things along this trail. This hollow log for starters. I think we have 3 consecutive years worth of pictures in it! :)

This bridge is a great place for racing sticks or pieces of bark down the creek.

They get their exercise lifting all these heavy rocks along the trail. ;-)

Climbing on all kind of logs and stumps.

Here are my flower and fungus pictures:

Columbine

A shot from the hike back.

I think this is Merchant Peak - peeking out of the clouds.

I just had to take a picture of this perfectly formed capital A.

I snapped a picture of this butterfly while we were waiting to start hiking. It held nice and still for me!

Happy trails.

Bridal Veil Falls Trail ~ August 11th 2011

If you want to get up close and personal with a waterfall, Bridal Veil Falls is the place to be! It's about 5 miles round trip with 800 feet of elevation gain. The trail is not too challenging with the exception of several groupings of stairs on the last portion of the trail. The good thing is that when you reach the stairs, you know you are almost there! We encountered several other groups along our hike on a partly cloudy, not too warm day. The trail was in great shape, with very little mud.

Bridal Veil Falls

This is another very popular trail and I would recommend trying to hike it on a weekday if possible. The views on the way up are beautiful.

View from along the trail

View from the falls

Pictures of fungus and wildflowers:

Shelf fungus

Indian Pipe

Note the moth at the bottom of the flower

and kids having fun...

Crossing a bridge

Hurry and take the picture, this is getting heavy!

Happy trails!

Lake Twenty Two Trail ~ August 4th 2011

I decided after hiking this trail for the second time, that Lake Twenty Two is one of my favorite trails! It was a gorgeous day and not too hot. The parking lot had quite a few cars in it when I arrived about noon, although there was still plenty of spaces left.

Lake Twenty Two from the far side.

Lake Twenty Two as you approach on the trail.

The trail was in good condition. We ran across others along the trail, but it wasn't crowded. This is a beautiful, very popular hike, so I wasn't surprised. I would recommend  trying this on a weekday late in the summer if you are able! The trail is almost 5 1/2 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1350 feet.

The kids trying to play in the snow.

On top of the world.

The kids were thrilled by the snow around the lake and we spent quite a bit of time watching them play in the snow, climb boulders and play in the lake. We walked all the way around the lake. Part of the trail was still covered with snow so we had to walk around in parts and we stayed to the edges of the snow to avoid falling through.

Lots of wildflowers blooming and some fungus as well. :)

Heather

I love this one. Not sure what it is though.

Yellow violets

Blue violets of some sort

False Indian Hellebore

Devil's Club

Columbine

Bleeding Heart

The meadow area around the lake was so pretty and very wet as well!

Some of the standing water around the lake had an oily sheen on top that
broke up when we touched the surface of the water with a stick.

Waterfall from the snow melt.

The trail around the back of the lake.

Happy trails!