Iron Goat Trail 05-28-19

AppleWatch Stats:  6.02 miles RT (went West along the lower grade, up to the higher grade and then down the switchbacks), 723 ft of elevation gain.

Last year I discovered that this ointment called "Green Goo" that I'd gotten from an outdoor company was a wonder at soothing wasp stings.  It needs reapplied every time the hurt comes back, but reduced pain and swelling.  Similarly, the green trails of the Pacific Northwest are the green goo that soothes when the heart and soul are stung by various things in life.  Again it needs reapplied often, but I am not going to complain about that!

This was a gorgeous sunny day to take a hike, and I headed up to Iron Goat with Cedar and Luna.  I felt kind of bad because Adventure Dog is getting older and he was a bit tired from the hike the day before and Luna just hates going in the car.  But my heart was in need of some green goo and it works better when my pups are along.  I picked this trail because of the length still being a decent length, but easy as far as elevation gain so I wouldn't push Cedar too hard.

The wildflowers were stupendous!  Wild strawberry, flowering currant, thimbleberry flowers, a lady slipper orchid, coral root, bleeding heart, Indian paintbrush, columbine, tall bluebells, and numerous other flowers I am not sure the name of.

Of course one of the biggest draws with this trail is the railroad history.  This trail follows the lower and upper grades of an old railroad line, in fact the site of one of this country's biggest railway disasters.  There are many tunnels in varying degree of erosion and vast stretches of concrete wall that once supported snowsheds, the hope in vain was to protect the railroad.  I love these great walls, splashed with various colors of mineral, lichen and moss.  Numerous little waterfalls cascade over them and one even has a little stream flowing down a channel at the bottom.

From the upper grade there are some decent views of the surrounding peaks as well, and if you're lucky you might see a train across the valley on the active rail line.  I heard a couple going through (sadly you'll also hear Hwy 2 almost the whole time), but didn't catch one of the trains during a time I passed by an overlook.

Happy adventuring!

Forgot my cap and made do with a handkerchief, which I had never done before, so my hair ended up knotted in it lol

Mount Zion 05-26-19

AppleWatch Stats:  5.38 miles RT, 1519 ft of elevation gain.

Luckily I had thrown my hiking gear from yesterday's sodden hike into my aunt's dryer so I was prepared for a hike today.  Cedar and Luna needed a leg stretcher too, so we went to Mount Zion.  Last time I did this one, it was just me and Cedar and it was very foggy so we had no view.  Today the sun had broken through and it looked like a great day to be on top of a hill.

The way up was lovely (other than the sound of gunshots from someone target practicing somewhere out on the forest service roads - we heard this the whole time, and I remember hearing it the whole time we last hiked here as well.  Bummer!)  We saw only a couple opening rhododendrons toward the start of the hike, but as we hiked up I saw quite a few of the beautiful lady slipper orchids, some coral root or indian ghost pipe just starting to show out of the ground, and flowering currants.

I think this is deer foot vanilla leaf.

The usual pink lady slipper plus a couple very pale colored ones.

It's a steady climb, but a nice grade up through the forest to the top where we were rewarded with a lovely peek-a-boo view of the puget sound.

We followed the ridge trail quite a ways to the right, passing a natural spring, and came out on a rock face escarpment with a gorgeous view of the surrounding peaks.

I think the only reason Luna looked at the view is because Cedar just did and she copies him haha

The dogs and I were happy to get out and enjoy the sunny day, and everyone else out there looked really happy too.
Here is a shot of some of the wild rhododendron along the forest service road on our way down.