White Chuck Bench 03-15-20

Keeping health and social distancing for corona virus reasons in mind, I headed out with the adventure dogs to a trail that we very rarely see anyone on.  Living up to expectations - we were the only ones on it the whole time.  Yay!

This trail does not have a singular 'wow feature' but is just a really beautiful hike through the forest up on on a flat forested bench, sometimes above a river.  You get peek a boo views now and then of the river, and of the peaks surrounding, but it's all about the forest - moss, trees, interesting rocks, and streams.

We had done about 6 miles at Paradise Valley Conservation Area the day before for Cedar's 11th birthday - meeting up with people friend, Katie, and pooch friend, Pixel - so I wanted to keep this day around 5 miles.  You can hike much farther on this trail.  I have never hiked all the way to the end.  Apple Watch stats: 4.82 miles and 423 ft of elevation gain.

There were a lot of blow downs on the trail, and one little landslide/slump.  All were fairly easily negotiated by going over, under or around. With small dogs, we often do a combination as they go under and charge ahead while I try to pass the leashes under to myself while scaling the obstacle they passed underneath.

Today I must have been a bit tired of stepping over logs, as one of the last ones I caught my toe on and took a header - scraped both knees and one shin.  Ouch!  Luckily if you're hiking 'walking it off' isn't a problem - it's what you have to do.

All in all - a gorgeous day that we all enjoyed.  Luna decided she had enough hiking about 1/3 mile from the car though, so I carried her the rest of the way while my 11 yr old adventure buddy trotted right along at the end of his leash like he could walk 50 miles.  Gotta love these two!

This last photo is taken in Darrington of White Horse Mt - it is just so gorgeous!  I fall in love every time I drive through there.

White Chuck Bench 11-26-2019

Today was just a fun little hike out on the White Chuck Bench trail with my two adventure dogs and the neighbor dog,  Guzzler, who hangs out with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I hadn't taken him on a hike before, so I kept the distance to 4 miles.  He probably would have been happier with about 3, but he was a good little sport.

I was expecting clouds, and there were some, but there was also beautiful glorious sunshine lighting up the forest.  I so love this beautiful part of the world I live in.  It's definitely not hard to channel the spirit of Thanksgiving out there - the earthy fresh green smells, the trees so covered with moss they look like green plush toys, the sun lighting up the ferns, the roar of the river...

I had the whole trail to myself, and wasn't super surprised. Not only is it a weekday, but I have only ever ran into one other party on this trail any of the times that I've been on it.  Shhhh!  I don't do trip reports for this trail because I'm scared it will get super popular haha - luckily it doesn't get to a summit or a lake or very close to the river, so unless people just want a nice relatively flat forest hike, they will probably go elsewhere.

I encourage everyone who is reading this to not buy into the commercial gluttony of Black Friday! Think about the things you're thankful for and get out into nature, plan a nice board game with friends or family, or settle in with a cup of cheer and a good book - think about the things that you're truly grateful for.  I'm going to go for a long hike on Friday and hopefully burn off the calories from the day before hehe.

This looks like a fuzzy white caterpillar, but it's ice sprawling out of a  frozen wet stick.

OK - I'll jump off my little soapbox and close by giving you a doggy montage.

White Chuck Bench 05-04-19

AppleWatch Stats:  6.62 miles RT, 612 ft of elevation gain.

I don't think I'll ever do a trip report or post in the hiking Facebook group about this hike.  This is the 2nd Saturday morning I've done this hike and not seen a soul until my way out- and then the soul I saw was the same person with his trio of hound mix type dogs.  Finding a hike that I can successfully imagine that my dogs and I are the only ones in the world for more than 5 minutes at a time is getting increasingly rare! lol

It was a gorgeous morning!  There were a few clouds when I started out, so the peek-a-boo views of the peaks were a little obscured, but it is a forest hike anyway so I didn't go expecting views. Some reviews of this hike state that it goes down to the river, but it does not - at least not in the first 3 1/4 miles.  You do get glimpses of the river, but stay up within the forest.

There were wildflowers here today!  Tons of bleeding hearts, trillium, violets and other little flowers, accompanied by butterflies.  Birds were abundant too, but that is about the only wildlife we ran into.  The dogs alerted to something early on - most likely a coyote from the way Cedar snarled - so I kept them both on a leash.

This hike crosses a few really lovely little creeks.  One has a great bridge over it, but the others you can expect to get your feet a little wet.  One is particular strong and tricky to cross.  I know I carried Cedar and Luna last time, but this time I let them find their way since I had a grip on their leashes/harnesses.  There are a couple places where the current goes pretty rapidly through some holes that a smaller dog might have trouble with, or a person might get their leg into if you aren't paying attention.

Another pleasant surprise today was the abundant variety of fungi!  False morels, some real ones that were long past their prime, and some other odds and ends that were fun to see.

Sometimes this trail wends through open areas full of salmon berry bushes and maples, and other times is in larger forest - there are some nice old gnarly cedars in here.  There are a few places that you climb a little, but very barely - this is a pretty flat hike.  It seems to go on forever - someday I'll find the end.  I try not to exhaust the dogs too much.

On the way out, the clouds had left the snowy peaks shining in the sun.  What a perfect day out!