Hiking North Trail

On May 31st we hiked the North Trail at Saint Edward State Park. The park’s 316 acres are located in Kenmore and Kirkland in the state of Washington. It also is set on the north eastern shore of Lake Washington with 3000 feet of freshwater shoreline.

Smiling at the bottom of the trail even though we knew it was going to be tougher going back uphill to the car. If you go to Saint Edward State Park you will need your Discover Pass or pay for day use.

Here’s another post on Saint Edward State Park with it’s history.

I’m watching World Cup Soccer as I type. World Cup is something I look forward to and the pressure is off since the USA did not qualify. Boohoo. The USA, Mexico and Canada were awarded joint hosting of the 2026 World Cup which was exciting news just before World Cup 2018 began this week. Wonderful news for North American soccer fans.

If you are a father reading my blog this weekend a very Happy Father’s Day to you!

Our World Tuesday

My daughter and I took a hike in a neighboring city this past Saturday. We are fortunate here in the state of Washington to have many beautiful forest hikes and trails to choose from that are in and about our cities. More photos from this hike are in the post before this one on my blog. Redmond Watershed Preserve is where this photo was taken. Redmond is across Lake Washington from Seattle.

I’m linking up to Our World Tuesday. If you’d like to see photos from around the world click over and check out other posts.

Family Divided…

…but not in a bad way! Guys enjoying their time and the gals enjoying their time.

On Saturday the guys were headed to a local shooting range to sight in their rifles for a family hunting trip in October so Katie and I decided to try out a hike close to us, the Redmond Watershed, that you can link to here. Since we didn’t have bear repellent we did a lot of talking and singing along the paths we walked on.

I wouldn’t mind having a bench like this.

There were trails that were open to horses, bicycles and walkers and then some that were only open to walkers.

We marveled that we could have a hike/walk like this in the middle of a city. It was a very pleasant area with level paths and a few elevations that were very easy to navigate. We put in over 10,000 steps and could have gone farther if my lower back wasn’t fussing at me from all the vacuuming and cleaning Dear and I had accomplished the days previous. We enjoyed lunch together and a trip to a Farmer’s Market in Redmond before coming to the hungry aid of our guys with a drive through order from Chick Fil-A.

Saturday was another smokey day here after several clear days. Today Sunday, we are promised rain and more rain and we are happy for this forecast for all the fires that are still raging. After church we did a quick mowing of the lawn to pick up all the pear and apple tree leaves that have fallen. We wanted a clean lawn for the rain. As I look out the window now I’m now seeing the rain fall and for that I am thankful.

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Walking Mosaics

The Sammamish River trail is an easy river walk on a mostly level surface. We had a few obstacles because of recent weather.

Our Juanita Bay walk was clear and easy as was our next walk on the Centennial Trail.

Our walk at St. Edward State Park was more of a hike and one where you needed to watch your step.

On this winter day walk we had to dodge mud from recent rains and you always have to watch out for roots.

Linking up with Maggie at Normandy Life for Mosaic Monday.

Here in the U.S.A. Monday is President’s Day, a federal holiday. Banks and Post Offices and schools are closed. This is a busy week coming up for us with a visit to the Tax Man, the hair dresser and we are facing a winter drive across the Cascade Mountain range. Here’s hoping and praying that our travels will be safe with no swerving or slipping and sliding! Also hoping the IRS is kind to our pocket book. I have full confidence in my hairdresser so no worries with that appointment. What are you facing this week?

There and Back Again…

Friday was a beautiful day in the Seattle Area. I set out for one adventure and ended up having two. First I went to Juanita Bay Park which is a Wetland Preserve. The Robins were the easiest bird to capture with the lens today and then the Herons.

Then I traveled a few miles back toward home and stopped at St. Edwards State Park. I picked the North Trail to hike down. At the trail head at the top it said North Trail .6 miles. I trekked down and then when I got to the bottom I saw this sign…

LOL…it might have been nice to say that at the top before you are totally committed!

I made it back to the car huffing and puffing.

I’ll show more photos later of both of these great destinations…

We’re throwing steaks on the barbie and are going to continue to enjoy the weather. The retaining wall is complete and I’ll show more photos soon.

Have a great weekend everyone. I’m headed to another Sounders soccer game on Saturday…

I Love to go a-wandering…

People are always confusing me – The Happy Wonderer as in “I’m always wondering about things” with the song The Happy Wanderer. I suppose I am a Happy Wanderer too as many of my treks verify so with this post I’m including the words to the song. They make me smile…

Tide was high early today so we opted to head to Sycamore Canyon to do our Scenic Hike. On the way I spotted several fins in the water so we pulled over on PCH (Pacific Coast Hiway) to take a look.

We saw several Dolphin rising up out of the water in groups of two. Very hard to click the camera at the right time and catch them.

I got this one pretty well. We watched the dolphin for a while and then headed to Sycamore Canyon for our hike.

The Happy Wanderer

I love to go a-wandering,
Along the mountain track,
And as I go, I love to sing,
My knapsack on my back.

Chorus:
Val-deri,Val-dera,
Val-deri,
Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Val-deri,Val-dera.
My knapsack on my back.

I love to wander by the stream
That dances in the sun,
So joyously it calls to me,
“Come! Join my happy song!”

I wave my hat to all I meet,
And they wave back to me,
And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
From ev’ry green wood tree.

High overhead, the skylarks wing,
They never rest at home
But just like me, they love to sing,
As o’er the world we roam.

Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die!
Oh, may I always laugh and sing,
Beneath God’s clear blue sky!

Here we are at our destination looking down onto PCH and looking back at the rocks where we stopped and saw the dolphin. That is Point Magu.

It was fun to watch the pelican from above and to zoom in to capture these shots.

On our way down we got some close-ups of the deer. This was the first time we’ve seen deer on our hikes here.

We saw these little critters at the end of our hike.

It really is a treat to get out and experience a bit of the wild side and to get our hearts a pumping. Happy wanderings to y’all!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Sycamore Hike ~ Walking Club Totals

When we got to the Sycamore Canyon Campground Parking at 7:15 the gate was still locked. Hmmm see the sign that says gate open 7am – 10pm? The attendant finally arrived at 7:30 to open the gate…

We stayed on the main trail today and saw a few joggers and several groups of cyclists.

The trees are really interesting in this canyon.

The shrubs were blooming nicely. It was gloomy with a thick high marine layer.

These purple wildflowers deserved a photograph.

Spring is a great time to do this hike because of all the pretty blooms.

We even happened on some California Poppies.

Some of our old and new favorites. The wild fennel is an old favorite of ours. We love using fennel in cooking and the smell when we rub it between our hands is licorice wonderful. The coreopsis is such a interesting plant the way it grows on that stalk. In the Spring it’s all over the hillsides. The one downside to our hike today were the mosquitos! They were out in droves. Anyone know of an Avon distributor so I can order some Skin-so-soft?

This looks like a parrot to me.

At the end of the hike we strolled over to see the high surf.

My walking total steps for the week averaged out to 10,152.

I’m going to keep on walking. How about you?

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

ABC Wednesday ~ H is for…

H is for Hiking

We went on a Hike early Saturday morning. We drove west to Pacific Coast Highway and South to Pt. Mugu State Park. We started at the Sycamore Canyon Campground and made sure to read the warning signs. We spotted Poison Oak at the very beginning of the hike. The only animals we saw were rabbits, lizards and birds.

We decided to take the scenic trail for our hike and we were rewarded with some beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and of the mountains of the Santa Monica coastal range.

We also were happy to spot many wildflowers.

To see the names of some of these blooms you can click here.

We are hoping to do this great hike again soon.

For more ABC Wednesday click on over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Santa Monica Mountains Wildflowers

To be able to call the plants by name
makes them a hundredfold more sweet and intimate.
Naming things is one of the oldest and
simplest of human pastimes.

Henry Van Dyke in Little Rivers

Giant Coreopsis, Sea Dahlia Indian Paintbrush ~ Figwort Family
Sunflower Family

Wild Hyacinth ~ Amaryllis Family Chocolate Lily ~ Lily Family

California Encelia ~ Bush Sunflower, Sunflower Family

Wishbone Bush ~ Four O’Clock Family

Rattlesnake Weed ~ Spurge Family

Here comes Peter Cottontail!

Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin’ down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity,
Easter’s on its way

And In the wonderful words of Swinburne –

Winter’s rains and ruins are over
—————–
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the Spring begins

The paths lead them in pleasant places who walk among the wild flowers.

March 1952 ~ John Kieran

Psalm 104: 24-25 ~

“O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures
innumerable,
living things both small and great.”

For more Wildflowers in Winter click here.

ht: quotes from An Introduction to Wild Flowers by John Kieran

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

WW ~ Pt. Mugu State Park

For more WW click here.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Hiking