Lyle Cherry Orchard Trail

One of my long ago "lessons learned" was to avoid driving north on I-5 through Olympia/Tacoma on the end of a weekend - so I could only imagine Memorial Day traffic was to be avoided at ALL costs.

For this reason, after Janet and I finished our Soda Lake trip, her husband met us in Carson to drive her back to Portland so I could continue east along the Gorge to make the long loop back via Hwy 97 to Yakima and across to I-90 and eventually up to my home in Skagit Valley. I was hoping to hit the famous Dog Mountain to see the balsamroot, but the permit God's had not favored me.

I found one patch of balsamroot ha ha

Janet recommended a lesser-known trail that is also right off of Hwy 14, and even though I had to double back because Google was confused, I couldn't resist giving it a go. I was a little surprised by the very large (and mostly full) lot, being as I thought this was more of a "hidden gem." It doesn't look like much of anything from the road, that is for sure. 

I also was not expecting another unrelenting incline (a little over a thousand feet--most of it all at once) and after the near three thousand gain at Soda Peaks Lake (also all at once) I was pretty sure I was going to wimp out quickly. But the sun felt so nice, and the views kept pulling me upward. 

Up and up

This trail boasts 6.5 miles of wandering can be done - though I am sure I didn't even do half of that. It's a shame I didn't have the time or energy to finish, since I had got through most of the hard part. But even with my knees screaming at me on the way down, I was still glad I squeezed in what I could.

The drive home was LONG, but peaceful and beautiful; plus, it was lacking ANY stop and go like I-5 was sure to have. (Though I did have to stop in Ellensburg for about an hour to let the back up on I-90 calm down.) Descending into Mount Vernon at last and exhausted from a full day of driving, it was fun to remind myself that I had walked that entire distance (and then some!) on the PCT. With my knees getting more and more grumpy, I'm not sure how many more long distance hikes I have in me. But that's okay...I'll just keep doing what I can, while I can. Happy "bonus hike" trails!