5/14/2010 Burlington Dike Trail

Back to some normalcy today; a very uneventful walk. My friend Christie and I walked the Burlington Dike Trail today, 2.3 miles. We drove to where we normally park, only to find the gate locked, so we went around to the other end of the trail and started there. Have no idea why the gate was locked and all the signs say No Trespassing--the trail is listed on the Skagit County trail map. Very nice day out again; it's been so nice this week that it's going to be hard when it inevitably begins raining again. Seems like everyone's mood is just a bit better when the sun shines. Makes me wonder if people in places like Arizona and Hawaii are always in good moods.  In the past seven days I have walked over 13 miles; sometime soon when I have nothing else to do, I'll have to go through my blog to find out how far I have walked total to date. Somewhere inside me is a statistician waiting to get out, I guess.  Tomorrow my walk will be the Bayview Women's Run/Walk. First time I can actually participate, and I'm sure it will be fun. Hope I don't come in last, is all. Here's my data for today: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/718244

5/13/2010 Chased by Geese

After traipsing around the county the past few days and finding trouble yesterday, Christie and I headed to the Port trails today in the interest of time. I was fitting my walk in between two appointments, so we only had an hour.  We did the upper trail, 2.26 miles. The trees have all grown in and shaded the woods even more, forming a very nice canopy to walk through. It was very nice out today--didn't even need a jacket, walked in my short sleeved shirt. I have been waiting for weather like this for a long time now, it seems. The walk was very uneventful until we got nearly back to the car and passed the duck pond where two very large geese reside. My friend Christie thought it would be nice to wave to them, and they headed right for us. I thought it would be fun to get a picture of them, but the REALLY didn't like that idea, and started chasing us. I snapped my picture, took a moment to see how it turned out, looked up, and here they came--right for me. Yikes! I actually had to take off running, because they were closing in. I looked for an avenue of escape, but could find nothing but a deep ditch that I really didn't want to fall in to, so I just kept going, hoping they would stop---they eventually did! Whew! Geese can be pretty mean. Meaner than the security guy at the refinery yesterday, that's for sure.  I'll be sure and stay out of the geese's way next time I come by here. Might be on their watch list too!  Here's our route today, 2.26 miles.  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/717038

5/12/2010 Terriorists? Am I on the Watch List now?

Today was quite an adventure. My friend Christie and I headed to the refineries today to walk around March Point a bit. We parked the car and headed out, and shortly were stopped by a security person who questioned us about our car--it seems we were parked within 300 feet of the trestle that goes out to the ships that come in, and that's forbidden now that we are in a terrorist age in our country. Before 9/11 people could come out to the March Point area and camp all along the road next to the beaches--not any more--camping is forbidden, as is parking too close to anything that has to do with the refinery. We apologized and went on with our walk. When we got back near the car, there was a heron in the water, so we stopped to take pictures, and then headed under the trestle towards where the company campground is. We could see an eagle sitting in a tree and knew there was a nest somewhere. On the way, I snapped a couple of pictures of the trestle; I thought it had a lot of interesting lines in it. The next thing we knew, back came security. He wanted to know what kind of bird we were taking pictures of, told us we couldn't take any pictures of any refinery structures, and told us to delete the pictures on our cameras. Ha! Seriously? Do I look like a terrorist? Am I going to publish my pictures? Not any that have to do with refinery structures--so you won't see the trestle shots--but the birds are okay. It certainly made us aware that we had been filmed the whole time we were on our walk. Glad I didn't take a picture of one of the gigantic tanks like I was going to. Made for an interesting walk though. I'm pretty sure that if I had given him my name, I'd now be on some sort of watch list. Let's see what happens when I have to fly to Wisconsin later this month.

Other than the law breaking we did, it was a pretty amazing day. Christie commented on how lucky we are that we live in a place where one day we are walking along a river in the mountains and the next day along the shore of the ocean. Today we saw some Black Oystercatchers in the bay. Their beaks are bright orange and very long--they use them to dig up mussels and other clams. They are really not common in the area, so it was pretty neat to see them.

On the way home we drove through an area where the herons are nesting. At one point we saw at least 15 herons flying and/or sitting in the trees. They just kept flying from the bay to the trees and back to the bay again. It was quite a sight.  All in all, quite an adventurous day!  Here's our route of 2.57 miles: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/716060

5/11/2010 Cascade Trail--Lyman

After my mom and Tony left today, my friend Christie and I headed out for a walk. We hadn't walked together for quite some time now.  We decided to drive up Highway 20 to catch part of the Cascade Trail that goes from Sedro Woolley to Concrete. We parked in Lyman across from the post office, and headed west on the trail there. It was gorgeous. The trail here runs right along the Skagit River, and in a couple of places there are nice little sandy beaches and waterways all shaded with trees. Parts of it are also like the port trails, just long areas covered in a canopy of deciduous trees. But to look out and see the mountains so close was pretty cool.  We spotted this Common Merganser pair heading down the river in one area. They seemed to not be too worried that we were near them. We also saw a red-breasted sapsucker today, but I couldn't get a picture before it flew away. It was pretty cool to see, though, with its bright red head and spotted body.  Days like today make me remember how lucky I am to be living in such a beautiful area. We walked about 2.6 miles today.  Here's our route:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/714963

5/10/2010 Worn Out

I think I wore out my Mom and Tony. We ran a lot of errands today, and by the time we got back home, it was already close to 5:30 PM, so I left them at home and headed to the Burlington Dike Trail for a walk and a little alone time. Today wasn't as nice as the weekend had been as far as weather. It was a little cool and overcast, but it was nice to get out and walk.  There was lots of action on the playfields by the dike--baseball mostly. Seeing the parents head to the games carrying their lawn chairs made me think of all the years we either watched games or coached games. Kind of glad I'm not having to do that right now. It will be the Grantie kids that we watch next, but I think I have a few years before that happens. 

 I noticed today on the trail that the water on the Skagit seemed to be a bit higher than it has been; not too much of a sand bar left on the river. That's a good thing, I think. I'll have to pay more attention next winter to see if it's something that happens every year.

I only walked for just over 30 minutes, because I needed to get back home to fix dinner, so not too long of a walk today. But it was nice!  Here's my route: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/714105

5/9/2010 Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day, so between shopping for some plants for my yard and heading to dinner, I drove us all out to Padilla Bay for our walk today. I thought Tony and Mom would enjoy it as it is so pretty there. Mom stuck with us for 3/8 of a mile and then headed back to the car (3/4 of a mile all together) while Tony and I kept going. We walked out past the 1 mile marker and then returned. It was a beautiful day, with just a lightweight jacket needed, but a bit windy. The tide was out, but I was disappointed that we didn't see more wildlife today. Maybe the tide was too far out, or maybe it was because there were so many of us enjoying the trail. Again today I didn't worry about the mileage or the time we spent; it was all about being able to take a walk with my mom and Tony. It all made for a great Mother's Day! data from today's walk: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/712701

5/8/2010 A Walk With My Mom

My mom and step-dad came to visit me this Mother's Day weekend, so quickly upon their arrival, I talked them into going for a walk with me. We headed to the Port of Skagit trails because I knew there were benches for my mom (who will be 81 next month) and we could choose a shorter route. We did 1.45 miles all together. Mom did the first loop with us and then waited at the car while Tony and I did the lower loop around the eagle's nest area. It was great going for a walk with the two of them. Mom has had both knees and both hips replaced, but does pretty good for short walks. The best was having her identify all the trees along the way. One I was curious about has pretty white blooms. Turns out it is a hawthorn, and there are plenty of them in bloom around the port trails. The other thing we saw, of course, were the salmonberries, and Tony had to stop and collect a few along the way. We all reminisced about picking salmonberries when we were growing up. We also saw several red-winged blackbirds, which Mom enjoyed watching. It was a great day for a walk; I really didn't care about the distance or the time today, just enjoyed walking with my mom and Tony.  Here's our route: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/711256