Saturday, Mar 7 was Wendy’s birthday. She went up last Wed evening to bring her mom home from Mira Vista in Mt Vernon, and get her settled back in. Wendy will be with Mom thru Mar 10 to make sure she can “live on her own” again. SINCE it was her birthday, I decided to do my hiking closer to them so I could take them out to birthday dinner in the evening. So I found 4 possible trails of interest on the Mountain Loop Hwy out of Granite Falls. The one I really wanted to hike was Goat Lake trail, but its a 10 mile RT and I’ll have to try that another time. I needed something a little shorter to be able to get to Moms by 3pm.
It was almost a 2 hr drive to get to the area, and I had intended to leave the house around 630, but the cats were acting weird during the night and wouldn’t let me sleep. I did get enough sleep though and was on the road by 8. Took the van, stopped to gas up in Monroe.
Lake Twenty Two is a short 5 1/2 miles RT and a popular hike, as evidenced by the full parking lot when I got there at 10am. I grabbed one of the last spots in the lot, others will now be forced out on the street. Put on my boots and sweater(it was low 30’s), used the restroom, and hit the trail. It was shady at the start but clear skies and warming temps would make for a really nice hike. The trail is wet and rocky but relatively easy in terms of difficulty, which makes it very family friendly. There were lots of families and kids.
It follows Twenty Two Creek in the forest for the first 1/3 of the trail, then breaks out onto a slightly steeper hillside with a couple switchbacks. The views open up at this point.
Took me only an hour and a quarter to get to the lake, arrived about 1110. This is a serene calm lake, with a trail entirely around it, and of good size that no matter how many people are there, there is room for everyone. Although it did get noisy as some people just can’t keep their enthusiasm to a minimum.
Right as you arrive at the lake there is a bridge and boardwalks heading in either direction around the lake. I crossed the bridge and headed to the left and after a short distance found my way down to a nice flat rock at the waters edge. A good place for my lunch and still in the sun. As you can see, there is still some ice on the lake.
It was still very cool but the sun felt good on my back and dried me out. I enjoyed my spot for about 30 min. As the shade from the mountain took over my sunny spot, I packed up and continued on the trail around the lake. I estimate its about 1 mile circumference around the lake. In the shade it still was freezing and I had to go slow as some of the footing on rocks and boardwalks is slick. I slipped and almost fell once. I think that is why my back is so sore today. I’ll have to walk it off today or go see my chiropractor this week.
As I got back into the sun, I warmed up quickly, it had really been cold in the shade. When I got back to the bridge, more people continued to arrive, and I had been there an hour so was ready to head back down at 1215.
The hike back down was uneventful, just constantly stopping to let more people coming up get by me. Got back to the car at 120 and was on the road at 130. I will estimate the total mileage at 6.5 for the hike.
As I got closer to Granite Falls, I stopped in at Dave Bruels cabin to see if anyone was there but there wasn’t, so I drove on. Took Hwy 9 north thru Arlington and up to the Stanwood-Bryant road which took me under I-5 and on to Camano Island. Stopped at the local market for some beer and got to moms right at 3 as planned. Had a beer and took a shower and ready to drive to dinner at 4.
Dad had asked me last week if I had heard of the Rhodes River Ranch Restaurant, which is in Oso, WA, not far from the big landslide of last year. I had not. Its a horse ranch with a restaurant inside of a large training arena. So I looked it up online and emailed Wendy if she wanted to go there for her bday dinner. She then called Carolyn to see if she knew it, so then Carolyn made reservations for 5 of us at 5pm. It took us exactly 1 hour to get there from moms house, and is only about 10 miles from where Carolyn and Greg live.
I took a couple pics outside after we left but they do not allow photos of the horses inside. But the food was good, with average prices. Carolyn and Greg joined us, and I think aside from a slightly flaky waitress, we all enjoyed being there. There were only two horses and riders that came out into the arena while we were there, but they weren’t very active. Walking and prancing around in circles, nothing very special. It would be interesting to be there during an event, which they show some on their website.
The restaurant was busy but not too crowded. Its kind of a long way to go to get to it, but it was worth it. There just needs to be constant activity in the arena to make it appealing to everyone. We walked out of there by 630 to a nice sunset and thank you to Greg and Carolyn for paying for dinner!
Having driven separately, I drove straight home. I was tired and sore so went to bed right at 9. My sore back woke me up at 3am right after the time “sprung forward” an hour, so I went online and started this post. Went back to bed at 430 and slept until 8, now finished this post at 1030 and its time to get out in the sun and go for another long walk and try to loosen up my back.