Swauk Discovery Trail

We drove to Blewett Pass this morning to hike the Swauk Discovery in fresh snow. We did not need snowshoes as the fresh snow was mostly 2-4". Our route today was about 3.25 miles with 420 ft of overall gain. We didn't see any other people out on the trail today. From the SnoPark we started up the closed forest road.

Most of this trail is in the forest, we headed up the small hill at the far end of the route, where we had open slopes and views.

To the south we could see Mt Rainier

zoom of Mt Rainier

Enchantment and Teanaway Peaks to the east

zoom of Mt Stuart

Nearby Diamond Head to the southeast

We returned down the hill and hiked over to the large loop section of the Swauk Discovery Trail, we saw some nordic ski tracks, that soon disappeared, then followed coyote tracks in the fresh snow

Another view of Diamond Head from our lunch spot

The coyote tracks continued along the trail for a ways, before going off trail, and we continued on unmarked snow for the rest of our hike.

Foulweather Bluff Nature Preserve

After visiting the Point No Point Lighthouse Park, we drove over to the Foulweather Bluff Nature Preserve near the top of Hood Canal on the Kitsap Peninsula. A 0.3 mile trail goes through the forest to the beach. We walked part way along the beach for a total of 1.25 miles. Views in the forest along the trail:

We reached a beautiufl beach, and first walked to the north towards Foulwether Bluff, we did not go all the way to the preserve border

We then turned around and walked part way aong the beach to the south, again, we did not go all the way to the preserve border

Views of a large pond in the preserve

some of the birds we saw

Point No Point Lighthouse Park

We drove up to Hansvill to walk along the beach at Point No Point, we parked in the overflow parking lot and did a total of 3 miles. Views of the Point No Point Lighthouse

Views along the beach

zoom of Mt Peaks across Puget Sound

some of the birds we saw

Kopachuck State Park

This morning I went to Kopachuck State Park in Gig Harbor. This is the first time I have visited since the park has reopened. I parked in the main parking area and walked down to the beach on Carr Inlet, then continued to combine the various short loop trails into one large convoluted loop, overall 2 miles and 250 ft of overall gain.

Views at the beach

views along the loop trails

moss and fungi