Lake Ann in the Teanaways

We drove up to the Esmeralda Trailhead at the end of the North Fork Teanaway Road to hike up to Lake Ann, 8.8 miles with 2,600 ft of overall gain. It was cold when we started 32F. We saw about 15 people on this trail today.

The trail goes up by the Esmeralda Peaks.

Looking back towards the way we came.

Fortune Peak ahead of us

Up on the ridge overlooking Lake Ann beneath Ingalls Peak 

View from the ridge

Descending into the lake basin, with the sun trying to break through the clouds.

So lovely to see there were still some larch trees holding on to their golden needles.

Views as we hiked part way around Lake Ann 

It began snowing during our lunch break, and as we headed up the trail, we saw the frozen part of Lake Ann was now covered with a dusting of snow.

It began to snow a bit heavier as we continued down the trail.

Although the Esmeralda Peaks were shrouded in the clouds, the views were lovely as we returned to the trailhead.

We saw a few wildflowers hanging on despite the freezing temperatures:

 

 

some of the fall color:

 

Sid Knutson Puget Sound to Hood Canal Trail

We drove to Norwegian Point Park in Hansville to hike the Sid Knutson Puget Sound to Hood Canal Trail in the Hansville Greenway & Wildlife Corridor. The round trip with a few side trips came to 8.8 miles with 325 ft of overall gain. We only saw 3 other people on the trail today, all on the way back

View of Puget Sound from Norwegian Point Park just after sunrise

From Norwegian Point Park we walked along the road for about 0.2 miles before joining the trail. The first short section was paved.

The trail turned into a dirt trail, most of it in the woods.

We went by many ripe blackberries along portions of the trail. They were very sweet!

I especially liked the part of the trail though the tall cedar trees.

There were several nice benches along the way, but this old moss covered bench caught my eye.

From the Greenway, we followed two roads for about 0.15 mile to the beach on Hood Canal. Here looking southward towards the Hood Canal Bridge,

and a view more northwards.

We saw this small bird hopping along the edge of the trail.

Platform at the end of the short side trail to Lower Hawk's Pond.

View of the wetlands at Lower Hawk's Pond

We took another short side trail to "a quiet place" which had a view of Upper Hawk's Pond.

Another side trail went around Otter Meadow (which appeared to be all underbrush and trees to me), where there was a short side trail to the south end of Buck Pond.

We then returned to the main trail, through the woods and back to Norwegian Point Park.

some of the wildflowers, fungi and berries seen along the trail this morning: