I had a few free hours on Saturday and decided to put in a few miles at Lord Hill Park, which is a nice option close to downtown Snohomish. From the parking lot, I took the Beaver Pond Trail to the Temple Pond Loop, then up the Pipeline Trail to the Pipeline Cutoff. I took the short spur off the Pipeline Cutoff Trail to the viewpoint (630' of elevation gain), one of two marked viewpoints in the park. I then returned to the parking area via the Main Trail. The trails are all in great shape considering the recent rainfall. There are ample areas of mud and water but nothing a good pair of boots can't get through. There were no blowdowns or other major obstacles anywhere on the trails I saw. The Beaver Pond Trail is in need of some repair where it nears the pond, but it is still passable by stepping over a narrow creek to connect with the Pipeline Trail. There were wildflowers blooming and ripe berries to be seen throughout the park.

Lord Hill Park is a close-in gem! The trail was a bit muddy in spots but that wasn't a serious problem. We had lunch on the picnic table at the overlook and could catch a glimpse of Mt. Baker through the trees. Be sure to take the loop trail that descends from the overlook, it has a completely different character from the rest of the park and it feels like you've entered a different world. Salmon berries are just starting to ripen, and wildflowers abounded.

This was my first trip to Lord Hill and I was impressed. The trails were in fine shape but a little muddy in spots. Once you got off the main trails (old roads) it was possible to really feel like you were in the backcountry rather than a park. Signage could really use some improving but we had a great time wandering for a couple of hours even if we weren't sure where we were they whole time.

For our first hike of our official hiking season, we headed to a new spot called Lord Hill Regional Park. The park is a vast 1,300 acres, of which we only experienced a small portion of it, nestled between Snohomish and Monroe. We hiked out to a vista point along the West View Trail where we enjoyed a late morning lunch and a glimpse of the Snohomish Valley. Since we did our usual early morning start we saw very few people on our hike out, during lunch, and most the way back. The perk with an early morning is that the kids rarely ever fight their afternoon naps. Photos are on our website at http://www.brettandlaura.com/2012/04/14/hiking-season-has-arrived-first-stop-lord-hill-regional-park/

We headed up the main and pipeline trails to the scenic 630' viewpoint in the middle of the park. Then we took the Pipeline Cutoff to the Main Trail down to the turn off for the west viewpoint/summit elev. 656". There isn't much of a view at the west view point but it was a nice green walk. The trails are in good shape with a few muddy spots. Most of the trails are signed but not all. There are several map signs along the way but we were happy to have a printed one with us.