Larrabee State Park - Rock Trail, Larrabee State Park - North Lost Lake Trail — Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020

Hiked this one by my lonesome today. This is a loop that I do often starting on Chuckanut Drive at the Lost Lake parking lot and hiking via the gated road and then Chinscraper to the top of North Chuckanut, then picking up the Rock Trail to Lost Lake for lunch and then on to the top of South Chuckanut for views before closing the loop via Burnout. It was a lovely day for the most part and I didn't see a soul for a couple of hours. I'd planned to take a break at the view east of Baker from South Chuckanut, but encountered two women with dogs. The Shelties were fine and didn't find me interesting. They were lovely in fact. The Pit Bull was another matter. All dogs were on leashes which I appreciated. However, the Pit Bull was in the stance that I consider aggressive and growling deeply. I needed to back into sticker bushes to feel a safe distance and still didn't feel safe enough to pass it. I've had some less than positive experiences with pit bulls which might have added to my distress. In either case, since I didn't feel safe passing the dog, I said in probably not my nicest tone of voice, "get your dog away from me". I don't know, there's something about a powerful, growling dog in my face that ruins my mood. I was met with "you are a b**tch. F**k you. I tried to talk to them calmly and explain to them that I'd been attacked by a pit bull in the past and was afraid of them. Didn't get me anywhere, just more "f**k yous and b**ch, and if I didn't like their dogs, "I should get out of there". Never mind that I should be able to be where I want to be on a beautiful day in the mountains. My favorite comment from them was that I was "insulting their dogs". Really, it wasn't their dog's fault. I kind of liked the Shelties, the Pit Bull needed some behavior training, but the real idiots were the dog owners. Dogs don't know any better, but their owners should. This is coming from someone who probably loves dogs as much or more than anyone. I've hiked, backpacked and scrambled thousands of miles with mine. Yes, this is a rant, but really if dog owners want to be able to keep taking their dogs on these trails they need to be aware of their behavior. I've never even considered banning dogs from trails, but I thought about it driving home today. It really felt like the hiker version of road rage today and I hope I never hear it again. Most folks are at least apologetic when their dogs frighten folks on the trail. These women were awful and a little scary. The Chuckanuts are usually a friendly place to hike, but this is the second encounter I've had like this there. I've never experienced this anywhere else. Hopefully, I won't again.