Larrabee State Park - Rock Trail — Sunday, Mar. 17, 2013

Puget Sound and Islands > Bellingham Area

This was a work party to continue construction of a new trail to Lost Lake. The trail will start at the Cyrus Gates Overlook, at the top of Cleator Road, in Larrabee State Park. It will skirt several rock faces on its downhill route to Lost Lake; proposed names include the Rock Trail and the Lost Antler Trail. We'll see which hiking constituency wins the naming game.... The day started with the safety lecture and the distribution of two personalized hardhats for Pancake and Susan E. The crew leader was Arlen, with ACLs Terry and Marty. Our plan was to improve or make trail surface and move some rocks. The work started right away with a steep downhill approach to the work area. Prior to the construction of the trail, this was a challenging downhill/uphill bushwhack. Stairs are now installed on the steepest sections. Conditions were muddy, so it was no picnic getting out, especially with 2 tools to each person. Rope came in handy! Views of Bellingham and Samish Bays opened up in places, and we enjoyed the sheer rock walls as we approached the worksite. Three stretches of developing trail were the foci of our efforts. One group built new trail next to the rock wall. The second group moved some boulders and worked as stone masons on a switchback section. The third group, which I worked with, removed organic material from and derooted a developing trail section near a ridgeline. I spent my day grubbing and shoveling, with some chopping towards the end. We had sunshine most of the day, but we encountered a pelting with 1-2 mm size hail during lunchtime. At the end, we enjoyed cookies and cider, as usual, as we looked out over Bellingham Bay.