Trip Report
Larrabee State Park - Rock Trail — Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014
Puget Sound and Islands > Bellingham Area
The upper portion of this hike was just wonderful. Seeing the amazing geology up close was really awe-inspiring, and I had many grateful thoughts to the souls who built this trail, especially the stairs! It was a dry day with mist among the trees which made it all the better. However, following the rock portion of the hike, we continued on to Lost Lake -- who wouldn't want to visit a Lost Lake?! The trail became progressively muddier and muddier. It was very slippery and we found ourselves slipping and sliding along, and though we considered turning around many times, we really wanted to see the lake and felt it would make a good lunch spot, so we persevered. The mud continued to get deeper and slippier. As we neared the lake, I slipped off a "bridge" of logs laying across an enormous and deep mud puddle. One leg fell in to the mid-calf; I consider myself lucky that I didn't lose my shoe! We reached the lake only to find that there really is no access and we had to bushwhack our way to the edge of the water just to get a glimpse. So our conclusion: definitely hike the upper trail, but skip the Lost Lake portion of the hike, at least in conditions such as we encountered.
Comments
There is a route to fine views of the lake from nice rocky perches, but it's easy to lose the trail in the muddy area around the lake. With a little poking around you can find the trail that follows the lake above and next to the lake. Once you find it, it's easy to follow. You'll finally pass the southern end of the lake and come to a three way junction. If you hang a right and go up a wet and primitive trail, you'll pop out at South Chuckanut Mt. in a clearcut with fantastic views. This is approximately 1 1/2 miles from the mud pit where you lost the route to the lake. It's very much worth it. From the South Chuckanut viewpoint, you can turn north to a road walk becomes trail which continues to the Fragrance Lake Road and other routes that will take you back to the trailhead of the Rock Trail. A loop! To facilitate this you should probably get a map of the area. I'd recommend googling "Square One Maps" where you can send for a very nice map of the area for $15 including this and other trails. This map shows places in the Chuckanuts that most folks don't know about, and there are still many miles to explore besides these!
Posted by:
wolfwoman on Dec 30, 2014 09:57 PM
There is a route to fine views of the lake from nice rocky perches, but it's easy to lose the trail in the muddy area around the lake. With a little poking around you can find the trail that follows the lake above and next to the lake. Once you find it, it's easy to follow. You'll finally pass the southern end of the lake and come to a three way junction. If you hang a right and go up a wet and primitive trail, you'll pop out at South Chuckanut Mt. in a clearcut with fantastic views. This is approximately 1 1/2 miles from the mud pit where you lost the route to the lake. It's very much worth it. From the South Chuckanut viewpoint, you can turn north to a road walk becomes trail which continues to the Fragrance Lake Road and other routes that will take you back to the trailhead of the Rock Trail. A loop! To facilitate this you should probably get a map of the area. I'd recommend googling "Square One Maps" where you can send for a very nice map of the area for $15 including this and other trails. This map shows places in the Chuckanuts that most folks don't know about, and there are still many miles to explore besides these!
Posted by:
wolfwoman on Dec 30, 2014 09:59 PM