Larrabee State Park - Rock Trail, Larrabee State Park - South Lost Lake Trail — Monday, Feb. 13, 2017

Puget Sound and Islands > Bellingham Area

Today, the gate was closed at the junction with Fragrance Lake Road, due to downed trees and a parking lot filled with compact ice/snow. This is better than two weeks ago, when it was closed at the Two Dollar Trailhead. I had about 0.8 miles of road walking up to the Rock Trail parking lot (aka the 'Cyrus Gates Overlook'). It offers spectacular views over the bay and even into Canada, and has an interpretive sign that tells you what all the various islands are. The Rock Trail itself is fantastic - my favorite of any trail in the Bellingham area, so far at least. It was built in 2013 completely from scratch, and as such it's in fantastic shape. You walk through new growth forest with occasional views of Canada's Golden Ears, past massive rocks with echoing drips of water, and down beautiful new wooden staircases. The Rock Trail was mostly dry as a bone today, no snow. One significant blowdown right before the wooden bridge was a bit treacherous to hop over, with no real alternative routes. If you're not limber, you might have trouble. I then connected with the Lost Lake trail. The last little bit was pretty muddy, and there weren't any great places for views of the lake. Wildlife was pretty active around the lake, though, and I heard endless birds chirping. The weather was gorgeous today - many hikers and mountain bikers were out. Several mountain bike trails pass through the same area, including the Double Diamond Trail, which I saw a couple groups riding on. I made the roundtrip trek in just under 2 hours with about 5.6 miles, including stops but hiking at a fast pace.