We hiked all the accessible trails on the North side of HWY 20 and all were in good condition. These included the Fern Creek Trail, West Loop Interpretive Trail, and all but a mile of the Evergreen Trail. We started to hike the upper section of the Evergreen Trail and found it still has many fallen trees. Al, the former resident ranger, told us over a year ago that a huge Douglas Fir had fallen on the upper section of the Evergreen Trail itself and that a reroute of the trail would be necessary. We talked to a local resident today who told us that Al was now at Moran SP on Orcas Island. He will be missed as he spent many hours working on the trails in the park.There is now one ranger who oversees Rockport, Rasar, and Bayview State Parks. An aid now lives in the park's cabin. This is a beautiful hike through huge cedars, Douglas Firs, and maples and the lush green forest of ferns, mosses, and lichens are especially pretty after or on a rainy day!

After hiking Rasar State Park I headed to Rockport State Park which is also along Highway 20(Cascade Loop Scenic Highway for hike number 7 this year. If a park could talk to us it would be screaming for help!!. This state park is in dire need of volunteers to help restore the trails especially The Evergreen Trail. As you can see from my picture there is a lot of blowdown here and with state park budget cuts there is no money to pay to have it done. I was talking to the only Park Ranger assigned to this park and he said that all the camping in this park is closed due to the large old growth trees having root rot. And unfortunately all of the camping area is under the old growth trees. Since the camping areas were closed and not used anymore it would seem nothing is being done to take care of any of it. The camping areas are overrun with moss and debris from fallen trees. This is too bad because this is a magnificent park full of old growth Douglas Fur and Western Red Cedar. Old growth refers to trees that are over 100 years old. I stopped along The Fern Trail to count the annual rings on one of the downed Douglas Furs that was cut clear from the trail and I counted 210 rings from the center to the outer bark. So that makes that tree almost as old as this country before it fell. If anyone can tell me who I can contact to get this park on the annual trail maintenance for WTA it would be appreciated or maybe find another volunteer group that can come out. It would be nice to have a group restore the trails or re-route the trail around the massive blowdowns. Checkout the video of this hike or over 150 other hikes I have done in Washington State on my youtube channel at "lmm3181" or click on this direct link for this hike. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Ph3yvwiso&list=UUqJaSfrcykoO8iBW2vH7rhw&index=1&feature=plcp As always get out and see this beautiful state and enjoy your hiking!! Take Care!! Mike

*STATE PARK IS CLOSED ON WEDNESDAYS & THURSDAYS* I saw that sign a couple hundred feet before the turnoff into the park and couldn't believe it. Why close a state park? Budget cuts? How many rangers do they have working there, and don't they live there anyways? I would have been far more disappointed had there not still been bald eagles to see on the Skagit River. This was my third time in four years driving up to see the majestic birds, and although they're more sparse in late January than December, that almost made spotting them more spectacular. The short hike along the river just down the road at Steelhead Park was my backup, and the hardened snow made the footing just uneven enough to be challenging without being annoying. Please enjoy my video blog of the trip--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZekHJOZxZ5I

We began our hike on the Evergreen Trail starting behind the restrooms in the day use area. The trail is clear for one mile to a junction where the trail goes north. From here the trail is impassable because of massive blowdowns. The trail shows signs of recent work with its cleared trees, new puncheon, bridge, and gravel added to sections to reduce muddy areas. The West Loop Interpretive Trail can be hiked but is no longer ADA accessible. Sunday we talked to Al, the resident ranger at Rockport, when we saw him at Rasar SP. He told us budget cuts has slowed down the work that can be done in clearing the rest of the trails. In fact, he may lose his job which would be especially sad after all his hours of work throughout the years. The large old growth douglas firs, cedars, big leaf maples and beautiful mosses and lichens make Rockport a beautiful place to hike on a winter day rain or shine! The frost on the leaves and the many fungi made for slow walking as there were many images asking to be taken making our progress very slow! After the first mile we returned to the parking area via the service road and then crossed HWY 20 to hike the 0.5 Skagit View Trail and the 0.4 Sauk Springs Trail. The frozen ground and the many fallen maple leaves lining the trail made for easy walking, but mud will become a problem when the weather becomes warmer.

The girlfriend and I drove up to Rockport for a late afternoon day hike. We usually hike the Evergreen Trail, and started up the eastern portion first. Good news: the trilliums are coming up. Bad news: trees down. There were several that had been sawed through and moved aside in the early part of the trail. We clambered over a couple, and went around a newly formed pit in the middle of the trail made by the root system of a larger tree ripping up and out of the ground -- we'd see a lot more of this before we were done. The portion of the trail going east to west after the "broken fir" was pretty clear. There was one spot where a large tree had fallen exactly on the trail, and we were forced to walk on top of it for a distance. The damage from the storm was already impressive, but we had no idea what was coming. Just before Fern Creek the Evergreen Trail turns north for a bit; we missed this turn. Whether it was from storm damage or simply inattention I don't know, but we found ourselves in the Service Road just south of it. Consulting our map and the position of the sun we decided it would be unwise to backtrack. We took the service road northwest from there (for maybe 0.3mi) until it met up with the Evergreen Trail again. We hit the Evergreen Trail and turned south, determined to walk this last leg of the trail. This 4/10 of a mile was grueling and probably took as long as the rest of it combined. The blowdowns are nasty, very frequent, difficult to navigate around, and at least in a couple places are hazardous to climb over. There are jagged edges of branches threatening to gouge you as you go over, at least a couple longish drops, and some places where it is difficult to pick the trail up again. If I knew what it was going to be like, I would not have attempted it -- but by the time we were halfway in, the light was fading, and we were committed. Finally we hit the Interpretive Trail, pretty well covered in dirt and moss from the waist down and laughing about it. We returned to the parking lot where we examined a sign more closely, and found that the entire Evergreen Trail is marked "impassible". I'm here to tell you that it can be done, but perhaps it shouldn't be. Not yet. There is a staggering amount of work to be done to get that trail open again. If one of the previous commenters are right and the park ranger here is being left to do this alone, he needs help. It is NOT a one person job.