Blanchard Mountain

Trotted around Blanchard Mountain this morning, as well as last Sunday. Blanchard is probably my favorite place to run locally. Can't say I ran hard or well, but there was some running.

Department of Natural Resources has invested some time and money on Blanchard. There's a lot of new signage, the road in has seen some maintenance, and the Samish Overlook got a full makeover. Paragliders were launching as I ran by.

The biggest surprise of the day was finding a new set of switchbacks on the second climb of Kill Bill Hill, otherwise known as the Oyster Dome trail. Basically, the second vertical pitch is no more. The new trail work looks great, and probably is a good idea in light of erosion concerns. However, I've come to appreciate that straight climb over the years, where you grab a root or two to make it up to the top.

The former climb was a great part of training for some high mountain ultras, as well as a tough part of the old Blanchard Mountain Ultra and near the end of the North Face 50 miler. Those who have ran it will probably know what I'm talking about. The last climb is still there, steep as ever.

Pic above of the new switchback, and right below of the filled in Kill Bill.

RIP.

Finding Lake Samish

I went exploring Saturday, and found my way from Larrabee to Lake Samish, and back. Good rain the whole way. I'm not sure if I took the typical course--I started at the Clayton Beach parking lot, took a right on a gated trail about a mile up off the Fragrance Lake Road, and ran that road out until it turned to trail. It was a four and half hour adventure, and I had to scratch arrows in the DNR trails and roads to find my way back. But it worked. It's a steep drop into the Samish basin, and I think this run would be better started from Samish, so you could run to the sea and back. My turnaround point was Samish Park, the start point for the Samish runs. The park had water and bathrooms, which was perfect. There were great views of the Skagit flats and the San Juans going up. I saw a big buck, a big frog, a dead rabbit (which might've been a cougar kill), two herons, some wild doves, and I found a bunch of wild raspberries, which I ate. The End.