It’s the first of August and I visited the first state park in Washington! Larrabee State Park was created in 1915. Charles X. Larrabee was a local businessman and philanthropist. His family donated the land after his death and the park was named after him. 
Larrabee State Park
Today the park covers over 2,000 acres between the Samish Bay and Chuckanut Mountain near Bellingham, WA.
I drove up from Seattle along Chuckanut Drive.
Chuckanut Drive
Chuckanut Drive PDF Brochure
Chuckanut is a very scenic winding road and one of my all time favorite drives in Washington. There are many oyster beds in the bay along Chuckanut Drive, and therefore many oyster bars and fish markets! "The oyster you eat today slept last night in Samish Bay!"
Weather in the Seattle area had been up to 100 degrees last week. Luckily I missed all that to enjoy 100 degree weather in Madrid, Spain. So it is good to come back home to more manageable 80 degree weather this weekend. I don’t usually like to visit our parks on the weekends, but I didn’t have much choice this year since August 1st fell on a Saturday. I prefer to avoid the crowds and hike during the week. I got up bright and early to drive up to Larrabee to hike on Saturday. I hit the trail around 7am, this was great because I missed most of the crowds on the trails and I missed the heat of the day. An early start let me take advantage of the cool early morning temperatures.
I hiked 6 miles on Fragrance Lake Trail, Clayton Beach Trail and the Lost LakeTrail. And many thanks to Hufflepuff Lost, Explorers Club and Print and Pie for hiding the terrific letterboxes I was able to find along the way!
My WTA Pledge Page
I will need to collect all money from my pledges by September 3, 2009. If you do not want to make a pledge by credit card to the website, checks can be made out to WTA (Washington Trails Association) and mailed to me and cash is always welcome.
Larrabee State Park
Today the park covers over 2,000 acres between the Samish Bay and Chuckanut Mountain near Bellingham, WA.
I drove up from Seattle along Chuckanut Drive.
Chuckanut Drive
Chuckanut Drive PDF Brochure
Chuckanut is a very scenic winding road and one of my all time favorite drives in Washington. There are many oyster beds in the bay along Chuckanut Drive, and therefore many oyster bars and fish markets! "The oyster you eat today slept last night in Samish Bay!"
Weather in the Seattle area had been up to 100 degrees last week. Luckily I missed all that to enjoy 100 degree weather in Madrid, Spain. So it is good to come back home to more manageable 80 degree weather this weekend. I don’t usually like to visit our parks on the weekends, but I didn’t have much choice this year since August 1st fell on a Saturday. I prefer to avoid the crowds and hike during the week. I got up bright and early to drive up to Larrabee to hike on Saturday. I hit the trail around 7am, this was great because I missed most of the crowds on the trails and I missed the heat of the day. An early start let me take advantage of the cool early morning temperatures.
I hiked 6 miles on Fragrance Lake Trail, Clayton Beach Trail and the Lost LakeTrail. And many thanks to Hufflepuff Lost, Explorers Club and Print and Pie for hiding the terrific letterboxes I was able to find along the way!
My WTA Pledge Page
I will need to collect all money from my pledges by September 3, 2009. If you do not want to make a pledge by credit card to the website, checks can be made out to WTA (Washington Trails Association) and mailed to me and cash is always welcome.
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6 comments:
Are you going to hike the last state park on the last day of the month? =)
-- Ryan
Your great photos and history of this park make us feel as though we're hiking right along with you--you know we are in spirit! Rack up those miles, Amanda--for the good of the WTA!
~~Doublesan & Old Blue~~
If you can tell me what the newest state park is....I could try to do that. :-)
Oh my gosh! I've camped there and hiked on the Clayton Beach Trail. It is really nice, and there are some nice rocks to climb if you ever go to the beach at the picnicking type area.
And you found all *6* of the Print and Pie boxes?!? Locals thought #2 was missing... guess we just needed a professional boxer to come into town and school us. :)
I loved Larrabee and Clayton Beach. I lived in Bellingham for 6 years and I love that area. If you get the chance you should hike some of the trails on Mt. Baker
~Griz
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