I had the pleasure of an Island experience over last weekend....Orcas Island. What the heck do the other islands offer up there in San Juan County? Saltwater shoreline? So WHAT ! Orcas has the tallest peak in the San Juans, it has beautiful Moran State Park, with mountain lakes and miles of trails.....AND NOW Orcas has Turtleback Mountain too! If you haven't heard...Go Here
So I went to check out this new acquisition by The San Juan Preservation Trust. For a map go here.
I started at the South Trail Head:
Be aware that you have to walk past this sign saying "don't!"
Then you get to this:
You start to go up quickly....it is basically a pretty steep jeep road.
There is a house at the top of this part of the trail:
Views everywhere!
I continued on to the North Side (Stop at Ship Rock on the way and look for this "compass")
The way to the north side is not easy to follow...look for red flags! Do you see them?
It is easy to get lost there still, which will change, but come-on you are on an Island!
The Northside center loop route was pretty well marked (it is a road folks ) but also pretty ugly....the bulldozers had already been in there and created home sites before they were stopped
There is even a creek and waterfall (Internationally famous!)
It was a good work-out and the views are fantastic off the south side... imagine the views on a really NICE day!
All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other -
Only the mountain and I. ~Li Po~
0
All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other -
Only the mountain and I. ~Li Po~
Thank you for posting that!! I didn't realize that the campaign was successful and that it was already open to the public-that is so exciting. I have wanted to explore Turtleback since I was 9 and I will have to get up there soon.
My wife and I were up there on a nicer day a few weeks ago. To get to the Waldron overlook without doing the center road part you can park a few miles up Crow Valley road near the old school. See map for driving directions.
Mike,
I saw your report ....Nice pictures! Did you use software to stitch those together? Or was that a fisheye lens? I will have to get back up there this summer to see the Olympics from up there....a great thing has been done, adding this to the already great hiking available on Orcas...
All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other -
Only the mountain and I. ~Li Po~
0
All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other -
Only the mountain and I. ~Li Po~
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! Orcas has the tallest peak in the San Juans, it has beautiful Moran State Park, with mountain lakes and miles of trails.....
If you haven't heard...Go 
The Northside center loop route was pretty well marked (it is a road folks 
