Forum Index > Trip Reports > Mt. Erie and Anacortes Community Forest Lands
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ree
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ree
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PostTue Mar 18, 2008 4:34 pm 
Mt. Erie sounded just like the kind of hike Kleet and I were craving - island views, a decent workout, and no snow. My book "Winter Hikes In Puget Sound and the Olympic Foothills" gives Mt. Erie a very favorable write up. I also checked out Karen Sykes' Hike of the Week report on it as well. The forecast was excellent, so off we went to explore a new area for us. The Anacortes Community Forest Lands area which encompasses Mt. Erie has quite the network of trails. We followed Karen's advice (and the advice in "Winter Hikes") and bought a ACFL map. We were really glad we did. There were plenty of forks and intersections to get us confused, but with the map, we managed to not get lost. The trail meandered through forest that obscured almost all views until we reached the top. For a gorgeous Saturday, we were surprised to run into few hikers.
The top, of course, was a different story. Since you can drive to the top of the peak, there was quite a bit of company.Still, the views were fantastic. We sat on the granite slabs warming ourselves in the sun and enjoyed the views of Mt. Baker, Deception Pass, Camano and Whidbey Islands. I asked Kleet what the name was of a particular lake I was staring down at. "I don't know. Smegma Lake!" I always like asking Kleet dumb questions because I never know what smartass reply I'm going to get. He kind of blurted it out loudly though, and as I gazed around us, I noticed a woman was staring right at me. I could tell she'd heard Kleet's reply. I just rolled my eyes and smirked. She did the same. That was non-verbal female speak, for sure. Women can have an entire conversation with each other and not say a word sometimes. We watched a hang glider take off the side of the mountain. That was pretty fun. Made me want to take up the sport.
We sauntered around the north side of the mountain for views of the San Juans and beyond. We were feeling energetic enough to take a different route down to the car, so we bagged Sugarloaf Mtn. on the way down.
We had seen a park off on the Fidalgo Island headlands (Washington Park) so we decided to check it out after a light supper in Anacortes. What a cool park! We thought it'd be great for a social sometime. (I've since seen RB's post about a family social there.) Looks like a great place for a picnic!
I thought this area was a great place to explore, and pretty close to Seattle. It only took 2 hours to get there, and there was plenty to do to fill our day.

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goats gone wild
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goats gone wild
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PostTue Mar 18, 2008 6:16 pm 
Sounds like an awesome day, you two. Great pictures, Ree, especially the panos. up.gif up.gif And not too many trip reports with the word smegma in them. rolleyes.gif lol.gif I think it's a first. hockeygrin.gif Do you know why there are so many intersecting trails? Who built them? Do they go to specific places or are they just for general recreation? Are dogs allowed? Your panos are great testimony to the beauty we are surrounded by in the Pacific NW. They conjure up memories of Welches Peak, only with the view looking N & E instead. Glad you had a great day!!!

.....leaving me wanting to return over and over in what ever capacity that may be, even if one day my knees are too old and I can only see the mountains from my porch. Jason Hummel
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More Cowbell
Warrior Princess



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PostTue Mar 18, 2008 6:48 pm 
Is Smegma Lake the one that Crotch Rot Creek feeds into?

“If you want to forget all your other troubles, wear too tight shoes.” - Unknown
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goats gone wild
Mr. Goat



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PostTue Mar 18, 2008 7:28 pm 
ykm.gif

.....leaving me wanting to return over and over in what ever capacity that may be, even if one day my knees are too old and I can only see the mountains from my porch. Jason Hummel
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goats gone wild
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PostTue Mar 18, 2008 7:37 pm 
Right-O MC. I hear say it is a very productive creek....with millions of spawners.

.....leaving me wanting to return over and over in what ever capacity that may be, even if one day my knees are too old and I can only see the mountains from my porch. Jason Hummel
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ree
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ree
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PostWed Mar 19, 2008 7:47 am 
goats gone wild wrote:
Do you know why there are so many intersecting trails? Who built them? Do they go to specific places or are they just for general recreation? Are dogs allowed? Your panos are great testimony to the beauty we are surrounded by in the Pacific NW. They conjure up memories of Welches Peak, only with the view looking N & E instead. Glad you had a great day!!!
Thanks! up.gif GGW, Naturalbeing put these up. I wished I'd noticed them posted before we went... doh.gif These are the maps ACFL put out. We bought them at the vstrz cntrr in Anacortes. They show all the trails and numbers. I'm pretty sure dogs are allowed all over the place. It's kind of like the Tiger Mtn of Anacortes... but WAY prettier than Tiger. Not sure why they built the trails. Maybe some way to rehabilitate an area that was logged to high heaven? MC - lol.gif You really got us going. Kleet came up with "Testicle Tarns"... I reminded him that it kind of has to be with a diseased/unclean sort of slant... Like "We had to drive over STD Slough to get to the trail head." Or "The log was out at Chlamydia Creek." I was horrified when Kleet burted such a thing out, with children and grandmothers all over the place, but when that woman looked at me, I wanted to crack up. I had to check with him before we walked into the pub at Anacortes... I didn't want his tourettes flaring up in there. lol.gif

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mike
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PostWed Mar 19, 2008 8:16 am 
Maps are still online on the PNT site under <the trail> drop down

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ree
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ree
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PostWed Mar 19, 2008 6:03 pm 
goats gone wild wrote:
And not too many trip reports with the word smegma in them. rolleyes.gif lol.gif I think it's a first. hockeygrin.gif
Hey I changed the title of my tr. I decided that [putting smegma in the title] was a lame-ass stunt that probably some immodium junkie would make, so I took it out. lol.gif up.gif Thanks for that link, Mike. up.gif up.gif

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Layback
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PostWed Mar 19, 2008 6:09 pm 
Lame-ass immodium junkies don't go to Mt. Erie without a harness, a rope and rock shoes. But thanks for thinking of me. up.gif Looks like you had a nice hike. Mt. Erie is a beautiful place. I can't think of anywhere else in the state where one can look straight across Puget Sound at Mt. Rainier and see the Cascades to the east and the Olympics to the west. Glad you had fun. up.gif

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More Cowbell
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PostWed Mar 19, 2008 6:18 pm 
Dang, I had a pic of the Pustule Pinnacles all ready to post. wink.gif

“If you want to forget all your other troubles, wear too tight shoes.” - Unknown
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ActionBetty
Im a dirty hippie!



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ActionBetty
Im a dirty hippie!
PostWed Mar 19, 2008 6:56 pm 
feel lucky I wasnt there to egg Kleet on and join in the foul language blurting lol.gif lol.gif Looks like a nice sunny day well spent.... up.gif up.gif

"If you're not living good, you gotta travel wide"...Bob Marley
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