A hike through virgin forest~

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Location: Rockport State Park ||Nłeʔkepmx Tmíxʷ (Nlaka’pamux), Skagit, and Puget Sound Salish land
Date: November 20th, 2019
Activity: Leeloo’s winter birthday hike!

This was Leeloo’s birthday adventure! Leeloo loves narrow forested trails the best, so I made sure to pick a hike that she would particularly enjoy.

This park has a few short trails, including the ‘interpretive loop’ that is considered ADA-compliant. It is not paved, but it did seem to be well maintained and 36″ wide, with ‘challenge-grade’ sections. I believe that it should be paved if they want it to be truly accessible.

Leeloo leapt out of the backpack right away to get her hike started!

Jamie and Banana came along, too!

Early on, the trail diverged with one short segment of path going to a massive downed tree. On its side, this tree was as tall as I am! (I look taller in this photo because Jamie is shorter than I am and standing slightly downhill.)

The kids had so much fun clambering all over the log!

Leeloo wanted to climb on every interpretive sign that we came across! It was so funny, especially since she’s never shown an interest in signs before.

Leeloo did quite a bit of hiking,

and she also took some breaks and rode on and in the backpack (and often ON Sieh! She’s sitting on him in the backpack, you can see his sweater through the mesh.)

We found this cool living wall covered in plants and fungi.

Check out this sweet frame that the forest made! Leeloo is so cute, giving me a kiss! Both kids greet me when I come home from work with kisses.

All too soon we finished our hike and it was time to go! Since Sieh didn’t hike much this time I made sure to let him have a bit of an explore around the picnic area before we left. He was very satisfied and went into his Sleepypod without a complaint.

This is such a beautiful area, we are looking forward to visiting nearby Rasar State Park soon, as well.

SIDE NOTES FROM THE ADVENTURE

I had tried to save some money by using my mom’s 25+ year-old hiking boots that I found in her garage instead of buying new boots. Unfortunately, this ended about as well as you might imagine. By the time we got to the park, my left boot had detached at the back from the sole, and partway through the hike detached the rest of the way with the right boot joining it. Thankfully, I always carry a small amount of paracord in my car, Majel, so I was able to tie the soles to the boots. It worked surprisingly well, except on pavement it felt like I had slices of bread tied to my feet. I looked like someone through-hiking the PCT, not taking a short and easy ramble!

This place is so gorgeous! It’s so special and amazing to be in a virgin-growth forest.

Don’t you want to follow this grassy path wherever it may go?

Check out this little mushroom Banana and Jamie found. [Never let your dog eat rando mushrooms they find outside. Yet another reason to keep your dog on leash.]

At first, I read this sign as “Hosts of Duty”, which of course lead to me bellowing it in to the tune of “Lost in Space”/”Pigs in Space”. Was rather disappointed when, upon getting closer, I saw there were two ‘F’s.