Hike @ Black Diamond Open Space

And another Yoh! hike is in the bag. This morning six people & their canines hiked at Black Diamond Open Space in Maple Valley.  It's a huge area with lots of different trails. The terrain was mostly flat but quite rocky.  I must admit, even with a physical and digital map, we still got a bit turned around.  We had to share the trails with mountain bikers, which is not ideal, but I think we all had fun. We stumbled upon a mailbox, which was unexpected. Some of the names of the trails were also interesting--we never did find the Spooky trail, which may have been for the best!  In all we completed 3.19 very wet miles. Surprisingly there was very little mud; they seem to keep the trails well maintained.  

The random mailbox. We looked inside to find quite the collection of goodies. Teresa decided to add an unused poop bag.

We went Full 'Squatch

Teresa checking the map on her phone.

Pam had a paper copy which got soaked in the rain.

L to R: Scott, Matt, Miranda w/Briar, Pam, Teresa w/Aspen & Logan

Hike @ Illahee Preserve

Six people and four dogs made it out to Bremerton to hike at the Illahee Preserve this morning.  It's a nice little park with lots of different trails to make it as long or short a hike as you want.  We ended up hiking just shy of 3 miles.  Luckily, we had a map with us as the signage was pretty non-existent and the numbering system made absolutely no sense.  It was pretty hilly in spots, and we did encounter a little mud, but overall, the trails were well maintained.  We ran into some people geo-caching which was interesting; you don't see that too often although I think it's a pretty popular activity.  It was cold at the beginning, but by the end the sun had come out and it turned into a really beautiful February day.  Maybe the Groundhog was right for once and we might get an early spring after all! 

Posing on the tiniest bridge ever: Teresa w/Logan & Aspen, Matt, Michele & James

Scott, Harvey & Rosie 

Logan and Aspen by one of the numbered posts.

Teresa, fresh from two weeks off work and ready to get back on the trail!

The sun!

L to R: James, Michele, Matt, Logan, Aspen, Teresa, Scott, Harvey & Rosie

We parked at the Dedication Rock parking lot. We hiked to the following post markers: 31, 32, 34, (then around the Hall of Cedars) 19, 35, 40, 41, 34, 32, 33, 28, 29, 14, 15, 11, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 18, 20, 21 then back to the start. 

Hike @ Milleryslvania

We had to pivot a bit with our first scheduled Yoh! hike of 2024 to Big Creek. Last weekend’s bitterly cold temperatures caused us to push it back a week and move it a little closer to town. This morning the group met at Millersylvania State Park for a cold and foggy hike. Teresa led us from the main parking lot by Deep Lake through the campground and along the Perimeter Trail and back. In all we completed 4.43 miles with just 166 feet of elevation gain. The trail was in decent shape except for a few spots of mud. It’s a nice little park and made us wonder why we didn’t go there more often when we lived in Tumwater. 

Bridge photo! I think this was the only time we saw the sun for the entire hike. The fog was relentless. (L to R: Teresa, Miranda, Pam hiding in the back, Tammy, Scott and Michele)

We weren’t quite picture ready!

L to R: Tammy, Scott, Teresa, Miranda, Susan and Michele. Pam was the photographer. 

Stats from my watch.

Yoh! Hike to Twanoh State Park

Found this post on my personal blog and realized it never got published on the Yoh! blog.  We did this hike in mid-November of 2016. 

On Saturday 5 people & 2 dogs completed the short, but hilly, hike at Twanoh State Park. No matter how many times we do this hike, I never tire of watching the salmon heading upstream to spawn. After a very rainy night, we lucked out and only had a bit of drizzle.  Afterwards we walked over to the Hood Canal to watch the turbulent waters, then headed into Hoodsport to get some food and, of course, our favorite Olympic Mountain ice cream.

Scott is always the tree hugger!

I guess I was already obsessed with mushrooms back then!

L to R: Tammy w/Maya, Susan, Teresa w/Aspen & Stacey

Hike @ Mima Falls

After some back and forth about what day to hike due to the conflicting weather reports, we decided to hike this morning to Mima Falls in the Capital Forest.  Luckily, we had blue skies when we pulled into the parking lot.  The Yoh! group was good-sized consisting of 6 people and 3 dogs.  We started the hike at 9:35am and finished at 11:41am, covering 4.86 miles with a much more acceptable elevation gain of only 450 feet.  The trail was well maintained, but busy; we ran into quite a few other folks including trail runners, hikers & mountain bikers.  We spent a little time at the falls taking pictures after climbing down a little embankment.  The falls are small, but pretty; definitely worth doing if you're in the area.  There weren't as many mushrooms to be seen this time, but it was a beautiful trail with some huge trees. Another successful Yoh! hike. 

Scott--tree hugger #1

The falls--small, but pretty!

Michele & Scott

Bridge above the falls.

Michele--tree hugger #2

L to R: Pam, Michele, Teresa (w/Logan & Aspen), Tammy (w/Maya) and Scott

L to R: Susan, Michele, Teresa, Tammy & Scott