HAMILTON, LYMAN, AND COCKERSHAM

From the words in the title one could think we might be in England, But no, we are still in Skagit County ;’-).

First I want to post our set up for this time. Being early in the week, we are fortunate to have very few campers near us, and lots of room all around. Wish it was always this way, but we will take what we can.

Today’s ride would take us along the back roads to Hamilton and Lyman. I almost immediately spied my relic for this day ;’-). When in farm country there is always a relic hanging around.

The only breakfast fruit we had for this morning was dried blueberries. They were fine, but we knew we could find something fresh along our route, and almost out of the gate we came to this. Second serving of fruit for today.

Plump, juicy and sweet! Susan had thought ahead (as usual) and brought a container to collect some of the blackbrerrries for tomorrow’s breakfast.

Roads devoid of traffic are rare, but we had them here. Moss covered rocks lined one side of the road, pine needles lined the other, and clear sky (blue even though it doesn’t look it in this photo) lead us on for our day of adventure.

Neither Susan nor I have been to Rasar State Park, and were curious for a visit. It is a delight with paved roads winding through, trees that offer good shade and privacy sites, and very clean. We took the short trail to the beach for a view of the emerald green Skagit River..

The route took us by and near barns, farms, orchards and a couple of small ranches.

I think of this as The Giving Tree.

We rounded a curve and were surprised to see the lane blocked by the only vehicle we had seen on our route. The white van was parked there and the driver was hanging out the door looking at something. He pointed and told us of the elk herd he was viewing with telephone camera in hand.

We don’t know if they are wild or farmed, but there was no place we passed that appeared to be an elk ranch.

About to end the “road” part of our route before getting on the trail for our return to camp, we stopped to have our lunch. ‘Table’ for two with a view please. We could have been anywhere in our own country or a different country. And only about 80 miles from home.

Back to the trail. Beside the trailhead Susan needed to visit that display of tools.

Note the “primitive” part...

Most of the trail is wide and hard packed and not too bad to ride on — for a while! We did come to two different detours where we had to get off the trail and maneuver along the road to find the next entry. 

This may end our adventuring part of this outing. We head home tomorrow and may do a stop or two along the way, but nothing much. It has been a great three day getaway and the riding with no traffic is a definite highlight. We have had a good enough time to think we could potentially return sometime. It has been fun.

BAKER LAKE AREA

#7 WITHIN OUR 100 MILE RADIUS

Baker Lake is not far from where we are, but we are not doing anything at Baker Lake. We are about 6 miles west of the town of Concrete, camped at a Thousand Trails that shares the campground with KOA. Seems so strange to me but I guess it works. Some sites are KOA, some are TT.

I am so sorry that I neglected to take any photos of Susan and her college friends, John & Elaine when getting onto small, quiet Lake Vogler for a fly fishing outing. John and Elaine live in Alger, not very far from where we are, and John especially, is an avid fly fisher. Elaine joins him on may fishing trips, and they were happy to join us for part of the day and go fishing. They all caught at least one fish each on this day. But of course, being a catch and release thing, there was not fish for dinner.

After fishing, we set up and settled into our campsite for the following three nights. I had never been up into our loft, and this was a test. After first feeling a little claustrophobic, I got used to it and rather liked it. There is a weight limit for the loft of 200 pounds, so an adult and a child maybe, or a couple of children would meet that limit. The Grands LOVE sleeping up there.

I was so comfortable in the loft that I stayed a while and read a little. You can see Susan’s pontoon boat through the rear window. That is what she used for her fishing outing.

That was about all the activity we could muster for our first day.

Next day was time for a bike ride. The Cascade Trail is unpaved and runs from Sedro Wooley to Concrete. Being so near Concrete we chose to ride that way as an ‘experiment’ for possible riding the following day in the other direction. We all know by now that unpaved riding is not one of my favorite things to do! 

First we check the announcement board.

Then, just before entering the trail ... my relic photo op appeared.

The trail, though unpaved, is much nicer to ride on than that Iron Horse Trail we did in Easton. It is much better hard packed with fewer places of loose gravel and potholes. Periodically there are benches that appear to be very new.

 

A waterfall caught our attention.

And THEN ..... THIS caught our attention.

There was no way to get around it, no way to get under it, we had to go over it. 

Well, you know, I HAD to have photos of this. As I grabbed for my camera Susan was kinda yelling “NOT NOW”. But NOW is when it was happening, so I didn’t listen as she growled at me. At best, I chuckled. ;’-). But she was doing most of the work!

We succeeded, and continued on into Concrete for a loop through town.

Having read all through camp information, Susan, of course, had discovered a pizza place that was here in town. We retraced a mile of the trail and then got onto the highway to find the pizza, and ordered by phone. We sat at their picnic table and ate our packed lunch while we waited for our pizza that we would take home for dinner.

Getting back on the trail for our return trip, it seemed harder and less fun than I had had coming out. Susan had found an actual road on her GPS that parallels the trail and we took it. A bit hilly, but even being chip seal surface, it was a nice relief from the bumping and pounding of the trail. And there was no auto traffic at all. A wonderful way to end our trip for the day. 

FINAL DAY FOR GLAMPIN’ AT LAKE EASTON

This “sister’s” license plate says it all. No one here is “roughing” it, and all are “glampin”. A few campers have departed today, most will leave tomorrow and a couple will stay another night or two. It has been fun meeting the women and though not all times seemed enough social distance apart, most did their best. 

Couldn’t help myself for taking a photo of Dover. He is the sweetest dog who loves people. And apparently posing for a photo ;’-).

Drink station remains open for much of the day. Our hostess for this trip is Deanne and she has thought of every thing including those goody bags I posted about, the beverage center, and garden flower stakes for whoever wants them.

We chose the sunflowers and think they are a very nice addition to our campsite.

Another walk around camp showed us a few more “decorations”.

This crow is an example of Jane’s art work. We did not get to see any of her other work, but this is quite nice.



Earlier in the morning Susan had an opportunity to do some fly casting with Deanne and a couple of others who accompanied them to ‘observe’. After that she and I would take our bike ride. Bike riding opportunity around here, except for mountain biking on the Iron Horse, is minimal. Our ride for today would take us for a treat at...

We decadently enjoyed burgers, fries and malts at the outdoor picnic table before continuing on our short jaunt. In addition to the crow, we had two more animal sightings today. When I took the photo of the beaver, I did not realize there was a live person sitting behind it drinking a beer. 

The friendly bear would round out our animals for the day.

Thus ended our on the road riding and it was time to head back. Susan had me going cross country so to make it a “loop” trip rather than a simple “out and back trip. And THIS is what she made me do.

Once I found my way around that, she had to help me and my bike over the next little bit. What I do for love 😏.

This will end our adventure at Lake Easton as we will be leaving here tomorrow. We are not sure yet if we will head directly home or find another place that needs us to camp ;’-).

EXPLORING MORE OF LAKE EASTON

A morning walk brought us to the gathering site where some were enjoying their coffee and chatting.

Many had already had their morning heart starter, and some were on the way. As we looked out upon the lake, Susan pointed out the train bridge on the opposite shore that was part of the bike trail.

We would be biking on that bridge soon, as part of today’s ride.



Before getting on the saddle, and after see ya laters to the group, we strolled around to peruse a few of the SOTF sites. Some Sisters go all out in decorating their rigs according the their era, some just decorate ;’-).

Susan especially likes this banner...







I packed up our lunch and we were soon off for our ride. We would ride across this old bridge on the way to the unpaved Iron Horse Trail.

Old...

After close to 100 years, the bridge is closed to automobiles, but still stands, even if some parts are..... crumbling.

Susan rides to the moon (look closely near the top middle of photo).

We so enjoyed this entire outing even if it was mostly on an unpaved trail. It was a different part of the trail than we had done last month when we rode with Shelly and Lizette. Here comes the unpaved part...and an unexpected tunnel.

Reaching that bridge we had seen across the lake, we see that the train rolls beside the Yakima River.

I always think of my friend John D when I see anything train related. I thought of you here John! You would like this trail ride.



As we came to the end of the trail, I saw where we had entered it the last time as it continued on. This portion today was much easier on me as it is harder packed with much less gravel and loose rocks and debris. Of course the shorter distance played no insignificant role my comfort level ;’-).

We came across these guys.

And I found this barn somewhat colorful. 

This had been a ride in places we had not been and that is always so enjoyable for both of us. 

A relaxing afternoon and evening at camp with a game of dominoes, some reading, and dinner brings us to the end of a most wonderful day.