Sunday’s adventure was a close in hike at Putney Woods on the south end of Whidbey Island. This was my second time hiking at Putney Woods, and I’ll be blunt….it isn’t my favorite place to hike on the island. It’s well taken care of, used a lot, but it lacks. Kirk and I were talking about it, and what it reminds us of is all the clear cut lands in King County that then grew up without good stewardship of the trees, then hiking was put in (a good example is the Henry’s Ridge area in Maple Valley, Wa that we used to casually dayhike in off season a lot when we lived there). Maps can be found through the link above in my original post.
We parked at the main lot, off of Lone Lake Road and headed in under the sign.
We took Trail of Wind Fell through the very poorly managed section of forest. It needs to be thinned desperately and is very unhealthy. It’s not very scenic to say the least, though there was some good fungi to check out.
As the trail turns onto Canterberry, the forest improves. Ferns, salal and evergreen huckleberry with alders are more prevalent here.
Kirk and the boys ahead of me. This section was very open to the sun, cutting the chill.
When we came to a multi junction, we drew a random and decided to go via Wuthering Heights. Hmmmmm. Maybe not the best random choice. It is a brutal straight up trail, that is barely more than a chunnel for mountain bike tires and water…..I’d say avoid this one, and at least we went up, not down. I am not sure I’d have made it down without slipping.
However, at the top sits a picnic table to relax at, and more junctions.
We continued down Wuthering Heights, and we were rewarded with a nice trail through the woods.
This section is quite pretty and could make one love Putney.
We turned onto Coyote.
As with the upper Wuthering Heights, this section was pretty.
There was a lot of fungi.
However, it was an open pretty woods due to a lot of dying or dead trees having come down in recent year. Again, not a healthy woods, but at least the ground was healthy.
Yellow fungi.
Tiny yellow fungi growing on a downed tree.
We turned onto Rocky Road, then onto Trail of Wind Fell to make the loop.
On the side of Wind Fell was this…..hobbit hangout. It was a pit dug in pretty deep (I would have fit into it). Lined with leaves.
A half roof had been constructed over it. Forest school gone mad?
And the mushroom altar.
Someone was busy……
Parking is free, dogs are welcome, as is bikes and horses. It is hunting season for deer till end of the year, so always be careful to be seen. Weekends are busy, but I would be careful mid-week. Be sure to take a map (see the above link at the top for them).
~Sarah