Oyster Dome is a hike I hadn't done in the past, but I wanted to and everyone that had done it said that the views are AMAZING! So, off I went. Julie and I planned to meet up at Rhododendron Cafe at 8:30 on Labor Day so that I could get back home in time for work. The weather was supposed to be beautiful and I was looking forward to the hike!
This hike starts out on Highway 11 at about Mile Post 10, just about 5 miles south of the Fragrance Lake trail head. Another similarity....a few steep switchbacks from the get go. This 6.5 mile round trip boasts 1,900 feet of elevation gain and is a guaranteed cardio workout. About one mile into the trail, you are rewarded for your efforts at a small viewpoint. Once you wipe the sweat from your eyes, there are views of Lummi, Samish, Guemes, Cypress, Fidalgo, Orcas and several other islands of the San Juan Archipelago. On a clear day, one can see all the way out to the Olympics. Just amazing...Here is one critter that was enjoying the view from the viewpoint.
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| Admiring the view |
At the bottom you are greeted by a couple of signs for the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT), and you continue on the PNT for about 1.5 miles before parting ways. The PNT, which goes from Glacier National Park in Montana to the Olympic Coast, seemed to be well marked in this area, complete with the white blazes painted on trees, which is more than can be said for other trails leading off the main trail. Some signs are what people have written with a Magic Marker or by hanging a rubber glove on a branch with a finger pointing to what you HOPE is the right way. On a scale of 1 to 10, for signage I would give this trail a 2. In fact, on the way back down, we did get lost for about 1/3 of a mile, and we weren't the only ones.
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| Sign at trail head |
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| An informative rock |
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| White blazes indicating the Pacific Northwest Trail |
There were about 4 creeks along the trail to Oyster Dome and 3 of them were dry on Labor Day. I would have loved for them to be wet so that I could soak my bandanna to cool my neck off! At about 2 miles, we started a pretty significant climb that required grabbing on to some branches, rocks and whatever else was handy. Some trail reports that I had read said that "this isn't much of a workout", "not a very difficult hike", however it's enough climb for the entire route up to the top to be rated a Category 1 climb....not too shabby!
The trail was cleaner than some and dirtier than others. There were several small trash items, including a burned up pair of jeans, the remnants of a sweater, cigarette butts (how someone can smoke while climbing those hills is beyond me) and, worst of all......the left overs from an illegal fire. The smoke smell was strong, but I went over and stuck my hand in it to make sure the ashes were cool, and they were. How sad that someone felt it was okay to start a camp fire in a forest. That could have turned ugly.
Just below Oyster Dome are the Amphitheater Bat Caves. They are reached by taking a marked side trail before reaching Oyster Dome. We didn't venture here; I'll leave that one to the bats.
The trail itself was ankle-twisting rocky and rooty. Roots are generally easy for me to negotiate as they stay mostly still. I found that I spent 80% of my time looking down rather that at the beautiful surroundings. The forest itself didn't boast as much of the BIG trees as the hike on the Fragrance Lake trail, nor does it have much in the way of interesting foliage. But, what this hike lacks for trail side beauty, it makes up with the views from the top. The top is no place for little kids or dogs who aren't leashed or under strict voice control. Oyster Dome is really just a big, bare rock and I personally wouldn't venture out onto the rock if it were rainy or snowy. It would be very easy to fall off the side.
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| Looking northwest |
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| Julie & I at the top |
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| Anacortes & it's refineries in the middle of the picture, Olympic Mountains in the distance |
After spending some time at the top and snapping a few photos, it was time to head down to get home in time to go to work. About 1/4 mile from the top, we got onto the wrong trail. Almost immediately I began questioning whether we were on the right trail....the creek to the left didn't look familiar, some blow downs didn't look familiar, I didn't remember passing certain pieces of trash on the way up and there was a lot of old cable (which I found very interesting....possibly left over from long-ago logging??), about 1.5 to 2" thick that was laying around, mostly buried. We did pass a small amount of the old cable on the way up, but we were now passing A LOT of it on the way down. My suspicions were confirmed when we reached a large creek that we did not cross on the way to the top. We turned back and ran into some guys who made the same mistake that we did. I got a little worried, because I was cutting it close with the time I needed to get home and get cleaned up for work. Of all the days to forget my GPS in my car... UGH, that will NEVER happen again!
It took us about 2.5 hours to get to the top and about 2.25 hours to come back down. On our way up, we passed a few other hikers, but on the way down, the trail was darn right busy. While we were coming down, we passed a young couple holding hands, with the guy leading the way and the girl walking behind him. After they passed I remarked "Well, THAT won't last long". I cannot imagine hiking up all 1,900 plus feet of that trail while holding hands with someone. No sense dragging someone else down with me when I fall!
When we passed the viewpoint that was 1 mile from the trail head, it was crowded....standing room only! What a difference a few hours makes. If you are going to do this hike, start early. Parking is very limited and the trail gets quite busy. The trail was dry and dusty from there on down.
This cute little "mailbox" greeted us at the bottom. We didn't even notice it when we started out.
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| Interesting "mailbox" at the trail head |
Oyster Dome Summary - September 5, 2011
Miles: 6.5
Calories: 1,850
Time: 4.75 hours (which includes getting a little lost)
Hey Liz,
ReplyDeleteThose views are incredible. You may have to do this one again! :)
Bud