Cascade Rails-To-Trails Ride~

Ride on the Cascade Trail

It was a gorgeous day, Charlotte & I left the trail head off Fruitdale road about 10:30 a.m.  After crossing the highway - we headed west on the "Rails-To-Trails" Skagit County Cascade Trail.  Footing was perfect, we found some new gravel here & there.   One of the creeks was flowing along the trail, out of it's bed.

Charlotte & Aliento

The bridges were Very Slippery.  On most bridges they've installed a center strip of non-slip surface - but where there was none, I got off & walked Khari across.  One time of having a horse come over backwards on me - left a lasting impression...

Loop up to Harry O's for Lunch

 My GPS read 10 miles when we made the turn to head up to Harry O's for lunch.  We took the trails going up, road going back down.  The trails were Very Slippery!  Sitting at a picnic table in the sunshine watching the horses graze - it almost felt like Spring!  On the way back, our pace improved :-)  We made a couple short stops - arriving back at the trailer parking area before 4 p.m.

Khari & Connie

The river had taken out a huge chunk of bank at the point where we posed for this picture, almost to the bridge supports.  There will be a Lot of reinforcement needed - soon - to keep this portion of the trail open. My GPS clocked just under 24-miles & our ride time was around five hours.  Nice start to the conditioning season :-)