New trail at Victoria~

Blazing sunshine at home this morning, as I traveled north - the sky filled with low hanging gray, almost fog like clouds.  In Arlington, it was thick enough to block most of the sun.  By the time I was past 530, the air had cleared & the sun returned.  Yet another in a long string of sunshine days - our norm for over a year now...

Fresh grass

We left from Linda's today-  I wanted to see the new trail that the bikes have put in & changes they'd made to another trail.  Taking the long way around, we ran into a couple hiking with their dog.  Stopping to chat - they are from the Auburn, CA area & planning to relocated to Camano Is.   Smart to scope out the local riding areas & they had already visited Fire Mountain!

The thin haze covered the Sound~

Once up on top, you could plainly see the haze had filtered the earlier bright sunshine.  It was one of those kick-back days - we enjoyed a couple fast trots on the trails & soon Linda directed us to the new one.

Blocked Trail~

On the Magic Forest Trail, the corner that has been there forever, was blocked with limbs, rocks etc.  The bike riders had re-routed it to the other side of the big Cedar that's on the left.  We don't know why- nothing wrong with the corner.

Dry views~

First time in my memory that I've seen this view of Whitehorse & Three Fingers with their glaciers melted down so low...  You can see the haze in the air here too.

New Signage too~

We turned onto the new trail, soon coming to this new sign.  The trail took a turn here & horses are directed around a downhill section.  We're not sure why - but it works for us.

Linda & Count going through the middle of an old stump!

The trail was well laid out - but very soft in many places.  If enough horses go over it - it will be compacted faster than just the bikes would be able to do.

Another sign~

As we came off the by-pass, there was another sign at the bottom with a vine maple bent over to mark the spot.

Old road~

The trail dropped us down onto this old logging road that was once a trail.  Linda said it wouldn't take much to get it re-opened.  The bikes plan to start another section of trail off this road eventually.

Toward the west side~

Heading back toward Linda's on the trail I hadn't ridden since the hill was clear-cut, the change in the view was apparent!  From forest, bright sunshine over the new clear-cut area.  Linda has finally made a path through the worst of the left-over logging debris, it allowed us to complete our loop.

Wood cutters~

  As we came off the top & onto the road, there were wood cutters working away to load up the left-overs.  They were nice enough to shut down the equipment & we stopped to chat.  We spent as much time chatting today as we did riding :-)  Almost!

Our route~

All the zig/zags to the far right - is the new trail, it cuts right down the hillside & it is really pretty.  Very nice to have new trail, it's in an area that shouldn't be too hard to maintain.  Most of the trails are again open & if this weather holds, we can hope to have access to the trail system for a few extra weeks this season.  Fingers crossed!