Haller to Nakashima - Centennial Trail~

Cool, cloudy, so a good day to do my due diligence.  I drove to Haller Park in Arlington, to ride the north end of the Centennial Trail.  I was so mad to see the tagging on the Trestle...  All these years, such a beautiful bridge & fools have to deface it.  Crazy how much time & effort it costs our hardworking Rangers to clean up after these idiots...

Haller Trestle heading north~

I walked Farah across, there were people playing in the river on both sides & underneath - I saw no point in risking a spook - since she was in one of her moods.

Looking west, Highway 9 crossing the Stillaquamish~

The views from the Trestle are so pretty - any time of year.  The flow of the river is down, but not as low as last year.

Looking east at 530 crossing the Stilly~

Farah was acting foolish & I get so tired of it.  When she's looking for things to shy at - it's far from relaxing.  The sides of the trail were freshly mowed, which made for perfect footing!

Picnic table gone?

I'll have to ask why both the picnic tables are gone from this nice little area.  I was disappointed here too, trash lying about.  Though it doesn't look it at this point, there's a lot of branches down, some shrubs that could be cut back & some pick up work done.  Since tp paper littered the ground - I'd be wearing gloves :-(

What happens to BAD horses!

After Farah refused & threatened to spin at a rock - yes - a rock that she's passed twenty times before...  I got off & had her butt moving in a circle so fast that my head was spinning - all the while smacking her with my stick on her rump.  As we saw the gate above - I explained that it could happen to her!   : -)

Ready to cross Hwy 9

By the time we got up here, she had finally settled down.  Even riding defensively - we were making really good time & both of us had a layer of sweat from the humidity.

Over Pilchuck Creek~

Here too, people have found a way to access the creek & were down in the water enjoying the warm, if cloudy afternoon.  A few people were out on bikes, most very pleasant - but one guy who thought he had the right-of-way on the bridge.  He soon found out that a horse can take up pretty much all of the width if they have a mind to!

Horse path mowed too!

We saw a pile of bear scat in the center of the trail!  So, either the bears up at Victoria do come down this far, or there's more in the area near the creek.

At the Barn~

All the beautiful native plants that were put in as part of the landscaping are being overrun by invasive weeds.  The little strawberries are working to cover the ground ahead of them!  Most of the trees & shrubs are doing fine & we watched Red-winged black birds flying in & out of the cattails.  

From the unimproved to the trail~

I rode up the unimproved part of the trail & we stopped for our lunch break.  There was plenty of tall grass for Farah to graze on.  I thought about riding up to Hwy 9, but it was pretty overgrown.  Butch was picking Ben up on his way home from work - so I wanted to get back at a decent time.

Native roses blooming~

Butch has taken on the task of painting new mileage markers on the paved portion of the trail.  The design of the stencil is our trail logo - the mileage numbers will be in the center.  It's much larger than we'd envisioned - soon we'll be out one evening getting mile #1 positioned & painted.  Before that though - the mileage points have to be marked.

Looking south from the barn~

We checked out the barn before we left, just a few cars were in the parking lot.

New sign~

I like the new little sign as you head down the trail - cute & so true!  I didn't see one single piece of trash in the area - with trash receptacles provided - there's no excuse.

Coming back to Pilchuck Creek~

The day hadn't gotten any brighter - pretty quiet on the trail for a Friday afternoon.  We were moving out about 9-10mph most of the way - so it didn't take long.

Ramp at the Quarry ~

The ramp that is almost between Farah's ears, will be the access from the new parking area to the Whitehorse Trail once it's completed.  That will be such a boon to horsemen - since it will have trailer parking spots.

From the Whitehorse Trail~

I rode a way down the Whitehorse from the Arch to see how things were progressing from this angle.  It's looking promising!

 I thought I'd filmed all the way across - but I goofed up.  We were almost across by the time I realized it & turned the camera back on. It still gives you a glimpse of what it's like.  I'll have to do another next time.

Google Earth view~

 I couldn't resist seeing what our crossing looked like on Google Earth :-)  I guess we can walk on water!

Farah enjoys the pasture~

We covered almost 16-miles round-trip.  Once home, Farah got a bath & we both got soaked :-)  I turned her out & stood there admiring our girl.  I'd thought about going to Renegade - it's been a few years - but our weekend is full-up!  Hard to believe that the Fourth is almost here!