CBRC

Whidbey Island is beautiful and there are tons of choices for hiking and running near-by. When I was sitting in the lobby of my hotel here, I was skimming through a visitor's guide and noticed a little blurb about Kettles Trail Park. Kettles are unusual Ice Age geologic formations. The guide said the trails were connected to Fort Ebey, which we had previously driven by and I wanted to explore. Luckily, my two co-workers were game to come test the park. We went to the infomation center first to pick up a map and went inside to talk to a park ranger. He was very helpful and even marked out a route to take. He estimated our total run would be about four miles. I think it's safe to say that estimate was off. Anway, we parked by the Gun Battery. Stacey, my co-worker, was going to walk along the Bluff Trail to the beach access (about a mile) and back and find somewhere to stop and read. Del and I were going to run/jog/walk it. I am out of shape from not running for weeks and I didn't know how my foot was going to handle the trail. The first mile went fast. The trail along the bluff was wide enough for one and the view was beautiful. I stopped to take a picture and realized by how small the people on the beach were and how high up we were. We turned into the woods on the PNT Trail and headed toward Lake Pondillo. The ranger mentioned that this is a fresh water lake. This is where it started to get tricky. The trails weren't marked very well, the one downside. We headed up and up the trail, hoping we were going the right way. When we spotted Grandma's Tree Trail, we knew we were okay. That trail looped around and didn't look long on the map, so we took it. I think it was at least a half mile, but the huge tree was very cool. We soon connected to Kyle's Kettle Trail. This took us by the big kettles. And I should mention these trails were hard work, lots of up and down, but they were also very beautiful and not bad root-wise. Kyle's Kettle Trail crossed over the entrance road and we were next on Raider Creek Trail. This also had a very good climb and we made our turn onto Campground Trail. This is where things again got hairy. We were looking to run on Forest Run, but instead turned on Woodpecker Haven Trail. That lead to Braveheart Trail, which is a very new trail and named so because if you were to ride it on a bike you would need to be. That looped up back around to Raider Creek Trail. We ended up missing the whole back loop of our run, but decided that it was okay due to time. We headed back to the Gun Battery to meet up with Stacey. Del did make the comment that for all the times he has been in the area, he never knew about this park. When we told someone else the day before that we were going to run at Fort Ebey, they mentioned that the park is on the state list to close. I hope this doesn't happen because it is a great little gem nestled away. I will post a map when I get back, along with our suggested route for anyone who might travel this way.

Sounds like alot of fun, especially since You got to run!

I bet it's amazing there. The Northwest is so beautiful & it sounds like Whidbey island is quite an oasis. Glad you were able to do some trail running. How'd your foot hold up?

At your urging, I just got trail shoes this week, so I'm ready for Mrs. Smith's next month. If that goes well, I may shoot for VHTRC's women's trail half in Sept. -- maybe you can join me! (Sue, you too, and anyone else who needs a trail fix).

My foot is feeling so-so, but the rest of my body is screaming at me! I'm walking like I'm 100 years old!

I should be going out there again in August and plan to do more exploring, but it made me excited to start running (hopefully) soon again. I'll post the map and a picture or two later today. I'm suffering just slight jet lag here.

And Sue and Claire, here's the link: http://www.vhtrc.org/half/index.htm

I think we should all plan for this race. It looks like a lot of fun!

That race does sound like a lot of fun. I might be considering it....