Our Mountaineers group of six made the most of an inconsistent weather weekend by soaking up the sun on Friday, hiking the cloudy Saturday, and getting the heck outta town on Sunday. This has become a biennial favorite, and we had a couple of first-timers -- I always enjoy bringing folks to somewhere they've never been before! We took our time on Saturday morning and left from Mountain Lake Trailhead about 9:00 a.m. to do the Mt. Constitution Loop. I've done the loop clockwise and CCW twice each now. We did CCW by majority vote, but I recommend CW to get the rough trail out of the way early. All the trails are in great condition, with just a few muddy spots and no fallen trees crossing the trail. Mountain bikes are allowed on the trails 9/15-5/15, and the couple of groups we encountered were cautious and shared the trail well. It was cold and windy at the stone tower at the summit, with few visitors and limited viewing distance. Many side trips are possible -- Twin Lakes, Cold Spring, Little Summit, Cascade Falls -- and we took all of them. Hot showers, an excellent pasta dinner, and Trivial Pursuit rounded out the day! We woke up Sunday to a power outage and medium rain, so decided against a hike of Turtleback Mountain in favor of an earlier ferry home. See you in two years!

My mom is not much of a hiker and we are vacationing together, so she dropped me off at Mountain Lake and I hiked from there to the Twin Lakes and up to Mount Constitution. The hike to Twin Lakes was cool and easy w/ lots of beautiful views of Mountain Lake and a nice wide trail. The loops around the Twin Lakes (.4mi. for the Little Twin and .6mi. for the Big Twin) were nice diversions before climbing the 1.5mi. to Mount Constitution. It was somewhat steep (a good workout for the legs/ glutes), but gorgeous. The turnout w/ the view that some people missed is located at the sign facing uphill that points descending hikers toward Twin Lakes and Mountain Lake. If you take the path to the left from the back of that sign, there is a nice little lookout. There was an angry chipmunk squawking at me for some reason when I got to the lookout (must have had babies nearby?). Also saw a huge spotted slug near Little Twin Lake.

We decided to reverse the direction of the hike from that suggested in the Moran State Park brochure, preferring to warm up on the fairly gentle slope to Twin Lakes and then climb to the summit of Mt. Constitution from there. The plan worked well for us as it was more pleasant to go up the many switchbacks than it would have been to climb the trail straight up to the Little Summit area. The weather was nice when we started; foxgloves in bloom in sunny areas were quite beautiful. At Twin Lakes we saw a couple bald eagles up close. Then, on the way up to the summit, clouds closed in and I put on a sweater; my husband had only his rain jacket and was a bit chilly. We missed the spur trail mentioned in the park brochure, which supposedly leads to a knoll with a view. Since it would have been cold with no view, it was probably just as well. This is one of those hikes to a summit that can also be reached by road, which is a mixed blessing. In our case, we were very glad of the complimentary (donations accepted) warm beverages in the Summit Gift Shop, which is run by friendly Park volunteers. My husband was able to buy a warm vest here as well, which was very helpful as we were essentially inside a cloud on top of a mountain in the middle of a large body of water. We didn't bother to climb the tower to see the non-view (we had driven up at dusk the night before, when it was clear). We returned to Mountain Lake via the Little Summit trail (no view there either but the outhouse there was handy)and then punished our aging knees on the steep trail back down to the lake. On the way we saw a buck with velvet antlers growing in; he browsed without any concern for our presence at all. All trails were in good condition; however, I suspect the trail between Little Summit and Mountain Lake could be slippery in wet weather. We made the hike in high-end walking shoes rather than hiking boots and it was basically fine, although boots would probably be better.

Finding a good long hike in San Juan County is not easy, and Moran State Park offers one of the best options. My family of four, with two boys ages 5 and 9, went over to the park for the day and enjoyed this amazing hike. Starting from the picnic shelter parking lot at Mountain Lake, you climb abruptly and relentlessly to the ridge that then traverses to the summit of Mt. Constitution. This climb is steep, no doubt, and views are few, but it feels great. Our two young boys had no trouble, but they are used to this sort of thing. It is a 1,500 foot climb from the lake to the summit. Nearing the summit you get outstanding views out over the northern sound. Cypress Island, Lummi Island, and the northern Cascades all stand out. The stone tower at the top is always a highlight, though it is crude compared to the 13th century stone masterpieces my family recently saw on the island of Corsica off the coast of Italy. No cement there, just perfectly shaped and placed stones that have resisted wind and earthquakes for many hundreds of years. Anyway, the CCC work is still nice by 20th century American standards. The drop down the back side of the mountain is very steep as well, and takes you down to Twin Lakes. The trail starts off the northern side of the parking loop near the tower. From Twin Lakes, it is an especially nice hike back along Mountain lake to your car. This hike is completely clear of logs and in great shape overall. No mud problems and easy to follow. Though the altitude climb and drop may not work for all families and people, it is perhaps the most vigorous hike in the San Juan's and well suited to that purpose. It is a 7 mile loop, and even our 5 year old had no trouble.

The trails of Moran State Park on Orcas Island are perfect for the family or dog-lover. There are lots of easy options which can quickly add up to a full day of walking. We walked around the South side of Cascade Lake, which is a pleasant forest walk to a bridge; the walk around Mountain Lake is longer but more secluded; the top of Mount Constitution is popular, but has one of the nicest sunrise/sunset views in the state of Washington; the trail to Cascade Falls is very easy and short, but there's lots of fun stuff for the kids to do, including walking under the falls and climbing on fallen trees. On the other hand, the hikes on Turtleback Mountain were mostly disappointing - lots of bland forest walking with tons of stinging nettles intruding on the path. One more note - while almost everyone swims in Cascade Lake, Mountain Lake is actually warmer and much more pleasant.