We took the grand tour loop of Larrabee SP. The cloudy weather was perfect for enjoying the beautiful forest.
We started up the Fragrance Lake trail. There are several big old fire scarred Doug Fir on the way up. It is a rare example of low elevation old growth near Puget Sound. There's evidence of "high grading" by long ago loggers. This was back in the days when they would go in and just take the choice trees and leave most of the rest.
The loop around Fragrance Lake is a real pleasure. There's some large sandstone cliffs on the west side of the lake that are interesting to see.
The Double Black Diamond up to the rock trail is more of a mountain bike route than a hiking trail but it is good exercise.
The Rock Trail in my opinion is the highlight of the hike. It was beautifully built by WTA adjacent to some very interesting sandstone cliffs. The trail is a real engineering feat and required many steps.
The return walk on the South Lost Lake Trail had an unexpectedly nice old forest much of the way.
Our intentions were to take the Double Down trail back but it is only open to bikes. Instead we took the Fragrance Lake Road trail (gated gravel road). There's a nice waterfall along the way.
10.2 mile loop, 2300 ft
We had an excellent pizza lunch at the Terramar Brewstillery in the very quaint town of Edision. I highly recommend it. We also did a little bird watching in the area. We did not have the good fortune of Bob and Barb from a few days ago but we did see several Bald Eagles, a Short Earred Owl and hundreds of Trumpeter Swans (Rawlings Rd).
Comments
hikingwithlittledogs on Larrabee State Park - South Lost Lake Trail, Fragrance Lake, Larrabee State Park - Rock Trail
Your report reminds me it’s been a while since I’ve been up there. Is that fossil hard to find? Thanks for sharing photos. Love that owl with the eagle in the background!
Posted by:
hikingwithlittledogs on Feb 20, 2025 08:15 PM
Maddy on Larrabee State Park - South Lost Lake Trail, Fragrance Lake, Larrabee State Park - Rock Trail
The leaf fossil was literally right in the middle of the South Lost Lake Trail. I stepped right on it. I attached the photo to the AllTrails tracing so you can see exactly where it was.
Posted by:
Maddy on Feb 20, 2025 08:31 PM
hikingwithlittledogs on Larrabee State Park - South Lost Lake Trail, Fragrance Lake, Larrabee State Park - Rock Trail
Thanks! It’s on my must see list! I’ll try not to step on it!
Posted by:
hikingwithlittledogs on Feb 24, 2025 08:21 PM
Bob and Barb on Larrabee State Park - South Lost Lake Trail, Fragrance Lake, Larrabee State Park - Rock Trail
What a nice loop you did! I am hoping that we will be able to do the Rock Trail when we are camped at Bayview SP in mid-March as it is one of our favorites! Bob is doing well after his pacemaker implant so hopefully we can do this trail then.
Posted by:
Bob and Barb on Feb 20, 2025 10:50 PM