May Valley Loop, Bullitt Gorge, Perimeter Loop Trail & West Peak — Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026

My hiking group had a great winter hike from Squak Mtn State Park to Debbie’s View today. 16 cars were in the Th lot when I headed up the trail at 9:30. One of the Two vault Toilets was open with TP. It was 30 degrees with clear blue skies. Our 6.8 mile route followed May Valley Loop, Bullitt Gorge, Perimeter Loop, side spur to Debbie’s View, Perimeter Loop, West Peak back to Bullitt Gorge  trail where we retraced our steps back to the SP TH. The entire trail system is hard packed, well drained, saturated soil. For the day we had to step over 4 deadfall trees, all easy to do. A few places early on were frozen soil. It felt great to have the sun filtering through the trees the entire time we were out. At Debbie’s View we were bathed in a warm sun even though it was in the low 40’s. A large group was leaving the viewpoint when we walked up at 11:30. They were all excited to meet Debbie A (namesake of Debbie’s View) at the viewpoint. She had moved on before we arrived. Trail traffic was really light except on our descent where we encountered early afternoon dog walkers within a mile of the TH. Wildlife sightings were limited to: a Douglas squirrel, Robin, towhee and a couple creepers. A Pilated woodpecker was also heard calling. We drove off at 2:40 after a fantastic hike on Squak Mtn.