We made a six mile loop out of Mount Finlayson, Cattle Lighthouse, and Jakle Lagoon. This involved taking a short stretch of pavement but otherwise was great. So much variety between history, grasslands, lagoons, a lighthouse, intertidal walking, and shaded forest.

We saw much wildlife including many foxes. One was all black, several multicolored, and at least one that was way too habituated to human food.

Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures, Coopers Hawks. It was a changing onslaught all day.

We spent the day on San Juan Island hiking various trails.

We started with the Mount Finlayson loop that connects with the Jakle's lagoon trail, which we extended to Cattle point by following the bluff trail. This was an early trail so we got lucky with wildlife: we crossed a few deer multiple times while on our way to Mount Finlayson, then we saw a bald eagle very close to us from the bluff trail. Finally, we watched several seals playing in the sea weeds (or having breakfast, unclear) beyond the Cattle point lighthouse.

Our second target was the Lime kiln point state park loop that ascends to the quarry before returning back along the coast to explore a few lime kilns, including one that is still in good shape and finishes at the lighthouse. It's pretty short but the initial accent was steeper than expected, so that was interesting.

We did a snack pause at the Wescott Bay Shellfish company shack before a short ascent to Young Hill from the English camp to get some great views of British Columbia. The main trail up is gradual and well maintained. I've read of and saw a much faster and steeper trail but we decided to keep to the main trail for the way down to avoid the sun that was hitting strong at that point. The main trail is in the forest, which seemed like a more pleasant option.

Finally, we explored the sculpture garden at Roche harbor. That was quite an interesting experience although we sped up in some uncovered sections because of the sun. There is quite a lot to see and the exploratory format was a nice touch.

It's hard to find a good hike in November, as I'm sure most of you are aware. We decided to head to San Juan Island because typically it's a little less rainy there. And it was! A really great day to beat the blues. The trail starts at Jakle's Lagoon; I was expecting a "Mount Finlayson" sign, so we missed it. We did the hike clockwise, which I do think is best. It was also nice to use a navigation app, so you didn't have to worry about the intersecting trails. More info and pics on the link below, or at slowesthiker.com

I have hiked this loop for over 30 years that I’ve lived on the island. I suggest hiking it clockwise, opposite of the description. I always enjoy walking through the cool forest for the first bit, then climbing steeply up to the ridge top. As you emerge from the forest the incredibly expansive view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Olympic Peninsula, Mt Rainier, Cascade Mountains, southern San Juans, and Vancouver Island simply blast you. It is an unparalleled view of some of the most beautiful landscape anywhere.

There were plenty of spaces available at the Mount Finlayson trailhead this lovely Friday at 9:00. Starting from the parking lot, we took the Mt. Finlayson trail east, paralleling Cattle Point Road. This section of the trail was open grassland, with lovely views across the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. (Great panorama, but the kind that doesn’t photograph well.) It was shady in the morning, but would be sunny in the afternoon. There was one short, moderately steep (150 ft.) switchbacked ascent. We saw a couple of deer.

At the turnoff to the summit, we instead turned left on the dirt trail down into forest, towards Jakle’s Lagoon. There was a steepish descent (200 feet), then mostly level walking through beautiful shady forest. We saw a pair of bald eagles flying through the forest and chittering loudly to each other.

We took a short spur to Third Lagoon, where there was another lovely water view. Then we returned to the parking lot, for a total of 3.75 miles, 403 feet ascended. We met about 10 other hikers and a couple of other leashed dogs.

I was hoping to see foxes on this trip. We didn’t see them on this hike, but we went to nearby South Beach for lunch, and there were a black fox and a blond fox hunting by the side of the road down to the beach.

This was a beautiful hike! We loved it. We’ll probably repeat it clockwise in a few days, but going counterclockwise was great because we got the prettiest ocean views right away.