We were back again to hike in one of our favorite places. We started from the main parking lot and walked up to the old dairy barn ruins, then followed the wide gravel road north to the Pump House trailhead. We hiked the Hill Creek Trail going north then turned right to cross the Song Sparrow Bridge and taking the Pumphouse Trail south back to the trailhead. The trails are in great shape thanks to the Skagit Trail Builders. In fact, these trails are some of the best constructed trails I've seen anywhere.

Western bleeding heart was in bloom along the trail. Dandelions were blooming in the grassy meadow areas. Bigleaf maple, birch, cottonwood, and alder were just leafing out.

The parking lot is ample. The bathrooms are right by the parking area and are clean and well stocked. This is really a nice area.

A great place to explore after visiting the Tulip festival, only 25 mins away. Totally worth it. Super interesting and a lot of history is there, check out the ghost stories online. You can park in one of two lots, and walk onto the campus in less than 5 minutes. Didn’t explore any of the hiking, but just walking around the old buildings is cool enough. Gate closes at dusk so we parked on the street with no issues.

While we have been to Northern State multiple times. We usually just stay on the main loop. Today we had the time and wanted to explore the Hill Creek area of the trails! 5/5 recommend having the time to go check out the Hill Creek Loop! It is amazing! The pumphouse bridge is really cool but just wait until you see the song sparrow bridge. It was so beautiful and worth the hike. The trail is almost all gravel and accessible to all, except maybe the distance. I think some strollers could make it out there. Flowers are starting to show including trillium, bleeding hearts and miners lettuce. My 9 year olds favorite flower is the bleeding heart and he was so excited to see them blooming. It’s also worth the little trek up Big Rock. That’s a very cool rock you can climb up. We ran into some trail crew and talked to them for a bit. My kids loved these trails as well. The forest is lovely, the creeks were beautiful, flowers and bridges, oh my, it was worth it! The old buildings and barns are cool, too. We also check those out. If you have younger children that can, some of the graffiti is offensive but there was a few snails, flowers and mushrooms graffiti that was nicer than all the profanity. We hiked 4.25 miles. 

We hadn't hiked here in about three years. We were excited to discover that a new trail has been constructed; the Hill Creek Loop Trail. We started from the main parking lot, walked around the old barn buildings, then north from there. We veered right on to the Horsebarn Trail that turned out to be soft, wet and slushy. Our feet were soaked, so we turned around, and thereafter stuck to trails with packed gravel tread. Apparently it had rained quite a bit the prior few days, so any trail that wasn't gravel-packed was soft and slushy. We worked our way west and came to an interpretive sign that had a big map showing the trails, including the new Hill Creek Loop Trail. So, we took that. It's a beautifully constructed trail, packed gravel, and strategic culverts. It's a work of art. We came upon a work party laying new gravel and packing it. They were also working on constructing and reinforcing the bridge abutments on the new Song Sparrow Bridge. That bridge is also a work of art. At the north end of the Hill Creek Loop Trail is a the "Big Rock," a knoll of some fairly solid rock no doubt smoothed by the advance of the ice sheet. We made the short climb to the bald area on top of the rock. To finish our day we walked the Veterans Loop Trail. With the current trail system, you could easily walk more than ten miles. It's a beautiful area. The trails will take you through a variety of woods, meadows, and creeks.

4.61 miles starting at Veterans Plaza parking lot. Veterans Loop>Mx road>Pumphouse trail>Hill creek loop trail>Horsebarn Trail>Mx road>Veterans Loop

Bear and cougar signs (recent cougar sightings, though I saw neither)

Peaceful solitude, a few people on the trail with dogs