| Date: September 5, 2006 | | Location Eel Lake Trail Hike | | Where: William Tugman State Park | I'm constantly looking for new trails to hike, and this trip was to check out a trail I had found listed on the Internet, the Eel Lake Trail. Not only is this trail not written up in any hiking guides, nor shown on any maps, it has, as I was to discover, absolutely no trail signs!
|  | | Jeanette looking out from the west side trail segment We started our exploring by hiking from the day use area around the west shoreline. The trail was easy to pickup next to the boat launch, and pleasantly traveled through thick evergreen huckleberries, across a bridge and up through dense rhododendrons and huge cedar trees. However, after about a mile, we came to the end of the trail builders' work in a tangle of rhododendron and thick forest.
|  | | Buster looking for the beaver that did this We retraced our steps back to the day use area and struck out towards the east shore, where after crossing a bridge we found a solid trail. This became a delightful trail, punctuated with outlook points and resting benches.
|  | | Buster and Jeanette at the 1.5 mile marker At the 1.5 mile marker, Jeanette picked up Buster so I could get a photo of him and the mileage sign. He protested very quickly, and soon was traveling on his own down the trail again. We turned around shortly after that with the promise to come back and explore the trail further.
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