Sometimes it’s an uphill struggle in life. We can see the path ahead that leads up, always up. It can be daunting, discouraging, and dismaying, but we also know that the struggle and strain that are required are more than worth the effort when the peak is attained, the goal achieved, and the reward in hand.
Or under your feet, as the case may be.
It’s little more than a mile from the Trail 26 trailhead, and just a climb of maybe 500 feet, to the 1273-foot summit of Mt. Erie. How far is a mile? Well, you learn and earn that right off. It’s particularly different from ten-tenths on an odometer. It’s one thousand seven hundred and sixty steps on the dead level. But nothing about this trail is on the dead level, other than the feeling of being dead after a couple of the rock and root-filled uphill stretches, and promising your level best to get in better shape before the summer.
A black-throated gray warbler and a Townsend’s warbler sang point/counterpoint with each other as we paused to rest in one place. The sigh of the wind in treetops high above us provided background music in another. The peace and quiet were almost palpable. It was dead silent, apart from the distant hush of the high wind and the occasional chorus of a friendly towhee or kinglet.
I made the mistake of remarking how quiet the forest was.
A second later there was an ear-splitting roar of an EF-18G screaming over us. All sense of peace and certainly of quiet was blown away by 105 decibels of military might.
The echoes subsided, our ears could hear birds singing once again, and the whispering sigh in the boughs above returned as a background meditation.
We resumed our trek upwards.
Kath and I took turns with Murphy. After a tough stretch of roots and rocks, I waited for Kath, mostly to give myself some rest. She clambered up to join me, shed her puffy, and gave Murphy a well-deserved drink of water.
We were at the halfway point, where a switchback in the trail comes close to a switchback in the paved summit road. A solo hiker passed us with kind greetings about the quiet of the day and the beauty of this place. He was the only person we would see on our entire hike.
The second half of the trail was more of the same: a stretch of steep rocks and tangly roots going almost straight uphill, our breathing labored, our hearts beating hard, then a gentle stretch to catch our breath before the next short climb, ever onward and upward to the top.
So why do we do it?
The runner is paid by the snap of the tape across her chest and the roar of the crowd. We are paid by the picture at our feet. The view from the summit of Mt. Erie is always a stunning experience even if you’ve seen it a hundred times. The bald rocks drop away into nearly a thousand feet of air. Far below us, two red-tailed hawks circled on an updraft. Beyond that Campbell Lake mirrored the blue sky, and beyond that lay the dark forests of Whidbey, the islands of Skagit Bay and Rosario Strait, and beyond that the curve of the earth.
It feels good to say “I summited this peak” or “I know this trail.” But of course we don’t; what we know better is ourselves, and this trail and this peak have helped. I have photographs, and tired but strengthened muscles, and sweat under my armpits, but mostly we gained the smells, the songs, and the sweetness of the forest and hills to be stored somewhere deep in the spirit where they will reside as companions to share and understand for the rest of our lives.
With thanks to Jerry Russell in "On The Loose"
Visit https://youtu.be/O8NGLgQO1EQ for the 4-minute video of our hike.
Directions
Directions: From the Deception Pass Bridge, go north on Highway 20 and turn right on Campbell Lake Road. At the Lake Erie store, turn right onto Heart Lake Road. Follow this a couple of miles to the Mt. Erie road called Ray Auld Drive. Either park here or go part way up the mountain to more trailheads, depending on how much time you have for hiking and how much energy you have to climb a thousand feet.
By bike: These roads have relatively narrow shoulders, but once you leave Highway 20 the traffic is light.
Mobility: most of the trails on Mt. Erie are steep, narrow, and as the title states, full of rocks and roots. The road to the top is an alternative depending on your distinctive abilities.