We venture a little east of our islands for this week's hike...
Before white folks, streamside wetlands and rolling hills filled this land above the plains of the Skagit flats. Beavers created ponds; salmon swam the streams; elk browsed the brush. The Upper Skagit lived well within these habitats since time immemorial.
Newcomers cut the forests, removed the beavers, and plowed the wetlands, eventually building the town of Sedro-Woolley nearby.
In the early 1900s, the Northern State Hospital opened here as a farm colony where resident psychiatric patients helped with agricultural work, contributing to the hospital's self-sufficiency. Over a thousand patients lived here at one time. The hospital closed in the early 70s.
Skagit County purchased over 700 acres of the surrounding grounds in 1991 to develop a major recreational facility. The investment of Skagit County Parks and hundreds of hard-working volunteers are transforming the land back into a natural landscape accessible to all.
This week, our hike reflected these many aspects of this land’s history.
The closest parking area is the grounds of the former Northern State Hospital, now the Port of Skagit County’s SWIFT center. Brooding buildings graced with lovely grounds designed by the Olmsted brothers welcome us to the area. The trail begins nearby, dropping to the Dovetail bridge across Hansen Creek, a significant salmon stream, then along a short stretch of graveled road to the Pumphouse bridge.
A beehive of volunteers busily buzzed around the Pumphouse bridge area, working on the trail. They loaded and guided motorized wheelbarrows laden with gravel for the trail and removed hundred-year-old debris. Others repaired a rock wall near the bridge; still others removed invasives further along the trail. This group is the Skagit Trail Builders, volunteers who gather twice monthly to spend a day creating and building this magnificent array of hiking routes. A contingent of volunteers from The Mountaineers also assisted on this day while also hiking the trail to learn many of its amazing stories.
Kath and I walked in our own hushed amazement at the work that has been done. The trail is a creative masterpiece. Some trails get you from point A to point B, with little in between to capture your heart. The point of the Hill Creek trail is not to get somewhere, but to be somewhere, to be delighted in each bend and turn of the pathway as it leads from a babbling brook to an open flower-filled meadow to a buzzing wetland overlook to an ancient cedar grove hushed with timeless eternity.
We marveled at every turn of the trail, creatively winding among trees, hills, dales, old growth, young growth, flowers and fields, wetlands and highlands. Each turn seemed to bring out a comment of “oh, look at this,” or a smile of delight, or a meditative appreciation for the loving care in creating this trail.
Nearing the halfway point, we dropped down to the brand-new Song Sparrow bridge, its dedication coming up in early September. We climbed the nearby North Knoll, a rounded bald rock rising high above the trail. Dropping back down the steep side trail, we continued on the loop, coming to a future Wind Phone in a hollowed-out cedar, serving as a wind phone in its own way right now.
We wandered down to Hansen Creek and listened to the gentle joys of the waters, watching a leaf fall into the creek to be carried downstream.
Flowers sparkled in the sunny meadow as we passed back through, a welcome warmth after a chilly week. We felt like kids on spring break, like butterflies newly emerged, like youngsters trekking newly discovered wilderness.
Back at the trailhead, the volunteers continued their busy work, smiles on their faces as we thanked them for their hard work and dedication. Trails like this don’t just happen, of course. They take the investment of government resources to protect the land, creative planning, and thousands of hours of volunteer sweat, a sweet gift to us all.
The hospital closed over 50 years ago, but its grounds continue to be a place of healing for the mind, body, and soul, thanks to those who have created this haven of nature and beauty.
- Yes, there is a video! Go to: YouTube.
- For information about Skagit Trail builders, visit their Website.
- For Northern State Hospital background, go to their Website.
Directions
Directions: Take Highway 20 east of Sedro-Woolley to Fruitdale Road and turn left at that signal. Go to the roundabout in a couple miles and enter the SWIFT Center. Go left at the T, then right on Hub Road, and park at the east end. Don't park anywhere else on the hospital grounds. The trail is in the trees straight ahead, with a portapotty right there.
By Bus: Skagit Transit has a bus stop near Fruitdale Road, leaving a couple mile walk up Fruitdale to the center.
By Bike: The 22-mile Centennial Trail passes by the signal at Fruitdale Road. The SWIFT center is an easy ride from there.
Mobility: The trail is mostly all packed gravel, two to three feet wide, and with occasional gentle hills. The bridges are wide and level with firm wood surfaces.
Trail conditions: Superb, a well-made and maintained trail, and getting volunteer maintenance attention for six hours every other Saturday except in mid-summer. Join them if you can!
Republished with permission. Read the original article.