Winter hike...

What to do on a sub-freezing day in January? Going for a hike sounded like a good idea. So we bundled up, and off we went. We recently learned about the Sequalitchew Creek trail near DuPont, which runs from town all the way to Puget Sound.



This is a great trail... not too steep, well maintained, through a beautiful canyon lined with tall trees and ferns. There is a lot of history here. At the lower end of the trail are signboards that tell about the Native American people who lived here, the early settlers, the duPont wharf, and the early railroad. You can walk all the way to the rocky beach; the trail runs under the railroad tracks through a double concrete tunnel. One side is for foot traffic; the other still has the narrow gauge track.

The only steep part of the hike was when we climbed the switchbacks up to the top of the hill, where the duPont plant once stood. The trail runs between the old security fence and the edge of the bluff, with a peek-a-boo view of Puget Sound, the Olympics, and the south sound islands. The trail runs through a canopy of trees, so gorgeous in the late afternoon light.



One last little discovery was down a side trail, which led to a clearing on the edge of the bluff. Nothing remains of the 1841 observatory that once stood here, but duPont marked the spot with a monument.