I found another big gulch on the map. In fact, it's called Big Gulch. Don't hurt your brain trying to come up with a good name or anything, guys. It's actually got more than one trail on the map, so I knew I could go there and follow all that I saw and see a great deal of what's there, if not all of it. Normally I like to climb up first and then walk back down on the sidewalk, but the moon was so amazing this morning. I hoped if I did the residential portion on the way down first, I'd get a good picture of it.
Just after I got out of the car, I spotted this flower's perfect twisting vine. Too bad the rising sun made the flower itself so overexposed.
The moon had nearly set by the time I got down there, but the views were absolutely insane. I didn't stop to look at any of the real estate prices in the Zillow app, but I'm sure people pay an absolute fortune to live there.
I'm glad I was there early. Sometimes there's a shoulder on the road, sometimes there's not. I'm curious what these people do when they have parties, it's not like there's a single space of street parking. Do they shuttle people in? My choice to walk down to there paid off as there was nowhere to leave the car. In fact, the trailhead is on a government access road you're allowed to walk down, but non-official vehicles are forbidden.
It's narrow and winding enough that there's a mirror so vehicles can see around a corner.
Official signage and trail markers everywhere! So fancy.
Don't go to Big Gulch if you're prone to vertigo. Even though the trails have nice supports and real bridges, it's still pretty high up and intimidating.
One trailhead's at the Mukilteo Library. They maintain a little wilderness garden in the back.
I couldn't stop thinking about what a wonderful neighborhood amenity these trails are for the people who live nearby. If you lived by the 92nd Street Park, where I left the car, and wanted to go to the library, there are two nature trail routes you could take instead of the noisy main road. so nice!
Even a lot of the people who work nearby have spots where they can jump onto the trail.
Some mushrooms for
suxdonut.
Lots of death stairs in this one. Thankfully. Some of the trails in Japanese Gulch really should be stairs. There's exactly one set that I've found. Again, I'm glad I went the way I did, because I prefer to walk up steps like that instead of down. Especially when there's no handrail.
The route.
4.2 miles in 1:41, 9,071 steps, 389ft gain
I wish you could tell by looking at the map that you can't drive past where I've marked point A. This is the third service road I've been to that looks like you can drive on it on the map, but can't. I've walked on this and one other. The third had a sign saying I couldn't.
