My name is Murphy. My pet parents wanted to take me to a new trail on Guemes Island, called Dog Woods. I liked the name. They said I could go off-leash there, if I behaved. I’m pretty good at behaving, but sometimes I get distracted. They said there were lots of interesting things to see. They said something about cairns, cedar groves, and autumn leaves. I’m more interested in unusual things to smell. We walked onto the ferry to Guemes, then a little over a mile to the Dog Woods. The October day was sunny and warm. We got to the trailhead, and my pet owners sat down on the bench in the field to talk and things like that. I sat in the grass and nibbled a little. Then they took me off my leash! We got up and started walking along the northern trail, a wide grass-covered pathway still wet from recent rains. The aromas along the trail were all new and fresh. I wandered along with my nose to the ground, loving the wild odors of this place. My pet mom threw a ball down the trail and I chased after it, getting it out of a puddle once. At Cooper’s Crossroads we turned left, and soon came to an amazing tree growing over and around a tall stump from long ago. My pet parents looked at it for a while and took pictures. I wasn’t interested in the tree but in the many smells of all the creatures that have crisscrossed this path. A Douglas squirrel scampered along the branches of the next tree, and I followed underneath hoping it would come down, but then I remembered I had to behave myself, so I just watched it climb another tree further in the woods. We followed the LeMieux Loop clockwise, the sun dappling through the tree leaves, the warm air drying the ferns and tree leaves above. I found rock cairns scattered along the trail at just the right height for me to leave my mark on a couple. My nose kept me entertained as we wandered along, past deer runs and various animal scats and brushy warrens and everything else that excites the nose of a terrier. Eventually we got to another fork in the trail. There were little maps at every intersection, and at just the right height for me. But they didn’t have any scents, just lines and words. My pet parents looked at them to know where to go; I just followed the scent trails that other hikers had made. We entered a deep glade of cedars, their branches drooping down to the ground. The trail steps up and over a root and winds past a row of little rock cairns showing the way. The sunlight was muted here, the shadows deep and wide. But then the forest changed back into alders and maples and birch with ferns, salal, and native blackberries beneath. A chipmunk dashed across the trail in front of me, but I was focused on the yet another fragrance invisible to my people parents. Leaves showered down upon us lightly. Juncos chirped and flittered above and around us. We passed an open circle of what looked like firewood stacked just a little taller than my head all around a large rock perfect for sitting on. My pet parents took advantage of that, sitting for a spell as I wandered around the earthy-smelling wood composting itself into soil. We took a side trail to a living stump, which looked like just a short tree trunk at my level. And soon we were back at the grassy field where we began. I had walked the trail without a leash and loved every whiff of it. We walked the beach back to the ferry, the memory of the odors and the leash-free freedom lingering with me the whole way. Murphy https://guemesisland.info/dog-woods-trail/ Directions: Take your bike on the 410 bus or drive to the Guemes Ferry Terminal at 6th Street and I Avenue in Anacortes. On Guemes Island, turn left on South Shore Drive, go west one mile to West Shore Drive, and follow that 0.3 miles north.
By Bus: It's a 1.3 mile walk from the Guemes ferry landing to the trailhead. By Bike: An easy rolling hills bike ride from the ferry to the trailhead. Mobility: The trail is grassy in places but mostly dirt, and mostly level, with some uneven areas.
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Maribeth Crandell has been a hiking guide in the Pacific NW for over 20 years. She's lived on Whidbey and Fidalgo Island for decades. As a frequent bus rider she easily makes connections between trails and transit. Archives by date
April 2024
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