Wednesday August 28, 23.2mi/37.3km

Alger Alp Trail (913.8/912ft) to Bayview State Park (937.0/36ft) (WA)

Today I descended to sea level, so I put some Lil Jon on the music playlist to celebrate. Ha!

I started off by doing a short roadwalk, to get across the I-5 freeway. This was the first, and only interstate crossing of the whole trail! The AT had like 15 crossings.

And then, onto some nice trail!

A few miles into the woods, I entered state DNR land, and they named it the British Army trail.

It went by a couple of “lakes”, which were more like shallow ponds.

There was a short climb up to 2000ft, and I reached the summit of Oyster Dome. It had amazing views of the Puget Sound, and the San Juan Islands.

I’ll have to come back here someday soon to explore those islands!

The trail down was nice, and very green with ferns and sea moisture in the air.

I got down to the trailhead at noon, and this flyer made me hungry, so I stopped and had first lunch.

The afternoon was a paved roadwalk. Not ideal, but the views kept me entertained.

A few miles later, I found a key on the road! I feel like I’m in a video game, maybe in the next level I find the thing it unlocks…

The route was mostly thru farm country, with the occasional store or business. This junction was an easy decision, always choose deliciousness over violence.

The PNT went thru the tiny town of Edison, where I stopped for 2nd lunch and had “the best fish and chips in Skagit County”.

Then, just 6mi/10km more roadwalking to finish the day.

Mt Baker is almost 100 miles away and still visible, damn its big!

I arrived to the state park, which had a campground, at 5pm. It had a beach too, which was nice for views, but the water was kinda gross. One of the campers told me there’s a refinery nearby.

Some historical plaque explaining the history of the beach.

After an hour at the beach, I setup my camp. I get oddly excited about being able to sit and eat at a picnic table. It just feels so right, rustic and civilized at the same time.