Loop: Crazy 8s, Not Shawn's

Distance: 3.4 miles
Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

This morning Raney and I are off for a shorter hike, to cover two new Galbraith trails. It's a nippy morning, and even with a double layer of shirts it's cool hiking.

We start at Padden Trails parking lot on Samish Way, and in ten minutes are going by the kiosk labeled checkpoint Alpha. (See directions to Galbraith access points.)

Headin' up Road 2000.

The steep climb warms us up quickly, and at 1.4 miles, 27 minutes we arrive at blue rock junction. Here we take the left fork to stay on Road 2000.

In a short time we go by the Checkpoint Charlie kiosk. We can see Mullet trail coming in from the right, and Cheech & Chong descending to the left.

Blue rock junction.

Checkpoint Charlie kiosk.

At this point we start looking for the next trail on the left, which will be Crazy 8s. At 1.6 miles, 32 minutes, we go by a big puddle, where Raney dives in - a tradition of hers whenever we go up Road 2000.

A few steps past that, we take the entrance to Crazy 8s on the left, bearing us westward. On today's short hike, we're as far north as we'll get today.

Entrance to Crazy 8s.

The first part of Crazy 8s is a nice, parklike setting, unlogged and picturesque. After that we go through a logged section and - at 1.8 miles, 38 minutes - we come to a sign for 911 trail. We double back a few steps and we can see a narrow branch-covered trail that must be Crazy 8s.

Oops! We hit 911 trail, and have to retrace to find Crazy 8s.

Before long, Crazy 8s comes to an area that's choked with piles of branches. We do a bit of scrambling, and after some route-finding we re-find the trail.

It takes work to continue. For a while we follow some logging equipment tracks to try to re-find the trail. My compass app tells me we're heading south-west. We proceed on, trying to re-connect the different sections of the trail amidst the logging debris.

At 2 miles, 51 minutes, we come out on Road 2200. Now we're looking for Not Shawn's trail. I haven't found Not Shawn's on previous hikes, so will have to look more closely this time. 

At 2.2 miles, 56 minutes, we go by a distinctive orange pinnacle of a stump on the right side. It's a good landmark for Not Shawn's, which begins on the right about 500 feet later. The trail entrance is blocked by branches and somewhat hard to see.

Not Shawn's trail starts out pleasant enough...

...but quickly gets choked with logging debris and large branch piles.

Looks like we're two-for-two today on the trails: both have been covered by branches.

On Not Shawn's, we come upon some small stunts and boardwalks, mostly broken down.As we walk we find bits of pieces of the trail, and then it's intermittently blown away by the logging activities. It's slow going, and it takes some compass work and vectoring to make progress in the right direction.

Eventually we come out on an old logging road and that takes us to Road 2000. We turn right to head out.

Not Shawn's is Not Good right now due to logging clutter.

At 2.8 miles, 1 hour 19 minutes, we're going by Checkpoint Alpha on our way to the yellow gate out. We're back at the parking lot at 3.4 miles, 1 hour 29 minutes.

I can't recommend either of these trails at this time, but hopefully after some trailwork this fall they'll be usable again.

Passing the checkpoint Alpha kiosk on the way out.