May Valley Loop



We felt guilty about leaving Mary home alone all day yesterday, so today we did a hike in a place where dogs are welcome, Squawk Mountain State Park. 

It was less than an hour’s drive away and had enough trail to make it worth it. We did a loop of about six miles, with around 1,700 feet of elevation gain. 


The weather was typical - near 50 degrees and a chance of rain. It wasn’t raining when we left, but it set in pretty good a couple of miles into the hike. We met other people with dogs, and several trail runners, which made me feel slow for hiking. 


I think it may be a better route for trail running than hiking. It was a fine hike, but it didn’t have a great focal point. I think there were a couple of vistas, but it was a little too rainy to see much. We sheltered under a tree for a brief picnic at the halfway point, and then hustled the second half of the trail back to the truck.


We shed our guilt of leaving Mary, but if Mary could talk, I’m pretty sure she would tell us that next time it would be fine to leave her home. She was wet, muddy and actually fell down once when she got her foot caught in a vine. I know dogs shouldn’t really fall down, and I’ve seen her fall a couple of times lately. I think her 13+ years are catching up to her. 


We were all pretty glad to get back to our warm, dry house. Usually, when we push ourselves to go out in adverse conditions, we end up feeling pretty good about it afterward. I’m not sure any of the three of us quite got to that point today, but at least we gave it a good try and got in some exercise. 


https://parks.wa.gov/find-parks/state-parks/squak-mountain-state-park 


https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/squak-mountain



Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 24, 2026 at 10:49 AM

    You guys are all tough. We love reading your posts. Ruth and Gerard

    ReplyDelete

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