Lisa vs. Lunds Gulch

The Pacific Northwest is a prime location for outdoor enthusiasts and rightly so. There are dozens of trails to walk, mountains to hike, and bodies of water to explore. The views are often picturesque and a reminder of why I moved here more than a year ago. On a recent Saturday afternoon my boyfriend Jeff, his dog Frankie, and I hit the Lunds Gulch trail with excitement.

The title of this post implies that I battled Lunds Gulch and well frankly I kind of did. When it comes to hiking I’m a novice at best, particularly because I’m used to living in flat areas. Before venturing out I checked out Lunds Gulch on the Washington Trails Association website and read several trip reports written by others who had been there. I went in feeling good about this mini adventure. It’s considered to be an easy hike so I didn’t have any worries. 

Frankie seemed to have fun on the trail.

The trail is a little over a mile long and ends at Meadowdale Beach It’s pretty steep for about the first three quarters of the way. At some points it was better to just jog down rather than trying to walk. In the back of my mind I thought “this is nice but I wonder how I’m going to fare on the way back up.” I’ve since learned a gulch is a small, narrow valley with steep sides. That’s exactly what we encountered.

Along the way there were quite a few places to stop and take in the scenery which included decades old trees shooting towards the sky. There’s also a stream that runs near the path. Hearing it coursing over stones was soothing. We didn’t see any but the winding stream is home to salmon and fresh water fish. 

After walking the winding trail we crossed a small bridge and it opened up into a small meadow. There was an area to throw horseshoes, a shelter, and picnic tables. From there we walked through a tunnel that led us to the beach. We had a great view of the Puget Sound. Just beautiful. I could’ve stayed out there for hours. We even saw two trains go by.

After exploring we headed back to the car. That task proved to be more difficult for me than I expected (Jeff and Frankie didn’t break a sweat). Some areas were pretty steep and I had to take a couple breaks. Between my asthma and being a bit out of shape I struggled more than I would’ve liked. The crackle of thunder also put pressure on us to get back to the car quickly. It started raining but thankfully the thick tree canopy kept us pretty dry. With encouragement (and patience) from Jeff we made it to the top. I was pretty tired but happy. This was just round one and I’m ready to do it all over again soon.

 

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

-Albert Camus