Orcas Island Getaway: Day 5

This morning was drizzly, but we decided it would be a good hiking day. We chose a 4 mile loop around Mountain Lake in Moran State Park. First we stopped by the Island Market for picnic food.

Once we were on the trail under the trees, the rain didn't bother us. The lake water is a beautiful blue-green color and has a lot of salmon in it, although we didn't seem them or the opsrey and eagles that hunt the area. It was a pretty quiet hike, since we pretty much had the trail to ourselves.

We came upon a large patch of foxglove. It grows wild here and the flower spikes are so tall that some of them are taller than me. Part of the hike was through an old growth forest, and the size of some of the trees was rather daunting.

We stopped to eat our lunches at a vista above the lake, and then easily finished the last 1-1/2 miles. The only wildlife spotted on this hike were a few birds and a lot of large banana slugs, which Rosie was somewhat fascinated with. One of them was as long as my hand!

After the hike, we drove to Summit Lake, where we'd visited on our honeymoon 10 years ago. Since it was overcast, the large yellow lotuses weren't open, so we missed them again. 10 years ago, we were too late and they'd all died back.

We ended up at Mount Constitution, which gives a fantastic view of the surrounding islands. We all went to the top of the lookout tower (yes, even me!). It was built by the CCC in the 30s or 40s, modeled after lookout posts in the Caucausus Mountains in eastern Europe.

We were ready for some coffee, so we headed back to the Beach House. After we cleaned up, we went into Eastsound for dinner at Lu Lu's Pasta Rustica—yummy!