Hike Coordinator: Lane Harris
Narration by Lane Harris
The Sutton Creek Recreational Area is a lushly forested area flanking Sutton Creek, which was mostly hidden by the thick growth. It was like walking through miles and miles of a vegetation tunnel, with some sand dunes sprinkled in here and there.
We departed from Alder Dune Campground with a threatening overcast sky and a chill in the air. The trails here intertwine in and out of the coastal forest and do their best to confuse hikers, as there are several intersections that make you stop and take stock of where you are. We made an effort to make sure the hikers out front stopped at each of these intersections so we wouldn’t lose those bringing up the rear.
Although the area to the east of Sutton Creek is a mix of dunes and forest, the trail that runs parallel to the creek is pretty much a solid tunnel of vegetation. In the warm summer, this would perhaps be a welcome respite from the sun’s rays. But on this cold day, the tunnel had hikers begging to break out into the open so they could verify that there was still a sky above their heads! In the meantime, there was plenty of lush greenery to admire and to pass the time.
We arrived at Sutton Campground where a few of us took advantage of the facilities. The hike through the campground is necessary if one wants to reconnect with the trail that leads to the Holman Vista day use area to the west. A simple task if you know where that particular trail starts. And since you’re in a campground and walking on pavement, it’s not like you’re going to get turned around and miss the trail.
After getting turned around and missing the trail, I had to look at my GPS to locate it. I’m grateful that my good-humored hiking friends were the only ones to witness an experienced and seasoned hike leader using his GPS within the urban confines of a civilized campground to find his way out. I can just imagine some camper seeing this spectacle and thinking to themselves, “Well, there goes a special kind of stupid!”. Fortunately, it was like a ghost town here, and any possible embarrassment was restricted to just those who know me and my humorous fallibilities.
Once we got back on the trail, it was almost all tunnel along the length of the creek. We eventually got to the day use area where we took a quick lunch and pondered the usefulness of having a GPS while hiking. At this point, it was just a matter of finishing up the loop and making our way back.
So, some more tree tunnel, and more forest-covered dunes to trek back through. By this time, our group had sort of fractured into smaller groups, but everyone knew the way back. By the time myself, Colby, and Richard got back to the trailhead, we saw that everyone was accounted for. It was a good day for hiking through tunnels, and it appeared we had finished just in time, as no sooner did we get back on the road than the rain started coming down. But best of all, my GPS wasn’t getting wet.
More pictures on Richard O’Neill’s Flickr page