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Getting There
Take NW Skyline Blvd north from NW Germantown Road. The Skyline Blvd Trailhead is 1.6 mi and a parking are available on right (east) side of the road.
It was earlier than most of my other hikes here: ~12:30p. There were no cars at the trailhead.
The Hike
Distance: 9.96 miles
Elevation Gain: 2,060 feet
Calories: 1,318 (Fitbit)
Steps: 21,686 (Fitbit)
Floors: 243 (Fitbit)
Again, the AllTrails app failed to record my hike. Getting lame. And the Fitbit wouldn't track my heartbeat thus didn't capture any zone minutes. Argh!
It was a good hike. I made my usual stop at Benjamin George Collins bench on Wildwood. It notes his passing on Feb 14, 2002 so just a couple of days after the 20 year anniversary.
a moment of silence.
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RIP, BGC!
The people were friendlier than usual. In fact, an older guy stopped to chat about different routes by combining the Wildwood Trail with various Firelanes and the BPA Road. I mentioned I was 1/2 through my loop and that I was heading toward Hwy 30.
The only bizarre thing was I got stuck behind three woman and 5 dogs on the Firelane 12 from the BPA Road. Usually, people hiking with dogs (if they're not jogging) tend to go a bit slower, for the dog to pp or #2. Often a group will stop and let you go by but that never happened, but these three hikers and the dogs was cruising fast and I could barely keep pace. I finally slowed down to put some distance but somehow I kept catching up with the slowest of three.
The bummer part was one of the ladies had a dog that was off-leash and she kept yelling at it every 10 secs when it wandered too far ahead of the group. The peaceful tranquility was repeatedly broken by this hollering. Ugh.
At the Firelane 12 + 15 intersection, I just stopped and let them really gain some distance. It was steep hill and I keep closing the distance. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to seem like I was tailing them.
I caught up on the section just before crossing Wildwood. They were all stopped, looking at the trail sign. Two of the dogs came up, wagging their tails. I smiled and held my hand down where they could sniff me out.
As I ascended the steep section of Firelane 15, I could still hear the one woman yelling at her GSD.
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While I was back at my car, changing shoes, a guy stopped and gushed about the Jeep. I can't remember exactly, but he said something like "that's a dream rig" "so badass". I was speechless and smiling widely. I mustered a "Thanks" and waved as he drove off.
