Whistle Lake Looks Like A Great Big Summer Camp

I want to go to camp at Whistle Lake. I'd like to spend a summer jumping off the age-appropriate bluffs and cliffs, following the numbered paths that lead to who knows where. I bet I'd get to almost every one of them, and then have dreams all winter long about the ones I missed. It's that kind of place, one that engages the imagination.

It's also delightfully obscure, at least when you're trying to get there. It's tucked away behind the hilly neighborhoods of Anacortes. The lake used to be the town's water source, and you can see some of the old pipes down the middle of the path. Now it's part of the Anacortes Community Forest Land Trail, so you don't even need a Trail Park Pass.

Because our region's snowcaps are two months behind in melting, I had been relegated to a winter hiking book to find a place to trek even though it's July. Now, where I come from, July is the opposite of winter. In any case, summer was in full swing at Whistle Lake, and there was no snow in sight.

Even early on a weekday, the area was very popular with groups of young swimmers and hikers, dogs and mountain bikers. Although I think it would be much more poetic if it were called Whisper Lake, Whistle is more fitting, as we heard plenty of shouts, splashes and squeals.

There were some lovely coves and cliffs, some full of swimmers, some not, and it was hard to figure which bluffs we had seen because the lake curves again and again. The lake water was clear, and we could see the bottom far out from the shore. Fish jumped every once in a while, disturbing the surface.

The trails are well-marked and numbered around the triangle-shaped lake. The Wallrath trail, marked Trail 20, leads from the parking lot to Trail 205, the predominant path located at the back of a clearing, less than a quarter-mile from when you first see the lake. Trail 205 takes you to Toot Swamp, an open wetland that must be good for bird-watching at dawn and dusk. At midday, we were honored by the presence of a Western tanager in the woods, with its bright red head and neon yellow body.

After the swamp, keep taking right turns until you return to Trail 20, back to the parking lot. The loop around the lake is 2.8 miles, unless you explore side trails. It's a total of 3.5 miles from the parking lot, around the lake and back, and the walk takes about three hours, with only 400 feet in elevation gain. We didn't get lost, we just kept turning right.

We enjoyed seeing madrona trees growing out over the water, and we tried to figure out what the color of their peeling bark should be called - terra cotta? brick? sunset? I'm used to seeing them on the San Juans, and it was nice to get a look at them without having to take a ferry.

We got done pretty early in the day, earlier than I would've liked, but that gave us a nice bunch of time to go to . . . the nearby outlet malls in Burlington. Not something I would usually consider a delightful use of a sunny summer day, but, when combined in small doses with a terrific hike, it made for a good mix.

Tina Kelley's column runs Fridays in Northwest Weekend. She can be reached at Northwest Weekend, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111 or via e-mail at weekend@seatimes.com.

---------- If You Go: ----------

For those who want to know where some of those side paths along Whistle Lake end up, special trail maps of the area are available by writing to the Anacortes Community Forest Land Trail Office, P.O. Box 547, Anacortes, WA 98221.

You can also pick up a map from the Anacortes Visitors Center at Ninth Street and Commercial Avenue. Call 360-293-3832.

To get there, take Interstate 5 to Exit 230, for Burlington and Anacortes. Take Highway 20 west and continue to Anacortes. At the end of the highway, turn left on Commercial Street. Turn left on Fidalgo Avenue and then left on St. Mary's Drive. At the end of the road, turn right on Hillcrest Drive and then right on Whistle Lake Road.

When the road ends, turn left on Whistle Lake Terrace, then take a gravel road on the right. Go right at the fork, on the road that is not marked "Whistle Lake." Bear right at the next fork and find a parking area for three trailheads. The Gerry Wallrath Trail leads to the head of Whistle Lake.