Day 16: Saint Edward State Park Trails and surrounds

Highlights:

I again started my day with Glenda’s yoga class from Victoria and happily got a late start on Day 16's walk.  Since, as I mentioned in my last post, I planned on taking my new blow-up kayak on its maiden voyage later this afternoon, I did a relatively short walk (7.62 miles) and used almost 10 of my banked miles to meet today’s target. 

On the real Camino, I would have completed 16.5 miles from Carrion de los Condes to Terradillos de los Templarios, passing fields of blooming sunflowers, tracing ancient Roman roads, and stepping back into Templar history.

My Faux-mino took me to Saint Edward State Park, another glorious waterside resource for hiking and walking, which incorporates the beautiful campus of Bastyr University, a pioneer in science-based natural medicine since 1978.  

The park has a well-groomed and connected system of 14 trails – most called hikes (more challenging hills and switchbacks) and others called walks which tend to circumvent the park.  Hiking is much slower than walking and it took me almost 2 hours to cover 4 miles of trails.  I then picked up my pace by hitting the roads hugging the park to complete my goal for the day.

While on a city road, I stopped at a gas station store to use the facilities. When I asked if there was a restroom, I was told grumpily, "no".  When I then asked if there was a restroom if I bought something, I was told grumpily, "yes".  This reminded me of the real Camino advice to always plan to buy something in village stores where you need to use the facilities.

After this relatively short trek, I rushed home to get ready to take my kayak out for the first time with my friend Carol on Cottage Lake near my old Woodinville neighborhood.  The maiden voyage was a complete success – my little blow up is easy to ...well, blow up and steady as a rock to enter, navigate and exit.  Carol did of course feel compelled to ram me with her much sturdier boat but I’m sure she was just testing its strength.  We are definitely ordering another one for Don so that we can start kayaking together here as we used to when we lived on Pender Island in B.C.

Now, dear readers, I need to plan Day 17 where I will return to do another leg of the Centennial Trail north of Seattle.  Have a great night and ¡Buen Camino!








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