Mt. Constitution
MORAN STATE PARK, ORCAS ISLAND, WA :: Kristie and I joined our friends for a weekend of camping and hiking on Orcas Island. We pitched our tents on a small peninsula along Cascade Lake in South End Campground. The forecast promised a lot of rain over the weekend, so canopies and tarps were setup as well.
After establishing camp, we drove up to Mountain Lake Campground to start our hike up Mt. Constitution. Our plan was to take a trail straight up, but we somehow missed the fork and ended up walking along Mountain Lake until we came to the junction for Twin Lakes. We pressed on and saw a sign for Mt. Constitution, just a little over a mile and a steep climb away.
The summit is 2,407 feet above sea level. At the top, there's a neat stone tower that we climbed to enjoy great views of the other San Juan Islands and Vancouver Island. Our timing was perfect, as the sun was just starting to break through the clouds at this time. It would have been a completely different (and likely miserable) experience if we had the rain we were expecting.
After a quick lunch, we headed back down the way we came. Beams of sunlight were now filtering through the trees and across the lakes. When we arrived back at the junction for Mountain Lake, we decided to complete the loop around the other bank to get back to our car. This added a couple extra miles to our hike, making it about a 9 - 10 mile trip overall.
More photos at
Jayson's site and
The Hostel Witness.
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