Trip Report
CHS 1 Hike - Saint Edward State Park
The weather cooperated - winds and rain picked up as we were finishing our closing remarks. Common mergansers and Pacific wrens and good conversation for this CHS-1 kick-off with a 1.9 mph avg. moving pace.
Courtenay Schurman
- Tue, Apr 14, 2026
- CHS 1 Hike - Saint Edward State Park
- Saint Edward State Park
- Day Hiking
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Portapotty at the north trailhead has been removed. Fortunately the restrooms at the bottom of the trail (lakeside) were open and well timed for a visit before our second bluff ascent. Discover Pass is needed. We descended North Ridge, ascended South Ridge, visited the Grotto, then descended via "5" trail (not the Seminary Road as originally considered) and up North Ridge. Trails are in great condition, no blow downs or over-unders. It looks like the park is undergoing some restoration.
5 of us from CHS-1 (including one alum) met to enjoy a Tuesdays with Court adventure exploring North, South, Grotto, and a middle path. I wasn't sure the weather would cooperate (sustained topping 12+ which is my upper limit for safety) but I told people we'd see at the trailhead. Fortunately we got lucky and were able to do the entire distance, just a slightly different way than intended. The lake was lapping the shore and we had whitecaps on the first leg down!
Partly our objective changed due to winds out of the south, forecasted to increase by mid-morning, so we went up South first instead of down second. Good plan, as the winds started to pick up as we finished. We explored nasal breathing and pacing, 2.2 down and 1.7 up for a 1.9 moving pace average. And we also enjoyed 21 bird species including an eagle, 8 common mergansers, and a large number of chickadees, kinglets, and Pacific wrens.
A strong performance to kick off the CHS-1 season for these folks.