Hiking on a Thursday afternoon, I worked my way down the Red Barn trail, and ultimately to the 630 Viewpoint, that looks west over Hwy 522 towards Seattle and the Olympics beyond. When I arrived, an Oregon Duck alum named John was on his cellphone. We cant't really expect solitude in park, but since I was about to eat lunch, a little quiet would have been nice. Instead, it felt like sitting in a restaurant with a guy in the table next to you talking loudly on his phone. John didn't really modulate, nor did he make much of an effort to shorten his call. I suppose he figured he was there first.
I could have decided to be upset at his breach of hiking etiquette, but instead, I decided to go with flow, and eat mt PB & J on a rock as planned. His conversation rambled on as I focused on the distant vistas beyond. While he was still on the phone, a friendly, medium-sized dog came up to me looking for a handout. Turns out it was John's dog, Dusty. For a moment, John turned from his conversation to say, "I hope he isn't bugging you." He really wasn't, and wandered off disappointed when he discovered I wasn't in a sharing mood.
Eventually, John got off the phone, and offered to share a new map of the park and give some background on a few of the trails. Historically, Lords Hill has been notorious for a lack of signage and inaccurate maps. Apparently, a renegade trail blazer named Dave, is building new paths throughout the park. According to John, park officials tried to bring him in the planning process in some official capacity, but Dave is not interested in the bureaucratic strings that might limit his capacity to build a trail where he wants it to go. He sees his mission as blazing rugged trails for hikers that discourage mountain bikers and horses whom be feels are tearing up the park. He has an aesthetic appreciation for nature which the old utilitarian roads and railway grades that became the core of the park's trail system dramatically lack.
John thought the Midway and Riverview trails were the work of Dave. In one of my rambles, following orange blazes, I might have crossed paths with him. I thought he worked for the county.
I think John sees him as a folk hero. When I that mentioned that trails need to be surveyed and cut to avoid erosion, he told me hikers don't cause a problem, and big logs are left on the trails to discourage horses and bikes who create a muddy mess of things.
I also learned that "Meet Cutter" was not a trail named by hungry carnivorous mountain bikers, but an old logging rail grade to a private residence of the Cutter Family who warn off trespassers with a sign featuring a gun barrel.
Before John and I parted ways, I told him I thought it was interesting that the park ranger cared so much about Dave. In my nearly two decades of hiking, running, and riding Lords Hill, I have never seen a ranger in the woods. "No," John, said, "but I met one at the entrance, where Dusty got a $100 ticket for being off-leash."
https://snohomishcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/63318/Lord-Hill-Trail-Map?bidId=
