Last Thanksgiving we travelled to Anacortes to be with family. My in-laws moved there over 10 years ago and we have come to like this small community in northwestern Washington. A great feature of Anacortes are the Community Forest Lands. The Community Forest Lands are almost 3,000 acres of forested lands and lakes on Fidalgo Island where Anacortes is located. Cranberry Lake, the largest lake in the Forest Lands, has a parking area very close to my in-law’s house. On a cool and damp but not wet day, I took a walk around Cranberry Lake.

Cranberry Lake is at the north end of the Forest Lands, near the Washington State Ferry terminal that connects the San Juan Islands with the rest of the world. It also connects to Canada too, but that’s a different story. There is a steep dirt road up to the parking lot at the north end of the lake. The spillway is next to the parking area and you have a beautiful view south over the lake.

At the parking area there is a nice map that shows the local Forest Lands (this view only includes Cranberry Lake). The trails are well marked and very well maintained.

On my hike, I took the the trails that closely followed the shoreline. There are some beautiful views of the lake.

On the flatter, more forested side, the trees tower over you.

As I mentioned, the trails are well maintained. On the south end of the lake, you do get pretty close to the water and I had to jump over a few low spots, but it was not a big deal.

As a northern, damp forest, the area has a continual turnover of trees as the older ones lean over the lake and eventually fall in. There are some pretty spots where the like reflects a tree in a mirror-like way.

The area is so different from my usual desert haunts. It is damp and moss is all around. There are banana slugs. Life is everywhere, which is true of the desert, but it is more obvious in a rain soaked forest. This root had some interesting patterns and, thought I did not notice it at the time, a face in the middle of the image. (Click on any picture to see a full-sized version.)

In the dim, fall light, there are parts of the hike that get spooky. And then you see the branches of the trees all twisted around. Definitely spooky.

At the south end of the lake, there are some dead trees sticking up out of the water. Perhaps killed when the lake was dammed? I don’t know. But they are stark and beautiful.

The dead trees rotting in the lake are probably a good way to get in the water on a hot summer day. Not so much on the day I was hiking, but by the time I finished my hike, I was quite hot.

The other side of the lake reflects the old, stranded trees in a different pattern.

On the east side of the lake, there is a steep and rocky hill. On the hillside, there is a mine. We visited it a few times, but recently the trail has been cut off because the area burned a few years ago. Nonetheless, the hillside and the trees above it are impressive.

The authorities that run these Forest Lands have a sense of humor. I didn’t have a dog, so I wasn’t on a leash.

Adding one more photo since Facebook tends to pick up the last picture for their thumbnail.