I love hiking even though I'm a pretty wussy hiker, so I'll be sticking to trails that are less than 5 miles and 500 ft elevation gain, which are also usually good trails for dogs and kids. If you are in good shape, you are welcome to come and hike at your own pace even though I will lag far behind you. If you are in not-so-great shape, you're also welcome to come and you'll be in good company. ;-)

Twanoh State Park is right on the Hood Canal out on the Olympic Penninsula. There aren't great views of the mountains or the canal from the park, though there are some great vistas on the drive there. What the park does have is a great trail running along a beautiful little creek in a tall forest with lots of interesting deadfalls, which climbs fairly quickly to a total elevation gain of 375 ft. Believe me, fellow wussy hikers, you will likely huff and puff but it feels good getting up to the top of that hill, it's very do-able! The forest shows all its beautiful ecological diversity on the way up, as the access to sunlight changes. At the top of the hill there is a toilet and a picnic shelter and potable water before the trail goes back down the hill in gentle switchbacks, for a total length of 2.3 miles.

To get there from Olympia, take 101 north toward Shelton. About 10 miles north of Shelton/the airport, take a right onto SR 106 and follow it for about 12 miles, through the town of Union to the park entrance on the right. It takes just under an hour to get there from Oly. Look for me in the parking lot next to my white Ford Escape Hybrid with the bumper stickers.

Afterward we could maybe stop in Union for some lunch. If you have a kayak and would like to add a little kayaking on the canal, the park has a boat launch area directly across SR 106 from the parking area and trailhead. If you'd like to carpool please start a thread on the message board.

EDIT: I've changed the time of this event. I will now meet folks who wish to carpool at the westside Tops parking lot (near the mailbox) at 11:30 am. This should put us at the trailhead between 12:15 and 12:30pm, for anyone who wants to just meet us there. Depending on how long we wish to dawdle in the beautiful park, we should be done with the hike before 3pm and be back in Olympia before 3:30pm.