Squak Mountain — Bullitt Fireplace— February 19th, 2017
What is the Bullitt Fireplace?
Dorothy Bullitt was an amazing woman who lived her life in Washington State. She owned KING am radio, KING-FM, and eventually KING-TV. She was the first woman in the United States to purchase and own a television station.
The Bullitt family was affluent and was actually the family that donated the deed for the beginnings of Squak Mountain. You can still see signs when you get to the original Bullitt deed that state you are only allowed to hike in these areas — this was specified in the deed. The remains of the family home are still standing on the land.
The Hike
The trail starts at the edge of a small parking area, complete with large-hole lavatories. The parking space fits about 15–20 cars, including the grassy areas.
The trailhead actually leaves this parking lot and finds its way onto an actual roadway. You will take a right onto the roadway (which goes to the central peak) and up ahead you will see a sign pointing you to go left — follow this onto the trail.
The trail begins gently, with a small stream passing around you from time to time. You begin to work uphill as the stream gets more intense — passing over rocks and under bridges.
After walking past moss-covered trees and swashbuckling swordferns you will come across a fork in the trail. Come to this fork and you will see a sign — follow the sign to central peak, 2.7 miles. It is at this point that the walk starts getting steeper.
You continue on, steam to your flank, as you start to ascend the mountain. You pass beautiful snags, bushels of devil’s club, and rather large rocks. There is another bridge towards the portion where the stream begins to get to its most turbulent point.
Central peak — 1.9 miles.
At this point you begin to start to feel like you have gotten a little bit off of the ground. The trail edge to your right begins to steepen and you begin to start taking more switchbacks. You can see the stream get farther below you.
Central peak — 1.6 miles.
At this point you finally see the words “Bullitt” on a sign — you see the sign for Bullitt Gorge Trail. From here the trail continues to be another incline up towards the peaks. Continue following to central peak.
Central peak — 1.3 miles.
At this point taking switchbacks should be normal to you. You should start to look down and think “yeah, rolling down there would hurt pretty bad.”
You eventually come across a sign for a named “Debbie’s View”. Honestly this was something that I was not expecting, and I got mildly confused as to if I was actually at the peak at this point. The sign says 0.1 miles, but the trail really feels closer to 0.25 miles.
You now head back down the trail that you came to the view (it is a dead-end) and you now continue down the trail that you had been heading on not a few minutes before.
Central peak — 1.0 miles.
This trail proves to begin to be quite the hill climb. You go up, down, then back up again. The trail here is also partly covered by such objects as fallen trees and, funnily, a pile of wooden pallets. Most obstructions have a path to the right of the object — the fallen trees can be easily traversed.
Central peak — 0.6 miles.
Shortly after this sign you will see the remains of the Bullitt family home. All that remains is the foundation and the fireplace — but it is a gorgeous fireplace. There is also a picnic bench that someone was kind enough to haul all the way up here.
I proceeded to go a little bit further. The path to the central peak was a little hidden, masked by some hanging branches and being relatively untraveled compared to the continuation of the Bullitt trail that is just to the side.
I did not get to the peak as I was unsure if the trail I was on went there or not (turns out it did), and I was getting tired at this point. I headed back, going opposite the way I came.
By the time I was heading back the woods had begun to fill with fog — it was beautiful.
Conclusion
Overall I would highly recommend this trail for a good hike to start the season as it sharply reminds your body of what kind of shape it needs to be in. I did this in February in the Seattle area, so it was a bit wet — be ready for that.
