10 great ways to wind up your winter

By the calendar, we have 24 more days of winter — the spring equinox is March 20. It's that awkward time of year for the outdoors fiend: The ground is saturated, if not frozen. Days are often wet and cold, but buds are budding. It's not the dead of winter, but it's not quite spring. What to do? Where to go?

To answer that quandary, we asked outdoors writer Mike McQuaide of Bellingham, who rambles all over Western Washington at all times of year, to name his Top 10 places to go and things to do as winter winds down.

Biking Galbraith Mountain

The old logging road to the top of Galbraith Mountain east of Bellingham is a brutal climb that until recently repaid your lung-busting efforts with an awe-inspiring view of a communication tower. Oh yeah, and the chain-link fence that surrounds it.

It was especially vexing because you knew you were about 2,000 feet above the seaside city of subdued excitement and that just over there are the San Juans and Vancouver Island, over there is Mount Baker and her multitude of snowy Cascade siblings and that just about directly below you is Lake Whatcom. But you couldn't see any of that.

Now though, that's all changed. With the recently opened Wonderland Trail, one can zip right on past the tower — either on foot or knobby bike tire — and enter a vast clear-cut area (it's private land on which the public is allowed to recreate). Here, spread before you as far as the eye can see are island-dotted seas, sleeping burgs and bustling cities, fertile flatlands, hills, dales, valleys far into lower British Columbia, and right over there, the northernmost of the North Cascades. It's the view you always knew was there.

"Awesome," said my friend Brian Steele a few weeks ago as we mountain-biked the winding Wonderland's many twists and turns down the north side of Galbraith Mountain. At least I think that's what he said; this being clear-cut, there's nothing to block the wind, and this being February, there's lots of it, thus most of our words were instantly air-mailed toward Whistler.

On bike, or running shoes or hiking boots, Galbraith Mountain's Wonderland Trail (see www.galbraithmt.com for more info) is one of my favorite places to spend the remaining days of winter.

Ever notice that in winter it rains? And that things, including you, get wet? This can be annoying except when it's not. A visit to Bridal Veil Falls, about 21 miles east of Monroe, is one of those times when it's not.

Here, a gushing torrent of water rumbles as it tumbles down 100 feet from a rock cliff almost directly overhead. It's thrilling, exciting, and this time of year, when the mountains are loaded with snow that's ever in the process of melting into Puget Sound, can be deafening.

Slippery, too. There's water flying everywhere, so hold on to hands and paws of the young and furry ones. Step too close, and the rushing current would think nothing of sweeping you off your feet and down into the Skykomish Valley hundreds of feet below.

Note: The trail-end falls viewpoint is at an elevation of about 1,600 feet and can sometimes be snow-covered. Before heading up, check with the ranger (360-677-2414; www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs) for the latest conditions.

Kayaking Larrabee

Just south of Bellingham, the swirls, whirls and honeycombed holes of the Chuckanut sandstone cliffs along Samish Bay at Larrabee State Park are some of the Northwest's true wonders. And paddling beside them in a kayak is probably the best way to experience them, especially those stretches unreachable by land or trail.

There are seaside stretches where, high in the cliffs, among the tenacious firs and shiny-barked madronas, roost whole neighborhoods of great blue herons, their shoulders hunched up about their necks like cartoon gangsters. Skyward, bald eagles wheel and deal, while far below, curious harbor seals poke their heads above the surface wondering, "Whassup?" Among the tidepools, orange and purple sea stars add a touch of Technicolor.

Winter means that fewer power boats are out, and the chances of having a pleasant paddle to yourself are mighty good.

Larrabee State Park info: www.parks.wa.gov or 360-676-2093.

It's a funny thing about the Chilly Hilly. At 33 miles long, this annual Bainbridge Island bike ride (this year's is this Sunday) doesn't sound particularly daunting. And I mean, chilly isn't so bad. It's nothing that a little Lycra and Gore-Tex and oven-mitt-sized gloves can't deal with.

It's the hilly that surprises and — along with the bucolic scenery along the mostly country roads — takes your breath away. A shade under 2,700 feet worth, most of them roller-coaster ups, downs, dips and doodles that will push your heart rate into the red zone, but thankfully not for too long. (We're not talking RAMROD's climb to Cayuse Pass here; Chilly Hilly's maximum elevation is about 300 feet.)

But with 4,000-plus other riders — last year's 4,700 was a record — you won't suffer alone. It's a party on wheels, a kick-off to the biking season and a terrific warmup for the area's many two-wheeled parties: Wenatchee's Apple Century Bike, STP, Tour de Whidbey and, if you're really hard core, the Seattle International Randonneurs' Cascade 1200K, 700-plus miles of fun over the last weekend in June.

For more, see www.cascade.org and click on "events and rides."

While Whistler-Blackcomb spends mega-millions getting ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, Manning Park Resort, about three hours due east of Vancouver, B.C., is doing exactly none of that. The lifts (all two of them) at its tiny downhill area are slow (as in glacial), there's practically no après-ski life save for the ragin' games of Race to the Roof and Monopoly you can scrounge up amongst your family, and the closest thing to entertainment is watching the first-time skaters on the lighted outdoor ice rink.

But this low-tech, anti-Whistler simplicity, this experiencing-what-it's-like-to-live-inside-a-Norman Rockwell painting is why I, and many others, LOOOOVE Manning. Not to mention the 100-plus miles of forested, lake- and creekside-cross-country ski trails and opportunities galore for peaceful, moonlit snowshoe jaunts. (And with just about no neon or light pollution, on moonless nights, Cassiopeia and the Belt of Orion appear like rhinestones itchin' to be plucked from the sky.)

Information: www.manningpark.com.

Everybody knows about the Mount Baker Ski Area. The birthplace of snowboarding. The Legendary Banked Slalom. The site of the 1998-99 world-record snowfall. Blah, blah, blah. But there's at least as much fun to be had just outside the ski area.

Below the upper lodge, the Picture and Highwood lake bowls — the ones that in summer and fall form the foreground of most everyone's favorite photo of Mount Shuksan — fill with snow. As well as folks sliding down the white stuff on toboggans, sleds, discs, tractor-trailer tire tubes, plastic garbage bags, river kayaks and just about any gravity-friendly implement they can come up with.

It's not a snow-tubing park, so it's free, and of course, you get your money's worth — that is, you have to carry your tube, kayak, disc, toboggan, whatever, back up the hill yourself. When your fingers and toes need thawing, head up the hill to the Heather Meadows Day Lodge for some hot cocoa or chili.

To get there: Go east on the Mount Baker Highway (Highway 542) to just past Milepost 54 and Picture Lake. Start looking for parking here on the shoulder of the road that circles the lake or park just up the road in the day-lodge parking lot.

Mountain-biking Moran State Park

With its varied terrain — tree-ringed lakes, otherworldly forests, splashing and dashing waterfalls — not to mention that top-of-the-world vista from the summit of Mount Constitution — Washington's fourth-largest state park boasts too much to experience in just a single visit. But by mountain bike you can see it all. (Or at least a lot more of it.)

From Sept. 15 to May 15 each year, about 28 of the Orcas Island park's 38 miles of trails are open to bikes. (The rest of the year, only about 12 miles are bike-accessible.) So saddle up and see the sights. If you can, park one car at Cascade Lake and shuttle your bikes to the top. Corkscrew your way down via the Little Summit, Cold Springs, North, Mountain Lake and Cascade Creek trails, and on back to Cascade Lake.

For more information, see www.parks.wa.gov or call 360-376-2326. For ferry times and fare details: www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries or 800-843-3779.

It's all well and good to go running in the city, jogging in place while waiting for the traffic lights to turn green; being on high alert for SUVs liable at any moment to invade your personal space and/or flatten you like a pancake; experiencing the pleasant pounding of pavement on your feet, ankles, knees, hips, back and neck with every step you take.

But it's even better to head for the Alps. The Issaquah Alps — Cougar, Squak and Tiger mountains, those prominent humps and bumps just east of Seattle. They're crisscrossed by mega miles of trails — relatively tiny Squak Mountain, squeezed between the other two, has 35 miles itself — and are perfect for running. Think of it: no cars (no cares), no traffic lights, and a soft surface that'll have your joints bowing down to you: "We're not worthy; we're not worthy." Views, too. Trails to the top of West Tiger 3 offer big time look-sees of Mount Rainier and points south.

Want to run the Alps with a group? Contact Seattle Running Company (www.seattlerunningcompany.com, 206-329-1466), which organizes groups for Sunday morning trail runs.

When the snow is fresh and deep, weekend mornings at Stevens Pass can be a study in hustle and bustle. But with the Forest Service's weekend guided snowshoe saunters, you learn firsthand that there's more to this winter wonderland than lines for everything from lift tickets to lattes to the ski lifts themselves.

Saturday hikes border on the rigorous and head to the Grace Lakes, peaceful mountain tarns just west of the ski area's Brooks Chair. Sunday's are on the north side of the Pass and include a gentle, mostly flat meander on the Pacific Crest Trail. Here, the closest you'll come to hustle and bustle is the sight of a snowshoe hare playfully sliding into a tree well.

Guided walks are offered at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through March 26. Snowshoes are provided. A $10 donation is suggested and reservations are encouraged. Call the Skykomish Ranger District at 360-677-2414 for more information or check www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs.

Noshing at Black Diamond Bakery

Man and woman do not live by pedaling alone. Cyclists need to stop for cinnamon rolls, too. And perhaps the best place for such nourishment is the Black Diamond Bakery (www.blackdiamondbakery.com, 360-886-2235), north of Enumclaw, east of Auburn. On weekend morns — and afternoons, too — it sometimes seems that black spandex tights and neon shirts are dress code and that you've stumbled into a fan convention for some '80s MTV hair band.

Grab a menu, grab a table, grab some grub. Then, get back out there. The rest of winter beckons and there's much fun to be had. You don't want to miss it.

Mike McQuaide is a Bellingham freelance writer and author of "Day Hike! Central Cascades" (Sasquatch Books) and "A Falcon Guide to the Mount Baker-Mount Shuksan Area" (Falcon). He can be reached at mikemcquaide@comcast.net.