Two Dollar Trail

The Two Dollar Trail is one of three approaches to Fragrance Lake. It is popular with runners, bikers and hikers alike because of its good surface throughout. It traverses a west facing ridge through a forest of cedar, Douglas fir, hemlock, bigleaf maple and red maple with views out to the Salish Sea. The trail wanders through a groundcover of salal, Oregon grape and a variety of ferns and a small waterfall whose configuration changes with the seasons.

The trailhead begins on Cleator Road. The trail immediately begins switch backing on a mostly wide well maintained tread. This is an area to be on the lookout for runners and bikers, particularly if they are on the descent. At 0.4 miles the switch backs end and you begin a fairly straight traverse of the ridge south with slight elevation gain. At this point a ravine that was to your left coming up from the road flattens out and there is a remarkably dense virtual sea of ferns that stands out because nothing else seems to penetrate their cover. 

A short time into the traverse the forest opens up with views out to the Salish Sea that includes Lummi Island, Chuckanut Bay, Chuckanut Island, Governor's Point and Pleasant Bay. At about 1.3 miles the trail drops down a ravine and a small falls over slabs of rock next to the trail come into view. This is formed by the outlet from Fragrance Lake. From here the trail ascends the opposite side of the ravine somewhat steeply and then levels off and curves to the left with the outlet flowing below you to the left.

At about 1.6 miles you come to the dramatic approach to Fragrance Lake's north side. The rock cliffs begin just a few feet from you to the right that go along the lake's northwest shore. The left is a footbridge over the lake's outlet. At this point you can turn around and head back down or circumnavigate the lake in either direction which adds about 0.7 miles to your trip. Also an option is to have done a car shuttle stationing a vehicle down at one of the trailheads on Chuckanut Drive.

This is a good trail for kids as it is well maintained and a shorter route than from the trailheads starting at Chuckanut Drive. It is considered a lowland hike and makes a great winter option and in the autumn you can kick through bigleaf maple leaves on the trail.