Today I ventured out to the Lime Kiln Trail with my friend Shane and his dog Noah. This trail is easy to get to as it is located just out of Granite Falls. I have had a few friends ask me about easy trails for starting out and this is a great one. The trail has a little grade in a couple of places, but overall it is very easy. 
Here are the stats from the WTA Site: 7 miles round trip, 625 ft. elevation gain, highest point 750 ft.
This trail is maintained by Snohomish County and does not require any parking passes.
For more info and directions go to: www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/lime-kiln
The hike starts in the Robe Canyon historical park with a small climb through a forested area, it then reaches an old railroad grade and descends towards the river. From here it alternates between a forested train and old railroad grade to an old town site which was once a logging area, but they also produced lime from the limestone. A few artifacts are still lying around, old saw blades, bricks and the lime kiln itself.
The trail itself was very nice apart from some mud and a few blow downs. None of the obstacles were too difficult to skirt around and it wasn’t nearly as muddy as my outings to Boulder River and Lower Gray Wolf river. It was your typical Western Washington mossy trail. There were a ton of bleeding hearts and Salmon Berry bushes blooming. We spotted a coupe of Trillium. There was a lot of new growth on ferns and skunk cabbage, and it was overall nice and green and lush.
The trail followed the Stillaguamish River which was very full and milky with silt. If you continue past the lime kiln to the River Loop, there is a nice lunch spot by the river. Look we even saw a little sun today!
dayhikeblog 
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