The curtain rises on another western Washington Trail: the Big Gulch trail system. Located right off Mukilteo Speedway, Big Gulch trail can be accessed at its southern trailhead at the Mukilteo Library. The trail may also be accessed at its northern trailhead, which is located at 92nd Street Park. While the former trailhead has highway access, the latter is easily accessible to Mukilteo residents, making it a great hotspot for hikers and joggers. When we hiked the trail, we began at the southern trailhead and continued down the western fork of Big Gulch trail, which leads to the Puget Sound.
...is what I would say if the trail actually led to the shore. Instead, it leads to—and get this—a wastewater treatment plant. Yeah, you read that right. More on this below.
Starting Off Strong, but with Regards to Garbage
You're probably not wondering this, but for the sake of the bit, you might be wondering to yourself, "What's the best way to start off a hike?" Is it stretches? Sightseeing? Maybe a leisurely stroll? In any case, I don't think picking up several bags of trash alone at the trailhead really appeals to one's mental image of scenic relaxation. If anything, it might put you in a sour mood to realize that a once peaceful forest had been disturbed by the waste of mass consumerism. Social commentary aside, it was certainly impressive to see so much waste congregated at the beginning of a trail. Given that this was our second hike, we were surprised by the articles of litter that we managed to unearth at Big Gulch. For example, we managed to find not one, but two full-sized bottles of alcohol. At the time, I was so infatuated with our group's "discoveries" that I distinctly remember that one of the bottles of white rum still contained a substantial amount of dark brown liquid—probably because it had been abandoned for so long—that, upon emptying it, it released a foul odor, almost as foul as the smell originating from the wastewater treatment plant that we encountered later on our hike.
Unlike the Meadowdale Beach Park Trail, the Big Gulch trail continually ran alongside a stream—or at the very least, the western fork of the trail did. Unfortunately, we did not explore the trail's southern fork, for we had originally believed that the western fork would lead to the beach. However, compared to Meadowdale Beach Park, where the majority of the litter was located on the trail itself, Big Gulch had a fair amount of litter located in its stream. Luckily, most of the litter that we found in the stream was aluminum cans, although using 'luckily' in this context might wrongly imply that we were relieved to not find other variants of trash in the water, which is true to an extent. The fact of the matter was that we should not have found trash in the water to begin with, but clearly, the actions of previous hikers proved otherwise.
Apart from a Pepsi can from 1991 that we found near the trailhead, one of the most egregious pieces of litter that we found was a bottle of laundry detergent that had been buried deep in the stream. Considering that much of the liquid in the bottle had been replaced by stream water, it is likely that the detergent had polluted the stream at some point in time. It goes without saying that laundry detergent poses a significant threat to the trail's local wildlife, as the chemicals used to produce it can hurt local fauna or possibly even animals that may have drunken from the polluted water. Common sense would dictate that it's not a great idea to discard bottles of laundry detergent on trails, but seemingly, the individual or individuals responsible for this occurrence lacked it thereof. To hikers and local residents, please refrain from discarding your cleaning supplies on trails, although this would beg the greater question of why anyone would be carrying such supplies with them to a trail, of all places, in the first place.
A Smell to Remember
It would appear that Big Gulch does not receive a lot of foot traffic from hikers. Despite the fact that it was sunny on the day that we went there, there were very few hikers present on the trail. It’s possible that the trail doesn’t receive as much attention as other trails along the Puget Sound because of its location near the Mukilteo Speedway, which makes it a little more difficult to access. Indeed, it could also be that the section of the trail that we hiked, which began at the southern trailhead, is not nearly as popular as the northern part of the trail, which we did not visit. That, and unlike other trails that reach the coastline, Big Gulch does not provide a direct path to a beach on the Puget Sound; rather, what lies at the end of one’s journey is a reminder of rapid urbanization, a wastewater treatment plant.
To the unsuspecting passerby, the rancid smell of sewage that grows in intensity as the trail progresses can be rather unpleasant. However, the frequent changes in elevation and hillsides provide a heightened sense of anxiety befitting of a morning jog through the woods. To phrase more appealingly, one cannot help but admire the trail for its utility over its aesthetic value.
Of course, it goes without saying that Big Gulch is not completely devoid of picturesque locations. The stream that runs alongside most of the trail will surely fill your ears with the soothing noise of running water, if such noise were to be considered soothing. It is a little unfortunate that, unlike the stream, the trail does not lead out to the ocean.
Although any hiker would normally walk along the trail like a regular person, as the quirky bunch that we were, we did not necessarily follow the trail to a tee in pursuit of our environmental cleanup objective. As such, a few of us tackled the daunting task of climbing the steep hillside at one point along the trail to pick up trash, of course. Here at TrailBros, we strongly encourage our fellow readers to adhere to trail guidelines, if such policies exist, and to not stray too far from the main trail, for doing so may result in unnecessary harm. Additionally, please refrain from littering on trails and keep your trash with you until the next available trash can so that the natural scenery does not remain corrupted by unsightly glass bottles and aluminum cans. The actions that TrailBros undertook during our survey of Big Gulch were merely for the purposes of environmental betterment and should not be replicated at home...or rather, on a trail.
Maybe Next Time, Big Gulch
Although Big Gulch is the perfect place for those who enjoy jogging or running beneath the shelter of sturdy evergreens, for the casual hiker, hiking at Big Gulch is far from ideal. Perhaps the trail's southern fork—which, from the direction of the Mukilteo Library, would appear like a northern fork—offers a more enjoyable hiking experience, but unfortunately, we did not have the pleasure of examining that section of the trail during our time there. By far, Big Gulch's greatest disappointment is its lack of beach access, and while this may not automatically disqualify it from being a good hiking trail, the fact that the trail leads to a wastewater treatment plant despite heading in the same direction as the Puget Sound feels like an insult to unknowing hikers who may have hiked the trail in hopes of reaching the coastline. Specifically, the stream that runs alongside much of the western fork of Big Gulch empties out into the Puget Sound, yet the trail itself meets a dead end at the Big Gulch Wastewater Treatment Plant. As such, the reward that one receives for enduring the sickly smell of sewage for fifteen minutes is not the wondrous sight of open water, but rather, a wastewater treatment plant encircled by hundreds of meters of chain link fence. Maybe this just goes to show how the real beach was the wastewater treatment plant that we found along the way.
In spite of these grievances, overall, we would recommend that hikers at least give this trail a try, even if it's just once. Who knows, maybe hiking down a subpar trail will give you a greater appreciation for trails. Jokes aside, overlooking the incredulous amount of litter that we found at the southern trailhead, there was relatively little trash along the rest of the trail. Some of the imposing hills and sudden drops make for some great photos that you can share on your socials to prove to people that yes, you do go outside! To those of you readers who've hiked along the southern fork of Big Gulch before, please let us know about your experiences in the comments below!
We hope that you continue to follow us in the next hike!
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