Seniors Find Burlington/Skagit County Scenic

Burlington is a city in Skagit County, Washington with a population around 8,500. Dotted with hundreds of lakes and blessed with millions of acres of forest land, Skagit County has something for every senior sportsperson: fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, rock-hounding and even paragliding.

Originally, Burlington’s businesses were centered around Fairhaven Avenue. Today, Fairhaven Avenue is the center of Burlington’s old downtown, and provides a gathering place for the whole city during the annual summer Berry Dairy Days.

Fishing is a top attraction. “As one of the longest rivers on the West Coast, the Skagit River meanders from its headwaters high in Canada 150 miles to its delta just southwest of the world-famous tulip fields of the Skagit Valley.

Seniors Awed By The North Cascades

“In less than 35 minutes you can be in mountains, taking in the beautiful North Cascades. The North Cascades National Park Complex spans the Cascade Crest from the temperate rainforest of the wet west-side to the dry ponderosa pine ecosystem of the east.”

Burlington began as a logging camp, established by John P. Millett and William McKay, in 1882. It was officially incorporated on June 16, 1902. Today Burlington is locally famous for its proliferation of shopping malls and for having some of the best youth sports fields in Washington.

A short 35 minute drive from Burlington west on Highway 20 will bring you to scenic, historic and unforgettable Deception Pass State Park, a 4,134-acre marine and camping park with 77,000 feet of saltwater shoreline as well as 33,900 feet of freshwater shoreline on four lakes.

Senior Hiking/Biking Paradise

Seniors can enjoy a stop at the Trainwreck Bar and a visit to the Sakuma Brothers Farm. Then there’s Orca whale watching, white water rafting and kayaking through Deception Pass. Senior hikers and bikers can enjoy bicycling through the Valley or hiking one of the many trails in the national parks and forests. The views will take your breath away.

 Senior visitors will love the Skagit Valley. The Skagit River system is home to many year-round resident Bald Eagles but each winter their numbers increase dramatically with the return of spawning salmon. In all, five different species of salmon return to the Skagit River to spawn, then die along the shores of the river. With such an abundance of food during these circle-of-life phenomena, eagles have found the Skagit to be an excellent fishing spot.

Then there’s Skagit Speedway, the premier motorsports facility in the northwest United States. Each year hundreds of thousands of fans of fixed-wing dirt track racing flock to the Speedway to enjoy an evening of exciting fun.

Hiking trails abound in the region and vary widely as far as difficulty. Senior hikers, try the flat Cascade Trail that follows an abandoned railroad line.  So what are you waiting for senior travelers? Burlington sounds like a great destination area. -jeb