Join us in the forestlands!
Our family hikes designed for families with young children are typically offered on the third Sunday of each month, 10am - noon.
Our gentle senior hikes are offered on the third Thursday of each month, 10am - 12pm
Our community hikes are typically scheduled on Saturdays or evenings outside of traditional working hours.
Quarterly hikes with the Anacortes Public Library are the first Saturday of January, April, July, and October. Guided hike plans are also available for self-led exploration—pick one up at the library or the Forest Discovery Center and enjoy the hike at your own pace.
New! Art in Nature at the Forest Discovery Center 10am - 1pm on the last Saturday of the month.
New! Friends to the Forest programs at the Forest Discovery Center on the second Thursday of each month.
Friend to the Forest: Sustainable Recreation
Join staff and volunteers from the Washington Trails Association to learn the latest on sustainable recreation on multi use trails and how to use WTA's free resources to help!
Community Hike: Sugarloaf Sunset
Join us for a hearty hike to the top of Sugarloaf for a calm September sunset. The challenging hike up is rewarded with a stunning summit view of the San Juan Islands and Olympic Mountains.
September Senior Stroll
This month, we’ll explore the wet and low lying places around Big Beaver Pond! Join us to find evidence of beavers and learn more about these incredible ecosystem engineers.
Art in Nature: Leaf Printmaking
Drop in to the Forest Discovery Center for our monthly Art in Nature program!
September Family Hike: Trees!
Join Friends of the ACFL to learn about trees! The forest is full of trees that provide food, shelter, and shade to all of our animals. Come spend the morning with us as we learn how trees fit into the ecosystem of a forest!
Friends of the ACFL Annual Benefit
Join us for our biggest event of the year, our Annual Benefit! Join us for dinner, drinks, dessert, and an evening of community and fundraising to support the work we do.
Community Hike: Art in the Forest (with MoNA!)
Experience the majesty of your local forest lands in this slow hike and art-making adventure!
Art in Nature: Botanical Inks
Drop in to the Forest Discovery Center and learn about one of the many ways to create art from nature! Try out some botanical inks, learn how to make them at home, and perhaps get some inspiration for creating your own nature-infused art.
Friend to the Forest: Wildfire Resilience
Skagit Conservation's Forestry and Wildfire Resilience teams will be presenting on forest and fire ecology along with current wildfire season conditions in Western WA and the Anacortes area.
Make Leaf Art with us during Anacortes Arts Fest!
Drop in during Anacortes Arts Fest on Friday or Saturday for our FREE leaf art program!
Art in Nature: Solar Printmaking
Drop in to the Forest Discovery Center for our monthly Art in Nature program!
Libraries Love Lakes: Whistle Lake Loop
Libraries love lakes, and so do the Friends of the ACFL! Throughout the month of July, we are partnering with the Anacortes Library and Skagit County Public Works to celebrate the lakes of Fidalgo Island. Join us as we tread on trails less-travelled and learn why these lakes are the backbone of our community forest lands.
Libraries Love Lakes: Buckets of Bugs
Explore the world of tiny creatures that inhabit our local lakes! Our friends from Skagit County Public Works and the Friends of the Anacortes Community Forest Lands will bring crawly critters found in macroinvertebrate surveys and equipment to view them up close. All ages are welcome!
Stories in the Park: Lakes & Forests
Join us for a storytime in the Park with Anacortes Public Library!
Libaries Love Lakes: Heart Lake Loop
Earmarked as a scenic corridor and critical water supply for early Anacortans, today Heart Lake’s shores support an incredible diversity of old growth and wetland habitats. Since this hike is longer and goes over more varied terrain than our usual programs, hiking poles are recommended.
Art in Nature: Botanical Inks
Join us for our monthly all ages Art in Nature drop in program in our Forest Discovery Center!
Friend to the Forest: Protecting the Health of our Local Waterways
Join us to learn from local water quality experts about the health of our beloved local waterways and what we each can do to protect them!
Libraries Love Lakes: Little Cranberry Lake
Libraries love lakes, and so do the Friends of the ACFL! Throughout the month of July, we are partnering with the Anacortes Library and Skagit County Public Works to celebrate the lakes of Fidalgo Island. Join us as we tread on trails less-travelled and learn why these lakes are the backbone of our community forest lands.
Art in Nature: Collage Animals
Drop in to the Forest Discovery Center between 10 am and 1 pm on Saturday, June 27th to make collage animals with us!
Whale of a Sale!
✓ 10AM – 5 PM, Saturday June 27, 2026 (Last Saturday in June)
✓ Giant sidewalk sale in Downtown Anacortes
✓ Amazing deals on merchandise along Commercial Avenue and side streets
✓ Food and drink specials in local restaurants
✓ It’s a festive kickoff for the summer season!
June Senior Stroll
This month, we’ll explore the mysteries of the old-growth forest at the south end of Heart Lake! Wander through towering stands of Douglas-fir and western redcedar, and appreciate the work of the community that protected them.
Community Hike: Forest Mindfulness
Join Friends of the ACFL and certified mindfulness teacher Karissa Sellman, as we take a gentle, meditative approach to being with nature.
Friend to the Forest: Pollinators in Your Backyard
This month, join Nichole Kean (Rainflower Designs) and learn all about creating habitat for native backyard pollinators in this hands-on workshop!
June Family Hike: Pollinators and Their Flowers
Join Friends of the ACFL for our June family hike as we search for spring flowers and the very special creatures that pollinate them. During this celebration of teamwork in the forest, we’ll learn about why flowers and pollinators depend on each other, and how this relationship has shaped individual species and the forest as a whole.
ACFL National Trails Day Work Party
Join Friends of the ACFL and the City of Anacortes Parks team for a National Trails Day work party in the ACFL!
Sugarloaf Wildflowers
Celebrate the return of spring with a bracing hike through Sugarloaf’s flowering meadows! Join Friends of the Forest as we explore the many spring flowers that call the ACFL home (and the view will be nice, too.)
Art in Nature
Drop in to the Forest Discovery Center to make hammered flower art with us!
May Senior Stroll
This month, we’ll look for spring wildflowers in the Little Cranberry Lake burn zone!
Homeschool Days in the ACFL
Bring your homeschooler to the ACFL to explore the forest by using their senses, making observations and practicing other science skills!
Homeschool Days in the ACFL
Bring your homeschooler to the ACFL to explore the forest by using their senses, making observations and practicing other science skills!
May Family Hike: Flights of Feathered Friends
Join Friends of the ACFL for our May family hike to celebrate our birds and the migrations they make to join us each springtime. During this bird bonanza, we’ll look and listen for some of our common forest birds, learn about why and how birds move during the year, and step into the shoes (or rather wings) of our feathered friends to play our own migration game.
Anacortes Earth Day
Join us in the Forest Discovery Center during The Anacortes Earth Day Festival and make a pollinator puddler with us!
April Family Hike: Earth Day Exploration
Join Friends of the ACFL for our April family hike to celebrate Earth Day while exploring and learning about how to take care of our forest.
Community Hike: Early Spring Wildflowers
Celebrate the return of spring with a bracing hike around Little Cranberry Lake!
April Senior Stroll
This month, we’ll explore the wet and low lying places around Big Beaver Pond!