A Hiking We Will Go!

We just returned from four days at the lake. We used this a base camp for several hikes within the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Wilderness/Forest. We are lucky to have literally dozens of wonderful hikes closeby and even more logging and forest roads to explore. The two main hikes we took were the Mt. Baker River trail and the Mt. Baker Wilderness area where we were able to briefly explore a lovely alpine forest. Even in July, (temps were in the 80F range) there was still a great deal of snow.This surprised us, and since we were not prepared for that, we kept our hike short and simply had a picnic. Hiking safety is something that we take very seriously.Many more experienced hikers than us have been caught in bad weather and being prepared can mean the difference between a bad day and no more days! However, the weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time.

 
Here I am with Maggie on the trail.

We also hiked the Mt. Baker River trail. This was an easy hike and lots of fun. It was surprising that not that many people were on the trail, since it was a major U.S. holiday, but the solitude was nice. And we did enjoy some of the kids out hiking with their families. They were quite excited to share with us that they'd seen a snake! We countered with our vole sighting...(Not quite as interesting.)


 
We saw a hugh beaver dam. It really was an impressive sight.

 
Mt. Baker from the River trail right by the beaver dam.


 

Finally, I thought that this was such a lovely sight, seeing the sun from behind this wonderful tree that I had to capture it.