Baker Lake

The last day of March was a sunny and unseasonably warm day and having planned to go hiking if the weather was good, hiking we went.  Many of the higher elevation trails are still snowed in, so we choose Baker Lake as our destination and hiked part of the East Bank trail.

Baker Lake is ten miles long, lies at 1000 feet of elevation, and is formed by the Upper Baker Dam which provides flood control and hydroelectric power to the Puget Sound area.  The trail along its east bank is fourteen miles long and we did four of those miles and four back.

 The trail first heads east along the Baker River and then crosses the river on a suspension bridge and heads back south and west from the bridge.  At the bridge the baker River trail heads north and east, but we did not follow it.  I've done that trail with my brother Tim.

The trees were just starting to leaf out.  The Salmonberries were blooming, we found a few Western Trilliums and Roundleaf Violets, but for the most part the views of Mount Baker, the mossy trees and the beautiful trail with its many creek crossings were the main attractions.

We hiked down to the lake at one point Much of the trail is in the woods above the lake) and sat on the shore for our lunch before going on.  We hiked to a place where we could get down to the lake and where the whole south face of Mount Baker was visible.

The hike back was tiring since this was our first longer hike of the season and we arrived back at the car to find we had a flat.  Even that, however, did not detract from what was a beautiful and relaxing day.  Having left at 7:30 in the morning we were back by the same time in the evening.

the trail to the bridge

Western Red Cedar stump

moss

Sword Fern

Turkey-tail Fungus

Devil's Club

Salmonberry

fern fronds

moss

Western Red Cedars

views from the suspension bridge over the Baker River

Blum Creek

Western Hemlocks

mossy trees

Red Huckleberry

looking back along the Baker River

Red-banded Polypore

moss everywhere

Salmonberry

Western Trillium

moss

the trail

Mushroom Lichen and Cortinarius sp. (?)

moss

Devil's Club and moss

Methuselah's Beard lichen

Salmonberry

Western Trillium

old log

trail

unnamed streams

Hidden Creek

weathered log

our dining room view

back on the trail

Zephyr Angelwing (I think)

another unnamed creek

Roundleaf Violet

Mount Baker through the trees

the end of our hike

old Cedars

Slime Mold

the trail back

moss

Salmonberry

creek

Nancy

Western Trillium

Mourning Cloak

driving back

Mt. Blum

Mount Baker