Baker Lake

Last month, we hiked out to Baker Lake for an overnight after finishing up work one Friday. The lake is in the Mount Baker National Forest:


View Larger Map

After hiking in for a couple of miles, we came to an area with a few campsites. The said campsites have formal (camp-formal, that is) fire pits. We weren't early enough to snag one of those, though, which was kind of disappointing, as I had brought fixin's for s'mores. Instead, we had to kick the branches off of an unofficial campsite and look on while a group of middle-aged fishermen who had canoed in shared stories over the flame of their fire. You know, though, we had our jet-boil and a box of wine, so I can't say we were too jealous. :) And, hey, the girls were happy; they got to cuddle on our sleeping bags, which isn't normally allowed.

Really, despite my having fire-pit envy, I liked our humble campsite. Well... it wasn't really humble. We did have the best tent there. In fact, our MSR Mutha Hubba treated us so well, that we didn't even care that it was raining the entire time. Those fishermen must have had some serious tent-envy.


After a night's rest in our awesome tent, we hoped to wake up to a stunning view of Mt. Baker. Hence the name Baker Lake, right? Buuuuttt... like I said, it rained the entire time. All we saw was fog. Well, that's a lie. We did catch a slight glimpse of the mountain on our way in the night before. A slight glimpse. The fog rolling through the forest and mountains was pretty enough, though, in a different way.




Our intent was to hike further down the trail on Saturday, but with the limited views, we just didn't feel up to it. So, instead, we hiked out. Seeing the forest in daylight was beautiful, though, as it was dusk while we hiked in the night before.



There were gigantic, moss-covered trees and tons of ferns and even some fungi.


This bridge was killer - as in, it might actually lead to death. I'll admit, it looks tame in the photo, but, take my word for it, it was frickin' scary. Notice how it had fallen off of whatever might have been bracing it and how it was tilted about 30 degrees. And it was slick, because it was raining. Remember? And, it was over a relatively rapid, rocky, and cold stream below. The stream/river looks tame in the photo. I know that. But it wasn't. Really. It wasn't. It was scary. Merri wouldn't even cross it on her own. Mike had to carry her. And she is a brave pooch. So there. We also had to cross an area where there had been a landslide. Only a small strip of the trail remained. That was scary, too. If we were in cub scouts, we'd have each earned like four badges.


After getting over the bridge and the landslide (literally and psychologically), we were able to relax a bit and enjoy the beauty of the nat'l forest.





All in all, Baker Lake is certainly an area that would be worth going back to on a sunny and clear weekend. I would have loved to have seen Mount Baker from that angle and so close up. Someday. And, maybe when we do go back, the trail will be repaired by the area where there had been that landslide, and maybe the bridge will be fixed. I hope so.