If your idea of a good day hike is encountering busloads of tourists going to the souvenir shops, go to Paradise at Mount Rainier or Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. Mount Baker National Forest is a more rustic experience. Most of the hiking trails are unpaved. Access to the trailheads is not for the faint of heart–or vehicle. You will encounter joint-jarring boulder fields, mountain streams, and snowfields in August. However, you’ll see some phenomenal scenery that the bus tourists can’t access.
Mount Baker is better known as a ski resort. Because of heavy snowfalls, its ski season is longer than resorts farther south in the Cascades. Summer is a quieter time in the National Forest. The lodge and lifts are closed. The Highway has some cringeworthy switchbacks and shoulder-less stretches, especially east of the ski area.
We drove up to Mount Baker Friday night after work. We set up at the Blue T Lodge on the outskirts of Glacier. The Blue T is next to the Chair 9 Restaurant and Bar, which boasts the “Last or First Cocktail” depending on what direction you’re traveling on the Mount Baker Highway. After a fine breakfast at Graham’s, we went to the Ranger Station to get a trail recommendation. We chose Lake Ann.
Lake Ann, the destination for our hike.
The Lake Ann trail starts as a downhill stroll through the forest until you reach a valley of wildflowers–and mosquitos. From then it’s a long slog up a boulder field. You also have some streams to ford. Finally, after a short stroll on a snowfield, you see the lake. You can also see the glacier on Mount Shuksan, Mount Baker’s sister mountain.
Mount Shuksan, and its glacier.
As a National Forest, dogs are welcome on the trails at Mount Baker. Not so in the National Parks, unless the dogs are for service purposes. We saw canines on the trail ranging from chubby chihuahuas to German shepherds. We also encountered many hikers with kids of various ages and enthusiasms. One toddler was not happy to be in his dad’s backpack. Then we saw a couple with four little girls, three of whom could have been triplets. These kids were troopers. They passed us at one point, and the girls weren’t whining in the least.
The hike was pretty strenuous for us, since we hadn’t been on a real death march for two years. We drove back to Chair 9 and devoured a pizza, then both of us crashed after dinner. Julian had leg cramps all night. I slept like a rock.
We highly recommend staying near Mount Baker the nights before and after a long day hike. You’ll be able to get an early start. Your legs may be hamburger, especially after the Lake Ann down and up slog. You’ll find numerous condos for rent during the summer, plus a few restaurants in Glacier where you can carbo-reload. Save your driving until the next day.
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