SAUK MOUNTAIN AND BLUE LAKE | 17 SEPT

SUNDAY: Sauk Mountain and Blue Lake (Mt. Baker Wilderness)

With rain expected in the late afternoon, I started off early with Sauk Mountain. Not a single car in the parking lot, so I had the 4.2 miles (RT) of trail to myself. On a good day, there are supposed to be views of Skagit River, the Pickets, Glacier Peak, Mount Baker, the Olympics, and San Juan Islands. Today, well I could see the river below and not much else. I ended up not taking many pictures and instead, took in the mostly white skies. While the thought of 1,200 feet of switchbacks isn't much fun, I am hoping to make it back on a clear day to make them more worth it.

After making it down to the parking lot, the cars started to flood in. So if you want the trail to yourself, make it there early.

From there, I drove to Concrete, WA and made my way to Mount Baker Wilderness to the Blue Lake trailhead, tucked back among miles of forest service roads. Once again, an almost empty parking lot. The clouds were rolling in a little thicker now, so I decided to make the short and sweet 1.7 miles roundtrip to Blue Lake, saving Dock Butte for later. The trailhead is less than 5 miles south of Mount Baker, and on a clear day, peaks such as "Mount Shuksan, Glacier Peak, Sloan Peak, Whitehorse Mountain, Three Fingers, Mount Rainier, Mount Angeles, Hurricane Hill, Twin Sisters, and Loomis Mountain" are visible from the summit of Dock Butte.

The trail is an easy walk through dense forest, with little elevation gain and less than a mile to the lake. I was pleasantly surprised as I got closer to the lake at the number of blueberry and huckleberry patches. I had a relaxing lunch as it started to sprinkle.