Directions: Take exit 240 off I-5. Go west on Lake Samish Rd. Take a left on Barrell Springs Rd, it's the first left. Take a right on 5 Mi Blanchard Hill Trail, there is a brown sign that says Blanchard Hill Trail and it's right as you pass some logging on your left. First you will see the lower trail head. You can park here and add a nice extra mile each way onto your hike. If you park here walk down the road an extra hundred yards or so to get to the trail head on the right side of the road.

Now for the hike. We parked at the lower trail head and liked the extra little hike to the upper trail head. There is a trail map at each parking lot and at the start of the hike. We took a picture of it before we started and it was very helpful to refer to it as we hiked.

The trail was in near perfect condition. There was mud in a few spots but no blowdowns or anything else to get in your way.

We took the trail that went directly to Lizard Lake which was very quiet and was a great consistent grade. Once we got to Lizard we wanted to take the Lily Lizard Connector trail, but we couldn't find it. We knew basically where it should be, so we went off trail in that direction. Eventually we found it, but it clearly isn't really maintained.

To find the connector trail from Lizard Lake go to the spot where the Lizard campground trail goes north from the main trail. There are two posts that must have held the sign for the connector trail on the south side of the main trail. Go straight south from there and just keep looking for a boot path. Take the easiest (meaning least steep) route you can find, and it's basically impossible to miss it.

We had a quick lunch at Lily Lake then took the trail that connected to Oyster Dome and made it up to the top pretty quickly. After that we came back to Lily Lake and took Max's Shortcut trail back.

This route, with a little backtracking to try to find that connector, ended up being about 14.5 miles and took us just under 5 hours. The weather was very nice for us, and again the trail was perfect. We got pretty warm in the first hour of the hike, but the second hour of the hike was on the north side of the mountain and with the wind, sun being blocked by the mountain, and fairly flat terrain we cooled down quickly. We ended up wearing jackets and gloves (my wife also wore a hat) the rest of the way, even on the climb up to Oyster Dome.

We saw a lot of people out, but the only part that was somewhat busy was when we were on the Oyster Dome trail. And even that wasn't bad at all. We also saw three mountain bikers and one group of horses, and everyone was very considerate to the other trail users.

This is a great alternative to Oyster Dome since it's less busy and still beautiful and a great trail. Plus you can still get to Oyster Dome at the end. You'll walk extra miles, but it's also not as steep.

Decided to do the lakes, the long way. Parked At Lake Samish Park (on lake) -- North Side and headed along roads until I joined up with the PNT. Up to the lakes, then over to the Lookout Point (Hang Glider launch site) on the West. Then went back to the lower trail head where I was picked up.

Hike track is at:
http://maps.google.com/maps[…]1&spn=0.09449%2C0.06360

(Same map has a dozen other tracks of trails in the same area).

Good workout after spending a week in presentations.

Total Distance: 24.50 km (15.2 mi)
Average Moving Speed: 7.67 km/h (4.8 mi/h)
Elevation Gain: 1512 m (4959 ft)

We met Mike while having lunch at Lizard Lake. His report is a good one, just want to add a couple of our notes. The trail shows signs of recent maintenance early on but there are still a few mud holes due to it being early in the season and a high use trail with horses, bikes, and people. There was no book or pencils at the registration kiosk. After we had lunch, we went to the North side of Lizard Lake and then over to the camp ground at Lily Lake making for about a 12 mile day. In all that time we only saw ONE Budweiser Flower! No other litter. We did run into one couple, three times, and each time they asked directions to Oyster Dome. We gave them explicit directions and showed them on our map. They had no map or water and he was carrying his dog! Please people, take a map! You can get one at Village Books in Bellingham or download one at www.localhikes.com/Hikes/Lily_and_Lizard_Lake_0860.asp. There are a lot of trails on this mountain, some signed and others not, and if you're not familiar with this area it can be confusing. Great first hike of the year for us.

Decided to hike to Lizard Lake in the Blanchard Mountain Range just south of Bellingham and west of Alger. This is hike 12 of 50 planned this year. I started at the 4 mile mark on road B-1000. I hiked to Lily Lake early this year from the Samish Overlook but did not get to Lizard Lake at that time because of too much snow and not enough day light. This was a pleasant hike. The trail is not too steep. A gradual climb to the top. The weather was a nice 60 degrees. A note to all going up to this trail that the upper B-1000 road is closed to vehicles so the trails you see on the map that can get you closer are not accessible. Four mile marker sign to Lizard Lake is as close as you can get so prepare for an 8 mile round trip. All and all is was a great day with beautiful groves of Cedar Trees to see on the way up. There was some remnants of snow near the top along the trail but none on the trail. This was a good practice hike for longer hikes in the upper mountains in a couple of months. Check out this video and others I have hike in Washington on my youtube channel at "lmm3181". Here is a direct link to a video of this lake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNHKWFyt-yU
Enjoy your hiking!!!
Mike