Chain Lakes Loop — Friday, Oct. 25, 2024

Winter is arriving at the Mt Baker ski area. The road up had a couple small black ice patches in the switchbacks below the ski area, and a little snow on the road in the early morning.

I did this hike counter-clockwise. Chain Lakes side was mostly snow free up to Herman Saddle, though there were many small patches of ice on trail. Fading fall colours on the slope of Mt. Herman. The smaller lakes were staring to ice over but larger ones (like Iceberg) not. The streams were also still flowing. Around the lakes there were stretches of compact snow, but I continued to boot pack it at this point. Where there was no snow the trail was often a bit muddy.

Past the lakes, heading uphill towards the junction with the Ptarmigan Ridge trail, the snow became continuous and I put on my spikes. It looked like many people had not been wearing spikes, but given the amount of ice also present you’d have to watch your footing carefully. The Ptarmigan Ridge trail will likely be entirely snow covered after this weekend, as it had very few bare patches yesterday. I passed a few backcountry skiers heading out hoping to find enough snows for a few turns.