A sunny, hot day provides a good opportunity to get up close and personal with Lake Ann and Mount Shuksan, but perhaps I should have brought a swimsuit...
Trailhead: The parking area is paved and holds about 30-40 cars. On this sunny Tuesday morning at 8:15, there were 15 cars in the lot and another 6-8 cars parked on the side of the road. At 3:00 p.m, there were about 40 cars parked near the trailhead. There is no toilet.
Bugs: Bugs were rather annoying at the trailhead, looking to welcome fresh visitors with a loving bite. The bugs weren’t that bad once on the trail and moving, but don’t stop for a break or those buggers are sure to find you. There were also bugs at the lake, but they weren’t nearly as numerous and aggressive as spots along the trail (perhaps the light midday breeze helped keep the bugs away).
Trail: The trail is in fair shape and easy to follow (GPS wasn’t needed during this hike). The tread is nice and smooth as the trail passes through the forest, but there are some muddy sections in the valley where drainage is poor. The trail becomes very rocky as you ascend through talus slopes, offering many opportunities for a misstep, and crosses two very short and easy snow patches before reaching the saddle above Lake Ann.
On this day, I elected to follow the climber’s path northeast from the lake towards Mount Shuksan and taking the lower fork in the path below the Fisher Chimney. This side trail wasn’t hard, but there were two trees across the trail (one tree across three switchbacks) and one steep dry creek bed with loose footing to navigate (but no snow on the trail). The payoff for this 1+ mile excursion was closeup views of Mount Shuksan and the Lower Curtis Glacier, a nice distant view of Lake Ann, and some patches of ripe blueberries along the trail.
For this hike to Lake Ann plus hiking part way up the ridge on the northwest side of the lake and following the climbers trail towards the Lower Curtis Glacier, GPS recorded 11.8 miles and 3000 feet elevation gain with 6.5 hours total time.
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