Dock Butte, Blue Lake — Sunday, May. 10, 2015

North Cascades > Mount Baker Area

The forest service road has some significant pot-holes in the first three miles or so. They are mostly on the right as you drive up, so embrace your inner European driver. After the pot-holes the the road is in good shape. The trail-head for Dock Butte is inaccessible due to snow, but you can park about 100 yards shy and hike up. There's a great new out-house at the trail head, nicest one I've seen. The trail to Dock Butte is covered with intermittent snow in the first mile, than completely snow covered as you reach the ridge. Good boots a must. There are plenty of bootprints to follow but higher up you will need route finding skills. The snow was deep and post-holing was a problem so we opted to stop at the ridge as the views of Mt Baker were great from there. Poles were helpful but traction not so much as the snow was so soft. On the way back we took the side trail to Blue Lake, it has some snow but is passable. The lake still has ice. Flowers are out where the snow has melted. A fun day but if you are planning on taking the kids for a short, easy hike wait a while!