Baker Lake - Maple Grove — Saturday, Jul. 16, 2016

North Cascades > Mount Baker Area

Jon and I did this hike for our anniversary. It was gorgeous. The cedar groves and foliage were so quiet and blissful. The dogs had lots of fun stuff to sniff and the other dogs we came up to on the trail were very well behaved. This is totally a top ten happy place for me. Jon picked berrys the entire hike and the little brooks and creeks provided some nice cooling off points. There is little to no elevation change here so it is a nice trail for beginners or anyone really. We especially loved Anderson Creek which has these perfectly clear pools to dip your feet in. At one point Ody did misjudge a log jam for a solid log and went for a swim but he needs a swim every now and then with his thick coat. We went 3.5 miles into the trail and meandered the entire time playing in every pool we found. There are some beautiful mushrooms that I shared a couple pictures of. Enjoy. THINGS TO KNOW: About a half mile in there was a fallen tree that had taken out a portion of the trail. It is so new you could smell the new wood. It was easy to get over and with a well worn trail like this, it will probably not bee there long. With how nice everything was I will say that you can hear the boats the entire hike, which does take away from the feeling of isolation. I used 100% Deet bug spray and reapplied twice in the four hours we were there, but still, every time I stopped the mosquitoes came swarming. I did walk away with some pretty big welts but the critters love me and Jon was did not get a single bite.