Chain Lakes Loop, Wild Goose — Monday, Sep. 12, 2016

North Cascades > Mount Baker Area

*542 has been repaved and is smooth as butter* Left Bellingham around 6:30am. We decided to start from the Picnic area parking lot, just a short way past the first road sign you see that says "chain lakes trailhead -->" We made it up there at 8:15am, including the obligatory stop at wake n' bakery for a coffee and muffins. We were the only car in this lot upon arrival. It was about 44 degrees and the sun was just starting to kiss jagged peaks. From the upper parking lot of the picnic area, we headed up the (well marked) Wild Goose trail towards Artist Point-- now initially, after reading the description, my thought was that it would be best to take the counter-clockwise route. But we instead followed some advice of friends and went with the clockwise option, which turned out to be the BETTER CHOICE FOR US. It was seemed like a whole lot of reward with minimal work. The most challenge came from the at times, rocky terrain. Keep those ankles strong guys! Anyway... Started from Wild Goose TH @ 8:15am The beginning of the trail was spectacular, we saw a few marmots, Baker and Mama Shuks in full glory. Table MT and Ptarmigan towering above. The breeze was perfect and the fall colors were vibrant. We didn't encounter any other hikers until we dropped down to the first, smaller lake. All the lakes were insanely beautiful. We kept stopping just to turn a full 360! The is no shortage of views! OH AND THE BLUEBERRIES are going off! The ascension to the Saddle was cake. We once again thanked ourselves for choosing this route. The way down towards Bagley lakes (and back to the picnic area parking lot) is where we started to see lots of people coming up those switch back. Yikes. We were so thankful that we came the other way because climbing that did not look like a fun way to start, especially with the lack of eye candy from that vantage. We enjoyed the countless streams and the stone bridge leading us back to the parking lot. Arrived at car at 12:45pm.