Oyster Dome — Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017

Puget Sound and Islands > Bellingham Area

We began our hike about 10am on Sunday. There were a few people in the parking lot but it wasn't too crowded at that time. We ended up going on the trail toward Lily Lake I believe so we didn't go the traditional route to get to the top, but to be honest I think I preferred our route over the more popular one. We only encountered maybe 5 people the entire way which was pretty nice and we had our dog off leash for a majority of the time. We hiked along the woods and after a few minutes we came to a clearing where it was time for us to put on our spikes. The trail was extremely icy and even the snowy parts were slippery. We eventually came to a fork in the path in the forest and after some online research we decided to stay left toward "Max's Short Cut" which took us up into the woods and definitely got our heart rates going. Eventually it evened out and we were walking among the beautiful forest full of snow. We came to another fork in the road but there was a sign pointing us to where we wanted to go. Eventually the climb got pretty steep and slippery but luckily there were a lot of trees to hang on to and when we reached the top the view was absolutely spectacular! Definitely worth it. On our way down we decided to go the traditional route instead of the way we came. This route was very steep and slippery and we encountered many more people. It was nice to experience both paths but this one was extremely difficult to get down. If you don't have spikes I would not recommend this hike until the snow and ice have thawed. Poles would be helpful as well but not impossible without.