After a incredibly successful outing of berry-picking at Goat Mountain the day before, my friends and I were ready for a fun loop hike out of Park Butte to visit a BCRT crew and cap off the weekend. But the weather was looking grey and cloudy -- views were not to be had, and because we were staying in Maple Falls, driving all the way around to the Park Butte wasn't sounding so great.
Luckily, a colleague reminded me that Ridley Creek trailhead provides access to Park Butte from the northwest side of Mount Baker, so we braved the quite long, somewhat potholed FR 83 to its end, where we parked our car and headed into the woods.
The trail is pretty nice, particularly in the first couple of miles, though the bridge crossing Ridley Creek is a little feeble-looking for the size of the creek. Still, it was perfectly serviceable and we got across with dry feet.
There's a gorgeous little grotto just past the river crossing that I could have sat in for hours, but we pushed on and upwards. The trail gets fairly steep around mile two -- getting you uphill in a hurry. Luckily there are plenty of berries to fuel you along the way.
Mazama Camp was packed with huckleberries and blueberries. We stopped and had a snack, and chatted with the BCHW people who were helping pack out a WTA volunteer vacation that had just left. They told us where the other crew was and we headed off in search of them.
At a crucial junction, because of the fog and because we'd come in the back way, we turned wrong and wound up heading up to the lookout first. Of course, there was no view to speak of. There were lots of other hikers, including a fair few who were volunteers maintaining the lookout. Thanks, folks.
Heading back down, we got sorted out and returned to that crucial junction. We realized we could see the crew in the distance, so headed over to them to distribute nectarines and dark chocolate peanut butter cups, which were appreciated.
On the way back down to the car, we decided to stop in Mazama Park to pick hucks. There were so many, growing so close together, that we were able to get about half what we'd picked the day before in about 30 minutes of picking!
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