Oyster Dome — Saturday, May. 17, 2008

Puget Sound and Islands > Bellingham Area

Our itinerary took us up the Oyster Dome Trail, then east towards Lily Lake to catch the Pacific Northwest Trail back down the mountain. Although the Oyster Dome Trail is more rugged (lots of rocks and roots to walk over) and steep than the PNW Trail, both were well maintained and easy to follow. We had to walk through several patches of mud and easily crossed a few streams. The views from Oyster Dome and the Samish Overlook were spectacular, but the crowds on the trail diminished our experience somewhat. We arrived at the trailhead at 9:30 AM, and there were already several cars parked along the side of the road. We ran into two other groups of hikers at the Bat Caves. When we arrived at the top of Oyster Dome at about 12:30, there were already ten other people up there eating lunch and enjoying the view. During our descent, we had to move to the side of the trail a few times to allow mountain bikers to pass, and more than a few piles of manure reminded us that this is a multi-use trail. The most annoying things were the numerous unleashed dogs. On two separate occasions a random dog came running up from behind us and scared my wife. Almost every group of hikers brought their animal, and of all of them only one woman had hers on a leash.