Dock Butte will always be one of my favorite short hikes. On a blue sky day the views are incredible with the south side of Mt. Baker dominating, but Mt. Shuksan, The Twin Sister's Range, and many North Cascades Peaks visible. The fall foliage is beautiful and the bugs have all but disappeared. A short side trip to Blue Lake is worth while if you have time. (Not the same Blue Lake by Washington Pass.) The road signs directing you to the trailhead are marked "Blue Lake" not Dock Butte. On this Wednesday I saw no other hikers on this trail. I guess many have gone back to work or school.

Surprised to see so many other people on the trail on a Wednesday! Although this hike was relatively brief, we encountered 8 other parties along the way. I guess everyone is out enjoying the last few days of summer temperatures before the weather changes. This is a great time of year to hike this trail; the fall colors are really getting vibrant. The next few weeks will be stunning. I’d recommend wearing sun protection, as the entire hike is exposed. A very small amount of rock scrambling is required near the summit of Dock Butte. The summit offers 360-degree views, but we didn’t linger because a massive swarm of flying ants had staked a claim there and wouldn’t leave us alone. They were constantly flying around us and landing on every inch of our skin, and my husband was bitten by a couple of them. Although the trail description for Dock Butte says the trail is 1.75 mi. long (3.5 out and back), according to our GPS it was 2.1 mi. long (4.2 out and back).

We were two hikers and my Belgian Malinois. I don't have much to add to the recent trip reports except to say the bugs were only a minor nuisance. And it was a windless day. They buzzed around now and then but seldom landed. No bites. We did not bother with repellent. We had almost no hiking competition. Our truck was alone in the TH parking lot when we set out at 8:45. Coming down about 1:30, we met three going up. There were four other vehicles in the lot; presumably all those folks were at Blue Lake.