Blue Lake by Baker Lake... Have You Been to This Easy Beauty?
Honestly, it is a long drive to the Blue Lake trailhead for a very short hike. If you just love hiking, then that won't bother you; especially if you are trying to get your little ones to the outdoors. There is a side trail to Dock Butte that offers more adventure. It leads to a view of Mount Baker on a meadowy hilltop.
“Kids will not want to hike again, if they are forced to go in the rain!”
It had been raining off and on, so I was a bit worried about getting the girls on the trail. I try not to make their experiences miserable at such a young age. I have been known to say: Kids will not want to hike again, if they are forced to go in the rain. With this in mind, we drove up to the trailhead, knowing we might not actually go on the trail.
It was a lot colder at the trailhead because of all the fog, but I talked the girls into going anyway. My youngest, two year old Reggie, was able to hike the whole one mile roundtrip hike. Though it was a bit up and down, overall the trail seemed level.
Once Blue Lake is visible, only about 100 feet in elevation below, there is a split in the trail. We went to the right and it drops steeply down to a great spot. There is not an official trail around the lake, though it is possible to follow well used paths around some of it.
The highlights of our hike were:
- Pollywogs in a small pond that is right on the trail just after the Dock Butte trail junction. We had fun watching them swim around and wondering just how many frogs there would be in the months to come! I took a video of the pollywogs HERE.
- Fog rolling in on the lake would come and go. We watched as the lake would be totally visible, and then a minute or two later, would be completely fogged in. I took a video of the fog HERE.
By: Rudy Giecek
