Boulder Ridge

I actually thought about calling this Senior Trailblazer hike "Boulder Bog" because it was, well, sloppy and treacherous in many places. Our payoff was seeing this view of Mt. Baker, where you can see the two distinct peaks. Twelve Trailblazers left the Senior Center at 8:00 but were not on the trail until after 10:00am because of the long drive to the trailhead (65 miles). However, the weather was perfect for this new (to us) hike. From the Ken Wilcox book:

The Boulder Ridge trail, nearly a century old, is in rough shape. It was scheduled for reconstruction but the work has been delayed. Until that happens, expect a muddy, well-used route with some logs and steep sections.

Yes, that describes it exactly. We passed through a bog that tried to pull us in. Linda, on the way back, stepped in a place that grabbed her boot all the way above her gaiter. I heard the sucking sound as she pulled her foot out! The hike began in a nice meadow and wound gently upwards to that bog. I don't have a good picture of it, because I was busy trying hard to navigate my way through it.

As we climbed higher, we had a good view of Baker Lake in the distance. I took this picture with my telephoto which brought it closer. We stopped at about 12:30 for lunch, and some of us left our packs and went on for another half mile for the views. There is a glacier here (Boulder Glacier) that is actually almost gone. What I did see are multiple waterfalls that feed into Boulder Creek.

There are several of these lines of water heading down into the moraine, but the glacier itself is not very impressive. Mt. Baker has many glaciers you can see on different hikes, but I was surprised at how little of this one remains. In another decade, or less, it will be gone.

This picture, from our highest vantage point, shows the creek where all the waterfalls converge. You might notice how different the area looks from our usual Mt. Baker terrain: I don't know the reason for it, but after hiking through wet bogs and picking our way through slippery and steep terrain, this is the payoff: what looks almost like a desert landscape.

We did, however, see lots of old-growth forest, and some of the trees had these mushroomy looking things growing out the sides of them. This one was covered with moisture, I don't know why because it had been quite awhile since it rained. I loved the way the dewdrops decorated it.

In the car on the way back, we discussed the hike. The consensus is that the view of Mt. Baker is well worth the hike, but the treacherous trail, covering a little more than seven miles out and back, needs improvement. I am tired and happy, all the same, and glad to be home with a shower and a glass of wine to complete a pretty perfect day.
:-)