Join Thor, Reo dog, and me as we seize the day for a beautiful hike in the Mt. Baker Wilderness — Chain Lakes Trail
Encouraged by my better-than-expected energy on our previous week’s hike below Mt. Shuksan/Mt. Baker, Thor and I decided we’d try a more challenging hike on one of the last sunny days of late September. The Chain Lakes Trail involves a lot of rocky terrain from old avalanche chutes, along with an uphill trail on the way back. There was a bit of wildfire smoke haze in the sky, but otherwise a perfect day, with a mild breeze. So good to be back in the mountains!
Leaving Mt. Shuksan behind us, we head toward Mt. Baker:
Mt. Baker — the native Koma Kulshan — stays snowcapped all year.
At the trail junction to Ptarmigan Ridge, we turn right and downhill for the Chain Lakes, across a long stretch of broken rock in the avalanche chute. The rock scrambling is a challenge for Thor, with the stiff assistive device that helps him walk with the nerve damage in his right calf. He carried on heroically.
We always enjoy this wall of fused volcanic columnar andesite.
Heading downhill beneath Mt. Baker:
The first and shallowest of the Chain Lakes below:
That blue blue mountain sky! Colors were just starting in the fall foliage.
Reo loves the water as much as I do — he’s always the first in.
Didn’t take me long to follow. A brisk all-body rush!
Some pretty bog areas among the boulders:
After our swim and picnic, it was time to head back uphill. This time, I actually felt I could have gone farther to the next lake, but it was Thor whose leg was tired. He has to work twice as hard as me, with that brace, and carrying our picnic and camp cushions. And the can of compressed oxygen he’d ordered for me helped a lot. But he said he was proud of me! 6 miles round trip.
Wild huckleberry bushes flaming in the afternoon sun:
And back up the rocky trail to the rim above.
Reo has fallen in love with the mountains. He was also very excited to hear the picas, and we spotted one of the little cuties atop a boulder. Thor’s training held, as Reo obeys us to stay close on the trail and not chase critters.
Putting Mt. Baker behind us:
“I’m alive!” I repeated my pose from 2020, taken a couple months after the surgery to remove half a lung — my first run-in with the cancer. (Last photo is fall of 2020, with our dear departed Bear dog).
“Carpe diem!”
*****
You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and an International Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky). It’s also a love letter to the breathtaking wilderness of Sara’s native Pacific Northwest. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
