Moderate hike that earns you some 360 degree views, lots of familiar mountains but a unique angle. Watch out for the stinging nettle near the start. Terrain had a couple sections where poles were helpful and may have been mini scrambles without them. There was one very wet dozen feet, both other than that and a couple trickle stream it was pretty dry up to the ridge where some snow is hanging on. Bugs were pretty bad but nothing compared to the ones we experience backpacking last week. I may post a video of the road.
Road/Parking: I would not recommend this for a low clearance car, there were a few deep holes and ruts that would be a challenge, but were fine in a small AWD SUV with 6.8" clearance. Parking was nearly full at 10:30 AM on a warm Sat and still mostly full when we returned. There is a pit toilet, trash, and board with blue bags at the TH. The road is narrow and it is hard to pass in some areas. There are a few campsites along the road, including one large area just after the road transitions to gravel and they were all busy. It was opening day for sockeye salmon so Baker Lake had an unreal amount of boats and people.
Trail: Starts out roady with a few wash out sections where you climd down to a dry creak-bed and back up again. Some of these were lose and had large steps. There was only a tiny bit of water in the fits mile and then none. The trail was mostly shaded with a few peak-a-boo views. A couple sections were overgrown with shoulder high light foliage, salmon berries and such. We saw a couple mountaineering groups heading both ways and a couple hikers coming down, but we ended up being the only ones at the top. The trail felt humid and much hotter than it should so my dog and I were both excited to see the snow at the top. Most is scant, but a couple sections are a few feet deep. It was all slushy and poles were nice but spikes would be useless.
The ridge had Baker on one side, Shuksan on another, and countless mountains on the third. We didn't find any sign for the park boundary line. There are lots of good views but not many places to sit without disturbing the plants, but maybe under the snow.
Stats: 7 miles, 2340 ft elevations gain/loss, 3.8 hours moving, 4.5 hours total. We are moderate speed hikers who hike weekly.
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