A break in the weather, avalanche danger in the mountains, and cabin fever all combined led us to choose this loop to Oyster Dome. We drove to the Hang Glider Launch site at the end of the Blanchard Mountain Rd. off Barrel Springs Rd. near Alger to begin. (You can start from Chuckanut Drive, giving an extra 600' of elevation gain, but my recent knee trouble made me want to minimize steep descents.) We like to do this loop clockwise, leaving north from the HG parking lot on the PNT trail, giving us a steep climb to Oyster Dome and a more knee friendly but longer route back to the car using Max's Shortcut from Lily Lake. Clouds moved in and out as we ate lunch on Oyster Dome, with the sun peaking through only occasionally. Heading over to Lily Lake, we found the 2 big beaver dams have been breached, leaving the trail a little drier than normal, but also creating some interesting washouts. This route is usually low on mud (compared to other trails in the Chuckanut/Blanchard area) but the recent rains have left even this one quite muddy. How green the sword fern and mahonia are; makes you appreciate our mild winter climate! Note- Part of this loop, the lower section of Max's Shortcut, is due to be logged soon. If you want to see it in good condition, go soon!

Enjoyed a fine 9 mile hike to Oyster Dome in the Blanchard Mountain area of the Chuckanuts. The countless miles of trails in this area create a fantastic venue for winter hiking, or any time of year for that matter. My buddies and I started the hike at the Blanchard trailhead, which you get to by driving I-5 north of Mt Vernon to the Alger exit (turn left at the stop sign at the end of the ramp, turn left again onto Barrel Springs Road, right onto the dirt Blanchard Hill road--signs mark the last two turns). Fine wintery weather greeted us at the trailhead parking area; crisp blue skies, bright sun nicely balancing the freezing air temperature. From the upper trailhead, we walked past a gate and followed a gently climbing logging road a mile or so to the unsigned start of the Incline Trail. Then we followed that aptly named path as it climbed the forested slope, gaining about a thousand feet. Eventually the trail reached an old logging railroad grade and the steep grade eased off. The next mile of the trail was exceptionally fine, as it followed the RR grade on a nearly level traverse, passing mossy cliffs cut into the steep hillside. We passed the side trail to Lizard Lake, then reached a major junction with another trail that descends to the trailhead where we parked. There was inadequate signage at the junction. In fact, signage is poor throughout the area, which is owned by the DNR; there's a high potential to get lost--bring a good map. We continued the hike by heading toward Lily Lake. Set in a shady basin at almost 2000', this area around the lake always seems to be icy in winter. This time, conditions were especially so. Abundant ice and snow lingered on the trail, making for slick footing. The lake was so hard-frozen that we saw a guy boldly walking in the middle of the lake to do some fishing in a hole he had cut through the ice. Beyond the lake, the trail, still following an old RR grade, began a gradual descent. Perhaps a half mile beyond Lily Lake, the RR grade abruptly ended and the trail began a steep descent as it headed toward a trailhead on Chuckanut Drive. Here we found the junction with the Oyster Dome side trail ( unsigned, as usual). We followed that rough path as it dipped to a creek crossing, then made the short climb to the brink of Oyster Dome. The view from the Dome was spectacular that day. Perched atop a five hundred foot cliff, we could see the Olympic Mountains, Vancouver Island, and countless San Juan Islands large and small, set in the sparkling waters of Puget Sound 2000' below. The calm, sunny conditions allowed us to linger for an hour in comfort. As usual we were not alone; a crowd of happy hikers and dogs shared the view, but there was lots of room on the ledge for everyone. After a reluctant departure from Oyster Dome, we headed back the way we came to Lily Lake. There, we decided to make a side trip to another vista point on the north side of Blanchard Mountain. This little-used trail began at the hiker's camping area at Lily Lake. The faint path made a short climb to a saddle, then continued the ascent to a rocky spur north of Blanchard Mountain's high point. We found that no single viewpoint here matched that of Oyster Dome, but the views were nevertheless pretty fine and quite different in perspective. One spot provided a good look at Mt Baker and frozen Lizard Lake. Certainly this area is far more private than Oyster Dome, which every Bellingham resident (Bellinghamsters?) knows about. We returned via the standard trail back to the trailhead, which descends the mountain in a long, moderately-graded three miles. This trail was in good condition (don't know who's doing the maintenance), generally free of snow and ice, and not too muddy. As a frequent WTA volunteer, I did notice that the drainage features rated about a ""C"" grade...needs work. The Incline Trail's drainage was better (I'd give that trail a ""B""). Just before reaching the end of the trail, we enjoyed the sight of the sun setting beyond the Puget Sound, which reflected a brilliant, firey red glow through the forest. A nice finale to a great day of hiking.

Good Friday is a holiday in my business and I usually take advantage of it to find solitude on the trail. The mountains looked to be wet and I wanted something other than Tiger Mountain so I finally headed to a place that I have meant to explore for years. Oyster Dome sits very near Puget Sound about a dozen miles south of Bellingham. The trailhead is only about 3 miles from exit 240, Alger, on Interstate 5. I filled up my gas tank at 145th and Greenwood in North Seattle and it was 70.5 miles to the trailhead. I found a map on the internet which showed a lower and higher trailhead. I figured I would start at the lower one to maximize the distance. The lot is large enough for a few dozen cars and a new looking bathroom is on the site. I was ready to go by 8:30. I looked for the trail near the big Blanchard Hill Trail sign. A bermed old road started out. It soon ended and a rough boot path headed on. After scrambling down a steep slope and reaching a wide dry stream bed I concluded this was not a trail. Back I went. I decided since there was no trail I would drive up to the upper trailhead. A short drive and I saw...the real trailhead. Back I went and I now walked the road to the trail. I should have looked closer at the map. I sign at the parking lot would have been useful. The real trail is quite nice. It is mostly on old roads narrowed to nice trail. After about a mile I reached the upper trailhead. There is a sign pointing the way I came but no signs pointing to where the trail continued. I again should have consulted the map. I didn't. I headed up the road to my right. I reached a gate in a short distance. It was locked. I continued on. Soon it was apparent that this was not the way to find the Lily Lake Trail. I knew the road would reach the Incline Trail so that was my new plan. About a mile along the road I saw an obvious trail on the left. There was no sign visible from the road but a short way in there were signs. The Incline Trail went to the left and the Incline Alternate Trail went right. The Incline is straight up and the Alternate is more gently graded. I went right on the Alternate. There were a lot of signs of old logging on this trail. Wire cables were especially prevalent. After a steady climb the route moved onto an old railroad grade. The two trails came back together and soon reached the higher railroad grade. A sign pointed right 1/4 mile to Lizard Lake and left to Lily Lake. I turned right. Very quickly I reached Lizard Lake. It is not large but is a nice lake. I saw skunk cabbage along the shore. I would see much more of it this day. The map showed a route from Lizard Lake to Lily Lake. I took a tiny boot path uphill and reached a flat area where the route disappeared. The distance to Lily Lake was short but I chose not to do a solo cross country bushwhack. I dropped back to Lizard Lake and was soon back at the top of the Incline Trail. This time I took the railroad grade on the route to Lily Lake. The next intersection had a trail going left and one right. The left was unsigned and the right said Lily Lake. The left turned out to be the Lily Lake Trail I had missed at the upper trailhead and would be my return route. More nearly level travel and I reached a small lake on the right. Another trail turned left and it was signed ""Max's Shortcut"". Just beyond was another sign pointed right to Lily Lake. I scanned the map and pinpointed my position. I decided to continue straight ahead towards Oyster Dome. On my left was a wide muddy area with lots of skunk cabbage. As with the others, they had few leaves but there were many bright yellow spathes. At the next intersection the left route was signed for the Dome Trail. I dropped down and crossed a creek then began the climb to the top of Oyster Dome. At the viewpoint I saw one couple and heard another close by. I said ""hi"" and the couple did not even acknowledge my presence from 10 feet away. Oh well... I headed up to the highest point which had a view out to the north. I could see North Butte from there. It was 12:00 and time for lunch. I then dropped back to the viewpoints and found a place out of sight of the others. The clouds hampered the view a little but it was still impressive. I will need to come back on a clear day. It was windy and cold at the viewpoint. After 20 minutes I had to get going. All to soon I caught up with the couple. I gave a cheerful salutation as I passed and again received no response. Oh for two... As I neared the Lily Lake turn off and the muddy stretch I saw why it was so muddy. A beaver dam had blocked the creek. With more water it would be a long skinny lake but now it was a long mud patch. Numerous trees were chewed through along here. At the intersection I turned left to Lily Lake. I immediately saw another bigger beaver dam. The beavers seem to be very busy around here. Previous trip reports said Lily Lake was just a small mud hole. I found it to be a nice small lake full of water. I decided to head on and look for the route up North Butte. After following the lake shore the trail headed uphill. It was very muddy here but I managed to pick a dry route through lots of mud. The path was easy to follow and ended at a rocky spot. From the top of the rock I could see Oyster Dome and out to salt water. I climbed down and headed into the woods. A short distance led to an opening in the trees. I could see the bottom half of Mt. Baker. Without the clouds this would be a great close up view of the mountain. I then headed down and was back at the lake in now time. From the lake I passed Max's Shortcut which was another route that would have taken me back. Instead I backtracked to the Lily Lake Trail and took it down. This is a very nice trail which drops in several long gentle switchbacks. From North Butte to the upper trailhead was about 4 miles. I passed several hikers coming up. When I reached the main road I turned uphill and in a short distance reached the upper parking lot. It was about 1 mile down to the lower trailhead and my car. This is a great area to hike. There are great views out to islands and salt water, several lakes, and great loop opportunities. It was really nice to go somewhere I have never hiked as well. The high point of my trip was about 2200' but with all the ups and downs I managed to get in 2700' of gain. Now I just need to come back on a sunny day. Photos will be posted shortly at: http://www.hikingnorthwest.com. Go to ""Trips-2005"" on the left margin.

We started by the Oyster Bar on Chuckanut Drive and completed a lollipop loop hiking up the PNT to the Lily Lake Campground and back to the PNT on the Sarnish Connection. Beware of the 2 mile 60 mph speedzone just before the Chuckanut exit. The hike up the PNT offered stellar views up to an overlook, which unfortunately was a bit trashy. There were some old, rotting recliners and fire pits up there. Continuing up the PNT was a nice forested walk and very well marked by a plethora of PNT signs. Lily Lake seemed to be more of a beaver pond with plenty of beaver activity evidence including freshly felled trees. In fact the first bit of the Sarnish Connection seemed to be rerouted a little higher to avoid rising water. The view from the top of the dome was nice and we got to see a pair of bald eagles, some other large birds of prey, and a rock climber. Hiking down the Sarnish Connection was steep in places. We stopped off to play in the boulder field and bat caves which I'm not sure we found. There were jumbles of rocks we poked our head into, but we never found a system to climb into. The rocks were very slippery in places and covered in moss. Hike down from there was short and we passed a number of hikers coming up late in the day. I'm guessing this hike gets packed on a weekend. We did see 3 blooming trilium and tons of those yellow flowers that I think are skunk cabbage. I guy we met who may have been one his own kind of mushrooms claimed he was hunting for morells.

I left the parking area at Samish Overlook with Daisy the Wonder Dog and Yetiman at 10 am, and headed the ""wrong way"" down the PNT towards Chuckanut drive far below. At the first switchback, we turned right on the Samish Bay Connector, which took us up and down and over to the Oyster trail. Then it was up and up on a rough and rooty trail, very slippery in places, to the Talus trail that goes to the Bat Caves. We spent three hours exploring the area and nursing the dog through some pretty rough scrambling and bouldering. We made it up to the rock wall of the giant cliffs right in the center, and took plenty of pictures of the great views and cool cliffs and rocks. Next it was back to the Oyster trail and up an extremely steep section to the Oyster Dome side trail, which is also very steep. Great views of the San Juans, Olympics, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands of BC, Anacortes, and other cool things. We left at 5 and got back to the car at 6:15 by pushing straight through at full speed. The sunset had died down to smouldering embers by then, but we hung out for a couple of hours anyway, enjoying the commanding views of the Skagit valley spread out beneath us. Wow. The Samish Overlook alone is worth the drive up, just 65 miles from Lynnwood. The first picture was taken at a boulder called ""Ice Age"" on the Oyster trail before the Bat caves turn-off, the second is of the cliffs at Bat Caves.