Maple Grove

Our Trailblazers June 2012, picture taken by Con

I have just spent the past hour looking for the last time I wrote about a Senior Trailblazers trip to Maple Grove on the South Trail of Baker Lake. Well, we last visited this place in late March 2009, and I wasn't exactly writing posts every week about our trips as I do today. There wasn't one, and we had a lot of snow back then. But not today. Eight of us met at the Senior Center to decide where we might go on this late June day, since our scheduled trip was out of the question, due to the deep snow at Sauk Mountain. After last week's humbling experience on the Excelsior Pass trail, we decided to try another trip south to Baker Lake and take the trail to Maple Grove.

Foxgloves at the trailhead

When we arrived at the trailhead, we met Cindy and Con, two Trailblazers who were planning to hike the trail as well, so we became ten until we stopped for lunch. Although the day called for a 70% chance of rain (no surprise), the day dawned clear and mostly sunny. Almost the entire day we had more sun than clouds, and we knew the rain was expected later in the day. The trail was so beautiful, with old growth trees and gentle, easy terrain, so we were feeling particularly happy to be in such a gorgeous place, with no snow.

For the first part of the hike, we met no other people on the trail and simply enjoyed the abundant birdsong and light breeze. This trail has little elevation gain and loss (I think the whole day was less than 1,400), so we didn't need to do anything more than enjoy the beauty of the big old trees and lovely greenery. We did have one stream crossing that would have been difficult without the assistance of a metal rope to give me a little courage.

You can see the strong current under our feet as we made our way across; the roaring water and the narrow log gave us a challenge, but everyone successfully navigated the crossing. We took a little side trip to look at the campsites at Anderson Creek, and I caught this lovely picture of Mt. Shuksan reflected in Baker Lake.

Mt. Shuksan reflected in Baker Lake

All of my pictures of Mt. Baker, which was visible as well as Mt. Shuksan, were washed out due to the high clouds, but this one I felt was worthy of some admiration. Al took a picture of me alone in front of this beautiful view, but I like to limit the number of pictures I put on these posts, so it will need to wait for another time. As you can see, there was little wind to stir the water on Baker Lake, and the clouds were there but didn't obscure the view.

At Maple Grove, enjoying perfect weather

We stopped for lunch at Maple Grove, having traveled four-and-a-half miles to get there. The weather continued to be just about perfect as we ate and enjoyed each other's company before heading back the way we had come. Cindy and Con stayed behind to make their own way home, while the other eight Trailblazers said farewell for now and went on our way. We met several other hikers on the way back, but until then we had this beautiful place to ourselves. Nowhere was I able to find a picture that could capture the beauty of the day, the enormous gorgeous trees, and then I looked up.

The canopy of beautiful trees surrounded us and gave us shade and shelter. By the time we reached our cars, we had covered 8.4 miles and 1,500 feet of elevation gain and loss on an absolutely perfect day, weather in the low 70s, light breeze, no rain, and the best company I could imagine. Now I am home, happy and content, and glad to share my day with you. Until next time, I offer you some happy virtual hugs.
:-)