Oyster Dome and Lily Lake 2017

Heading up to Oyster Dome

Eleven Senior Trailblazers tackled Oyster Dome and Lily Lake on the first day we've had without rain for simply ages. In fact, we even saw some of that strange yellow globe in the sky that scattered sun puddles for a change. This hike starts out with a long upward slog, gaining almost 2,000 feet of elevation before arriving at the Dome. I was happy to discover that my hip didn't bother me much on the uphill sections.

Ellen checking out the logging notice

After hiking just over a mile and a half, we crossed the junction where you can decide to go directly to the Samish Bay Overlook or head up to Oyster Dome. That is what we did, and we did stop to read all about the logging activity that will soon take place in this wonderful area, unless we can find the funds to put a stop to it. That's what the flyer told us, but most of us were already well aware that the beauty of this area is under threat.

Two young women wrapped in blankets

Once we got to the top, the wind was blowing so hard that there was little reason to spend much time up here. But these two young ladies wrapped themselves in blankets and decided to stay for awhile. Looking out over the bay, you see lots of the San Juan islands on days when it's not raining. Like today.

Lily Lake

We took the trail to Lily Lake, where we decided to have lunch, although the wind was still blowing and nobody was all that warm. It was after 11:30am, and everybody was willing to hunker down and eat some lunch, but every time I thought I was protected from the wind, it found me from another direction.

Richard and Jim under the trees

It was pretty cold and so we packed up early and headed over to Max's Shortcut on our way to the Samish Bay Overlook. We ran into the other group of Senior Trailblazers just about then, who were on their way to have lunch at Lily Lake. I hope they were more successful than we were in finding some place out of the wind. Once we started down Max's Shortcut, I realized that my hip was hurting much more in going downhill, so I kept slowing the group down somewhat. I decided that when we reached Samish Overlook, I'd do some taping on my leg to see if it would help with the discomfort.

Looking out at Samish Flats from Samish Overlook

As you can see, by the time we reached the Overlook, our sun breaks had begun to recede and the clouds had built. But still, no rain, and from here we only had two miles back to the cars. We spent a few minutes here, since there are real bathrooms and coming back down so much elevation had caused the temperature to rise considerably. We didn't feel any hurry to leave.

Peggy looking out at Samish Bay

While we were in the car on our way back home, Melanie showed me this picture she took of Peggy looking out over the bay. I asked her to send it to me, and she did, right there, and here it is for your enjoyment. What a fine connected world we live in!

Today's route

From Highway 11, we went up the red trail (all those switchbacks tell you how steep it is) until we got to the top of the second red peak, then went up to Oyster Dome. From there, we went back to the trail leading us to Lily Lake, then back to Max's Shortcut to Samish Overlook. From there we took all of those red lines back to Highway 11 and our cars. The distance doesn't seem to change much from year to year: we covered more than nine miles and climbed more than 2,500 feet of elevation gain and loss by the time the day was over.

Not knowing how my hip would hold out, I am encouraged. I managed to do the entire trip, albeit more slowly in spots that I would have liked, but I did it nevertheless. I may not be all the way back,  but I'm making steady progress.
:-)