Samish Overlook to Lily Lake

Samish Bay from the Overlook

When I woke this morning, I heard the gentle sound of rain falling. Uh-oh, I thought, it's going to be another wet Thursday hike. However, by the time I met Melanie for our trip up to Samish Overlook on Blanchard Mountain, it had not only stopped, but the clouds cleared right off. This is the view from the Overlook before we started our trip to Lily Lake.

Mel, Sue and Chris (all socially distanced and masked)

It was cool and delightful as we began our hike. I realized that I was the slowest one of the group, and Melanie suggested that I lead, since I could then set the pace. Reluctantly, I agreed but there was little else I could do but trudge up the steep trail towards the connecting point that would allow us either to go to Oyster Dome or towards Lily and Lizard lakes.

Maidenhair fern growing from a tree

I am always ready to take pictures of this lovely fern, and when I saw it growing from the inside of a tree, I had to share its beauty with you. We trekked on the Lily/Lizard trail towards Lily Lake, when we saw this guy.

Pacific newt

He was in the middle of the trail and not moving, but when we decided to move him to the side, we saw that he is still alive, but moving slowly. Maybe he was cold. I found this information about the Pacific newt. There are four species, and this one is called the rough-skinned newt and is highly poisonous. We only touched him with a stick but saw that he is orange on his underside.

Lily Lake

And then we were at the lake and stopped for a short snack. We had sun and clouds, with little to no breeze (it's usually windy right here) so we took our time before starting out again. Once we headed back, we took Max's Shortcut back to the Overlook, giving us a nice loop hike of less than six miles but 1,100 feet elevation gain and loss.

Samish Bay at low tide

The bay looks quite different than it did when we began our hike, and the clouds had once again returned, but it was a wonderful temperature and a very satisfying hike. Chris is a new friend that Melanie met on the trail a while back, and he is fun to hike with, as well as being very knowledgeable about equipment woes. I had forgotten my poles and used a spare set of Mel's. They kept slipping and Chris fixed them right up!

Fall flowers

I took one last shot of the bay with these pretty yellow flowers in the foreground, and then it was time to head back home after a delightful no-rain hike!
:-)