Lizard, Lily, and North Butte

Mel and a couple of our destinations

Fifteen Senior Trailblazers showed up on a very sunny and delightful day to head up the Upper Trailhead on Blanchard Mountain to Lizard and Lily lake via the North Butte trail. Once we get to this sign, if we head to Lizard lake, we can then take the North Butte trail and afterwards make our way over to Lily. So we bagged them all in a loop hike.

Our sun-dappled trail

Nobody seemed to mind the lack of rain (ha!). We had a few high clouds at times, but mostly it was a day with a perfect temperature around 17°C (65°F) with a light breeze or completely calm.

Calm Lizard lake

First we went to Lizard lake, which has a beaver dam and plenty of signs of beaver activity. I tried to get a picture of their dam, but it didn't turn out very well, so you'll just have to see what we saw today: no breeze, with a bald eagle that was on the other side of the lake. I couldn't capture him at all. He was there, though, I promise.

Mt. Baker just barely visible

There are two viewing spots when one makes the journey up the North Butte trail. This one gives you a lovely view of Mt. Baker, but when I took this I was very close to the edge of a steep drop-off, leaning out to get this much of a view, so the trees in the foreground couldn't be avoided. You can see the dark cloud overhead, which dissipated by the time we climbed up to the actual rocky butte.

What a butte!

Here we are at our lunch destination, with a magnificent view looking out over Samish Bay, enjoying a relaxed half hour in the sunshine. There were others who aren't in the picture, but most of the Trailblazers are visible here. Steve was with us for the first time in awhile; it was so nice to see an old friend on the trail again.

Lily pads in Lily lake

Then we went down the trail to Lily lake, where I tried to capture a few new lily pads and a reflection in the lake, showing how sunny and calm our day was. I've been here when it was windy and cold, but that wasn't today; it was just about perfect, as I've said already.

Two trillium

And today we saw so many trillium, all in bloom and smiling at the sun, it was simply delightful. I suspect we saw a millium trillium. Then it was time to return to the cars via Max's Shortcut (which never seems all that short) and a total distance of just under nine miles and around 1,900 feet elevation up and down.

Now that my glass of wine is half consumed, and I've got my feet in my comfy slippers, I reflect that this was one of the finest Blanchard Mountain excursions I've experienced in a long time. A little bit of all the best parts of living in the Pacific Northwest.
:-)