50 Hikes 'til Vegas

If you live in Bellingham you've probably done/heard of this hike it is by far the most talked about hike there is. I know when I (Stephanie) was up at Western it was a very popluar hike/ camping spot for WWU students. And on a nice day it is always pretty crowded. This hike can be accessed by driving out Chuckanut past Taylor Shelfish, youll see the cars parked on the right, the trail is on the left and starts out as narrow switchbacks.

This hike is 3.8 miles roundtrip to overlook; 6.5 miles to Dome. You can also go to the bat caves from this trail.  The elevation starts at160; and has a  high point of 2,025 feet. This hike is moderatley difficult at times. There are a couple of spots along the way that have steep tree roots to climb up and can be difficult. But once the top is reached this hike is well worth the effort.
 
For those who want to cut the hike in half theres parking at Blanchard Mountain  tghsi eliminates the switchbacks and dramatically reduces the amount of time it takes to reach the top. There are a couple of resting/viewpoints along the way however the best and by far most rewarding is at the top. Once at the top one can sit back on a large boulder, and take in the great views from this big cliff - the Skagit River Delta as it snakes out to sea; the  Olympic Mountains; the San Juan Islands! On this day we brought my  (Stephanie)s Dad, Ryder and Sarah packed her famous PB&Js to enjoy at the top, Ryder had a dog biscuit!

In late March we planned a trip to hike Mount Si. We've heard about Mount Si from all of our "Seattlite" friends in the past who said it was challenging, but not unmanageable. Mount Si is located in North Bend Wash. and is about a 4 mi. hike.

We left Bellingham aroun 9am and arrived at the mountain around 11:30 ish am (after potty breaks, snacks, getting lost etc...). After locating the parking lot it took us about 15mins to find a space, this worried us a little seeing how crowded the parking lot was that probably meant lots of people on the trail. Once we claimed a spot we headed toward the trail head. Sarah was struggling a bit having enjoyed one to many cocktails the night before (not reccomended).

We got about 20 ft before we were behind and in front of groups of people. This was consistent for the duration of the hike, which is mostly switch backs and high elevation (4,167 ft). So our reccomendation is if you want to do this hike leave early to avoid crowds. Overall it was an okay hike, not really worth the drive but glad to have completed it and a good experience.

This hike is a workout!!! Do not attempt if extremely out of shape, drank to much the night before, or have bad knees, for this hike is sure to test your endurance. The parking is just off on Old Samish Road. This hike begins with a strenous climb of 1,300 feet in 1.6 miles to the junction with Hemlock Trail.  Continue 0.2 miles to a junction with a spur trail to Cedar Lake. The spur loops around the lake and connects to a 0.5 mile side trail which climbs 250 feet to viewpoints of Mount Baker and the San Juan Islands. The main trail continues 0.3 more miles to Pine Lake. Once we reached the top to the lakes it was a relief!! to say the least and nice to rest and catch our breath at the top. Weve done this hike a few times and gone to both pine and cedar lake. As steep as this hike is on the way up it feels even steeper on the way down and not to be attempted for those with bad knees cause its a killer!

During our hikes while talking with fellow hikers we learned of the owl that lives on this trail that on more than one occasion has came out and spooked some hikers, while we didnt see any owls we did spot some trillium (a flower) which we had never known about before but learned from a fellow hiker that it was a protected plant which we didn't know why so we had to wikipedia it and found out that....

" Typical species are Trillium grandiflorum (Large-flowered Trillium) in eastern North America and Trillium ovatum (Western Trillium). Both have white flowers that turn pink as they age.

Picking a trillium seriously injures the plant by preventing the leaf-like bracts from producing food for the next year. A plant takes many years to recover. For this reason in Michigan[1] and Minnesota[2] it is illegal to pick and/or transplant trilliums from public lands without a permit from the State."

There are a couple of ways to access this trail, the shortest is through Pine and Cedar Lakes trail:  Take exit 251 for Fairhaven, turn left from 12th and Harris, go down Chuckanut Drive till you reach a Y in the road.  Take the left onto Old Samish Highway. 
Keep going til you see a sign on the right for the trail head parking lot. Another way, the longer way which we did it was through Arroyo Park, which is an earlier turn on Old Samish.  The day we did this hike we were looking for a longer hike also we were feeling a little lazy and wanted to avoid the steep pine and cedar lake trail! This hike was somewhere between 4-5 miles and we took our time but it was well worth it! This was the first time either of us did this hike and it was by far one of the favorites. it was a moderate hike from Arroyo Park but from Pine and Cedar it would be really steep!
Once you get towards the top you follow wooden bridges/trails and once at the top on a nice day you have a view of a valley of trees and on a good day might catch sight of a bird of prey, overall just a nice view to take in while taking a rest and enjoying a pb&j!
 

We've hiked Fragrance Lake many times its a quick moderately easy Hike. Its a great hike to do after you get off work or are crunched for time. We parked at the Fragrance Lake trailhead on Chuckanut Drive (it can also be accessed from the Clayton Beach trailhead). This hike is about 1.9 mi and took us about 45 mins to get up to the lake. Once you get to the lake there is a trail that goes all the way around the lake which is small. For mor information go to: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/fragrance-lake