Since everyone seemed to be well into their own groove, I grabbed my gear and set out to meet up with the Mount Baker Club for one of their 'short notice' outings. Today's intended destination was the Hertz Trail along the eastern shore of Lake Whatcom.
The trail head is located at a Whatcom County Park located at the 'end of the road' near the northern end of the lake.
This trail is completely flat - unless you happen to be from Florida, in which case you might come across a couple of small hills.
The trail begins with a short trek through some nice mossy forest land before reaching the shores of Lake Whatcom. At this junction there are a few informational signs.
Turning to the left takes you along the lake for about three miles or so, crossing a number of creeks and waterfalls, plus a short dip under or a climb over a large downed tree.
Upon our arrival at the lake shore, a hand written sign had been posted warning that there had been a small amount of rockfall and it offered some simple advice: "Keep moving."
We hiked down to the end of the trail at a wooded fence (marked with no trespassing signs) where we took a short lunch break before turning around and heading back.
The weather was quite windy and stormy - but dry. We stayed alert for falling branches, but none were witnessed - although there were a few we had to clean up/move off the trail on our return trip that hadn't been there on our first pass.
If you look closely, maybe you'll see the face staring back at you like I did. Seems like a mix of Marvin and Deep
Thought (both from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy).
Two thumbs up for the Mount Baker Club. They always turn out to be a fun group every time I manage to connect with them. You can visit their website at www.mountbakerclub.org and find the link for the 'activities' page in the upper left corner.
I noticed they have a trip to Bald Mountain planned for the near future - that's on my To-Do list for sure!
Happy Trails!
~E
PS: Coming Soon: Another snow shoe trip to Skyline Lake!
Looks like really well maintained trail. Nice to see.
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