Baker Lake Canoe/Hike

It was midday, after a couple hours of driving, when we finally could see Mt. Baker, jutting out of the hills. Vast glaciers covered the entire mountain, and the haze that surrounded us turned it into what looked like a painting. The lake that we would be camping on was glimmering a deep blue, and the trees blanketed the land. Steep peaks, many with glaciers shot up, forming jagged edges cutting up the skyline. 

      As we drove, the lake loomed closer and closer, until finally we parked right next to it. When we got out, we took our time to stretch and enjoy the scenery, but then quickly loaded the canoes into the water, packed our gear into dry bags, and headed off. The first part of canoeing was very brief. Brief enough that we set out for some miles with our backpacks on, and were back in time for dinner. Dinner that night was delicious, and consisted of pasta with chicken and broccoli. 

     In the morning, we got up to a great view of the mountain looming over the lake. After adoring the view for a little, bit we got up, had a wonderful breakfast of oatmeal, and started our trek. The people in the canoes got a head start as they had all of the gear, and we the hikers began making our way over to the other site. Our backpacks were stuffed with food and tents, and after a couple of miles got pretty tiring. The scenery was alright, with trees to both sides, and a diverse mix of plant and animal life. We saw many caterpillars munching on leaves, which inspired us to have a snack break that consisted of cranberries and nuts. 

     After 6 miles of backpacking, we reached the campsite, and set up camp, and got ready for the rain that was expected that night. Once we finished, we hopped in the canoes, did some turns and practiced various maneuvers, and then began fishing. We were using worms, which allowed us to quickly get fish, and immediately they started biting. Many were too small, so we had to release them, but we did catch a really big one, which turned out to be a “sucker”, so we didn’t eat it. Instead, for dinner we had rice lentils and chicken which tasted really good, so we dug in on that. We were all really exhausted so we hopped in our tents and quickly fell asleep.

     In the morning, we packed up quickly, as there was a good amount of rain falling, drenching us. We made breakfast, cleaned up, and were out of there as soon as possible. The canoes said goodbye, as they would head home without us, and then we began to hike. It wasn’t too bad, because it was only 4 miles, and the streams that ran down were really neat. When we arrived at the car we were filthy and ready to head home, so that’s what we did!