Chain Lakes Loop is located at Mount Baker Wilderness Recreation Area, managed by the US National Forest Service.
The trail was well maintained.
We took the Sumas border crossing from Abbotsford, BC, and went through the notorious Hwy 547 (the countless 90° degree
turns road), and connected to Hwy 542 up Mt. Baker.
It was a sunny Sunday, and Gan and I took the opportunity to hike this loop. I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before.
(It was Stan's stag). After 2 hours of driving, we started off at the Visitor Center, Heather Meadows.
At first, the view gave me a feel of a miniature park because of the small lakes and meadows. Once we placed ourselves
into the trail, we felt we are so small.
Heather Meadows Visitor Centre.
Table Mountain
Interesting steps ...
Look at these 2 idiots ....
We chose to start our loop anti-clockwise, by dropping to the Bagley Lake, and hiking up the many many switchbacks. From
far, the switchbacks looked very scary (Left picture at the very bottom). However, it only took us an hour to go through
these up hill switchbacks.
We were very lucky that Blueberry and Huckleberry were blooming at the time. We just ate and ate the blueberries along the trail.
They were very sweet treats indeed.
We wondered why there weren't many people in the first part of this trail, but we started to notice more and more people as we get to
the flatter section. Ahhhh haah...., most people chose to start the loop clockwise, which means they would barely do any uphill, whereas
we did the uphill in the beginning. We liked it this way, enjoyed the silence with the nature with the big crowd around us.
Doesn't it look like a mininature park?
My signature shadow
Table Mountain from Bagley Lake
Is this Windflower or Daisy ?
Blueberries everywhere...
Let the switchbacks begin ....
Mt. Baker
Mt. Shukshan
Mt. Baker again
Sun, Dead Tree, and ...
I got more than you ...
Mazama Lakes (actually camping is allowed here)
This is the last part going uphill if you start anti-clockwise
Baker, Baker, Baker, Baker, ....
At the end of the Chain Lakes Loop, we ended up at the Artist Point parking lot. It was like a zoo full of vehicles. It annoyed
Gan and me a bit, because there was a group of "Harley" motorcycles with loud pipes howling. It wasn't pleasant at all.
But the good thing was that we hiked up the Table Mountain, the highest point in the area. On top of Table Mountain, it
gave us a 360° view, overlooking Mt. Baker and Mt. Shukshan.
We saw lots of these, but can't name them
Baker again, sorry! (on top of Table Mtn)
Cairn on top of Table Mtn.
Promise ! This will be the last Baker shot !
We hiked up these switchbacks, click on it and see the trail...
This was the biggest man-made trail marker that I'd ever seen on such a local trail
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