January 22, 2023
Though it was a rainy Saturday, Sunday was dry and cloudy so we harnessed the pups, packed our water and snacks, and headed to Samish for a day hike up to Lizard and Lily Lakes.
The road to both the Blanchard Mtn lower and upper trailheads were well maintained with few potholes. From what I could tell, only the lower lot had facilities. It's <1 mile between the upper and lower lots but there was still plenty of parking at the upper lot at 10 AM on a Sunday so we parked there. A Discover Pass is required. There's signage and maps at the lot to help orient yourself.
From the parking lot, there are three directions you can go: to the lower lot, to the Alternate Incline Trail, or to Lily/Lizard Lakes. We walked briefly down the road we drove up to the Lily/Lizard Lake TH.
At the trailhead there was a sign indicating the WTA trail crew was at work. Thank you WTA!! They were doing an awesome job.
The fog persisted through most of the hike, which made for beautifully eerie surroundings. There was a dusting of snow in areas and at the lakes. We packed a liter of water for Toby and Mario, but small flowing streams were scattered along the hike which made great hydration stations for the pups as well.
It was a steady gentle climb until we arrived at the split for Lily Lake Trail or Lily Lizard Trail. We decided to continue on the Lily Lizard Trail. At this point the trail was flat to Lizard Lake. There are benches and fire pits. This designated camp area provided a nice spot for us to take a quick snack break.
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| Lizard Lake |
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| Lizard Lake camp area |
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| Mario admiring the benches and fire pits at Lizard Lake |
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| My boys <3 |
After Lizard Lake, we headed to Lily Lake. Along the way I took a picture with a huge rock.
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| Huge rock pose |
We only passed by Lily Lake.
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| Trail along Lily Lake |
Feeling good and with the pups still energized, we decided to make this an even longer hike by taking a detour to check out Samish Overlook. Though the trail connects to Oyster Dome, we'd already been to Oyster Dome a few years back and wanted to check out a new spot. Part of the hike up there was along a newly constructed gravel road so we had to watch for cars. The area appears to still be in the works. Part of the way up, there were cars parked along the side of the road. We didn't go all the way up to the overlook point because the pups looked like they were getting tired and we still needed to hike back down. Luckily for us the weather seemed to clear just as we approached a clearing not far from the overlook point.
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| Section of Henry's (?) Trail heading to the new road |
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| Clouds rolled away for a few minutes near Samish Overlook. Lucky us! |
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Clouds rolled in once we got back up to Henry's Trail. What good timing for us.
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On the way down we took Max's Shortcut and the Lily Max Connector. All in all we hiked 11 miles in 3.5 hours. I really enjoyed this one and am so proud of Toby and Mario!
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| Après hike beer and pizza at the dog-friendly Terramar |
