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Birthday at Baker

September 2023

By Kelsi

September 18^th, 2023

This year's birthday prep did not go as planned... again.

But happily, it ended up being my favorite overnight of the season. Thanks, Jared!

The trail was fairly level—no soul-crushing inclines or knee-crushing descents. The many environments we traversed kept us entertained ("new biome!") and they also protected us from the midday sun.

By mile six, it was clear we had gone farther than the typical day hiker. The path had become padded with lucky greens instead of packed dirt and we were encountering spiderwebs the hard way. By the time we found a great lakeside campsite a few miles later, we were likely richly adorned with floating spiderweb veils that glimmered behind us in the filtered sun.

Near the site was a pit toilet and a bear vault, so I was thrilled. Vaults always feel more critter- (and idiot-)proof than hanging.

We arrived here at the same time as a couple with a dog. They were coming from the other direction and camped a little ways down the shore from us in a slight inlet connected to us by the beach. As we set up our tents and got settled, we could hear the light jingle of the dog's collar like a homing beacon. We would later learn his name is Calen, and his innocent exploring soon reached our beachfront. He visited us and evaluated our view as we sat and filtered water before dinner. (Side note: I tried out my new Cnoc gravity filter on this trip and I love it. Talk about idiot-proof!)

Both Jared and I wanted to spend time writing on this trip, so we did that after dinner as the sun fell behind the mountains. The water lapped on the shore so gently it was almost imperceptible, the occasional bird would fly just above the water, and even less frequently, a boat would motor down the center of the lake. Across the lake was an access road and as sunset turned to twilight, we could see the illuminated tail lights of cars and hear the faint grinding of tires on gravel. Our location was only accessible by foot, and it was wonderfully solitary and safe from unwanted company and disturbance.

It was perfect.

Channeling Sasquatch after we discovered Bessy (Baker's loch ness) © Jared

In the morning, I went down to our little beach and leaned against one of the giant pieces of drift wood and wrote as the world around me woke up. I was greeted by Calen and discovered a cute hairy caterpillar on my sleeve. I was very excited to meet so many 🐛 on this hike, but their nests are just as gross as they are fascinating.

The eight or so miles took us 3.5 hours each way. On the way back to Seattle, we stopped for lunch at Skagit Valley Burgers and it was freaking amazing. I plan to make this random storage container joint my North Cascades go-to post-hike food top.

For the record, Jared got the Brunch Burger with pepperjack and I got the Atomic Mushroom Burger. He got garlic waffle fries and I got garlic krinkle. So good!