Squires Lake

I woke up thinking about where I should go hiking today. I wanted to finish a section of the Pacific Northwest Trail that went past Squires Lake, so I loaded the pack with some water and food and off I went. I arrived at the trailhead at about 12:00 pm and there were only a couple parking spaces left. Sadie the dog and I made our way up the trail towards the lake. Along the way we passed some interesting rocks. At first glance I thought the rock on the right was a large dog.

Then we passed a tree with some beautiful fungi growing on it.

After climbing up a bit, we arrived at Squires Lake. The lake belonged to the Squires family for several generations until it was purchased and turned into this park. There are several informational kiosks around the lake that tell about the history of the land and ecology.

But my goal was to hike the PNT section, so we went to the right, following the white blazes and Pacific Northwest Trail markers.

The PNT follows the South Ridge Trail, a trail which runs along a narrow ridge, with some great views. It would not be a good trail for little kids, though, because the west side of the ridge is a steep cliff. One wrong step could have grave consequences. 

Through the trees is a view of Lake Samish. I followed the trail until it turned into trail 1340, which eventually became a wide old logging road, number 1300. I followed this until I connected my steps to where I was on Thursday when I hiked up to Alger Alp. Here is video of the view from the top of Alger Alp.

I turned around and began the descent back to Squires Lake, passing several other hikers and dogs. My favorite part was the South Ridge/1340 trail. Its height and views, combined with the fear of a misstep, made it exhilarating.

When I got back down to the lake, I wasn't quite ready to call it a day, so I followed the trail that went around the lake up to Beaver Pond and then looped back.

Beaver Pond was rather overgrown and not as pretty as Squires Lake. The viewpoint at the end of the trail was very overgrown, with bushes above my head and zero view. I'm sure 15 years ago when that viewpoint was made it was pretty, but there is no view there now. Squires Lake, however, remains beautiful.

After returning to Squires Lake, Sadie and I took the trail back down to the car and headed home.