The Hiker Mama

bellingham hikes, squires lake trail, easy kid hikes

Squires Lake Trip Report – 3/25/16

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Squires Lake

I’m still researching hikes up in the Bellingham area, so we took the afternoon and hiked around Squires Lake just south of that city. We had sunshine most of the drive up there (except for a convergence zone of dark showers north of Everett), but once we got close to the Chuckanuts, we could see some gloomy rain clouds collected around the hills. I told the kids we could go to a museum instead if it was pouring at the trailhead, but luckily it was just partly cloudy and looked like the rain had moved east. We geared up with smaller packs than usual, because this would be a shorter and more causal hike. I’ve enjoyed not having to have all the 10+ Essentials plus a whole day’s worth of food to pack for these closer-to-town short kid hikes.

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Squires Lake Trailhead

This trail starts by hiking up the ridge for the first 0.3 miles. There are a few steeper parts, and a few more gentle slopes, but hopefully you can entice your kids up this section, because the grade eases significantly once you hit the lake basin. There were some big boulders that looked like they had tumbled down the hill years ago, and were covered with thick, green moss.

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Verdant Moss

Once we got up to the lake, we had a choice to go left or right around the loop. If you go left, you’ll be walking next to the lake on a mostly flat trail for the length of the lake. Then you’ll climb up away from the lake for the second half to return to the trail back down to the parking lot. If you go right first, you’ll head up more hill and get the climbing out of the way first, but you will be above the lakeshore. So take your pick, depending on what your children want to do.

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Bridge over Outlet Stream

We went left, and crossed the small bridge over the outlet stream. It had begun to rain by this point, but we were too far into the hike to turn around and hit a museum. I was kind of puzzled by my children; both of them resisted putting on their rain coats and then gave me the stink-eye when I told them to put their hoods up so their hair wouldn’t get soaked. Haven’t they hiked with me long enough to know better? Well, at least they both listened to me in the end, and we hoped the rain would taper off, since it was all sunny to the west of us.

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Rainy Here, Sunny There!
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Oregon Grape blossoms

The Oregon Grape is blooming, salmonberries are sending out their first blossoms, and many other plants are leafing out. Bleeding Hearts are just feathering out, with a few blooms to be seen. The whole forest was covered in moss, draped from tree branches or encrusting any flat surface.

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Sun Through Moss

Once we were at the lake, the sound of traffic on the freeway faded, and song sparrows and Pacific wrens sent echoing songs through the forest. We saw buffleheads and mallards at the lake. Skunk cabbages are just poking up and filling some areas with their particularly pungent scent.

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Skunk Cabbage

We stopped for a bit where the inlet stream tumbles down to the lake. It was an idyllic setting, and I could not keep my daughter out of the water.

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Girl in Water

In this area we heard a varied thrush sing. By this time the rain had stopped, and it warmed up slightly. We found some cool fungi and lichens, and enjoyed the big old burly big-leaf maples.

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Big-Leaf Maple and Licorice Ferns
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Cool Shroom

We took the short spur trail over to the Beaver Pond; this will net you a bit more elevation gain and loss, but makes an interesting diversion if your children have the energy. There were wood ducks, buffleheads, mallards and mergansers at this second lake. We continued on from there back to the loop trail and followed it around, completing the circle. There were some really big stumps in this section of the trail, relics of the past logging history of this area.

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Old Relic

The walk back down to the parking lot was short and quick.

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Cool Lichen

This was a nice hike for an afternoon. We only passed one other party, though we saw one other person across the lake, and a group of 3 horses were getting ready to ascend the trail as we came down (the brief horse sighting was Annika’s favorite part of the trip…). The distance is a little over 2 miles if you include the extra part over to Beaver Pond. I believe it is 200 feet elevation gain. There were some muddy sections along the trail, but they weren’t too bad. There is room for about 8 or 9 cars at the trailhead parking area, and you won’t need a permit to park. There is a porta-potty near the trailhead. Or you can use the rest area just a few miles to the south if you are traveling up the freeway from Seattle. I’ll be getting this into my Hiking Guide in the next few days, with directions and links.

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Interesting Fungi

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2 responses to “Squires Lake Trip Report – 3/25/16”

  1. Sue Hacking Avatar

    Hi Hiker Mama!

    I have been following many of your blog posts and love how you are getting your kids out into nature! It is just what we did when ours were young, and now they are total mountain lovers and hikers! I am the author of TAKE A WALK 110 Walks within 30 minutes of Seattle and the greater Puget Sound (Pub: Sasquatch Books), now in its 3rd edition, and in print (and always improving ) since 1996. I hope you get a chance to read it someday, as many of the places you are going are in there. (Though we don’t go as far north as Bellingham!) Maybe you’ll give it a review as well?

    Keep up the good work, and enjoy the spring in the NW!

    Sue Muller Hacking
    http://svOcelot.com

    1. Hiker Mama Avatar
      Hiker Mama

      Thanks so much for the note, Sue. I don’t have your book yet, but thanks for letting me know about it. It is always good to have a variety of resources to help plan new adventures.

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