Oyster Dome 2.20.16
Following my midterms I was able to take a whole weekend day off from studying. The weather looked pretty nice actually, clearing after 10am. The mountains were suppose to get hit hard with snow on Friday so we didn't think backcountry activities would be the best. We narrowed it down to a hike, or bike ride in the city followed by some climbing at the gym. Since I hadn't been out in the mountains in a while, I chose a hike. I also don't do much other than sit in front of a computer all day at work and then all night at home for school, so I'm not in great shape. Trying to find something that wouldn't kill me I settled on Oyster Dome, a hike I had heard good things about but hadn't gotten the chance to do yet. The stats according to WTA were 6.5 miles roundtrip with 1900 feet in elevation gain. Aaron went for a short run Saturday morning and then we left a little before 10am. I was a bit worried about parking and there were lots of cars lining the road, but we eventually found some southbound shoulder to squeeze onto about 0.4 miles north of the trailhead. After grabbing our gear and some sunscreen, we started our road hike.
Aaron walking along the road as we head to the trailhead, we parked about 0.4 miles north of it
The trailhead blends in pretty well so it's easy to pass while riding in a car northbound, but very easy to spot walking along the road southbound. The initial part gains elevation quickly as you pass signs before hitting the first switchback. The switchbacks were a mix of elevation gain and what felt like level, which was nice for recovering after the first big elevation gain.
Start of the trail, first hike of 2016 for me
About a mile into the hike we found the little viewpoint complete with a bench. It was a pretty view looking out over Samish Bay. After a couple of quick pictures we continued up. There were people on the trail but nothing too busy. Soon we hit the trail split between heading to the Samish overlook and going towards Oyster Dome so we took a left and continued on.
View from the little viewpoint with the bench
On this section of the trail we started encountering a lot more groups of people, both heading up and down. We finally made it to all of the stream crossings, about 5 or so that were all low flow and easy to cross.
Stream crossings
The trail definitely got more muddy too as we wound our way through the trees and green ferns. We had quite a bit of elevation to go according to the hike description but we didn't necessarily see where that was. Finally we hit the last big switchback section going up. This may also have been the busiest section of the trail. It was certainly muddy but we made it up, and took another left to head towards Oyster Dome instead of the lakes.
Starting the last big section of switchbacks
[Left] A few pink flags were along the trail, although the trail was easy to follow. Found this one stuck in a stump. [Right] Aaron is king of the stump!
Aaron found a giant stump to cilmb up, then we had about a quarter mile left to reach our destination. There were signs along the way warning people of the cliffs, so we figured we were getting close. As we were hiking up through the trees, we noticed everyone to our left - we made it! The cliffs were packed with hikers so we went out on one section to check it out. More great views of Samish Bay. Aaron spotted some bolts down a ledge and wanted to explore but with my muddy shoes, I opted not too. After taking a few pictures I decided it was time to continue on. The wind was pretty chilly so I either had to keep moving or get my jacket out. I wasn't feeling super hungry so intead of taking a break to eat snacks, we hiked up a little bit more through the trees to continue exploring.
[Left] View from Oyster Dome of Samish Bay with Lummi Island and Orcas Island. [Right] Destination selfie
I wasn't sure if we'd get any views inland of say Mount Baker, so we followed the little boot packs we found. We got a few little views out through the trees but nothing too spectacular. We found a giant rock that seemed to be the highest point so we went up that for our summit, then headed back down.
[Left] Peek-a-boo view through the trees as we explored the rest of the area. [Right] What we declared our summit for the day
There were a lot of trees up there but no brush so it was kind of fun walking through them to get back to the trail. It was a bit muddy and steep at the top, but once we hit the switchbacks we picked up the pace down. We half jogged many sections, or otherwise kept up a pretty brisk pace. It took us a little under 2 hours to get to the top, and we were back at the car a few minutes past three hours from when we left. My legs were shot, I certainly got my exercise for the day! It turned out to be a nice day with some sunshine and good views. It was nice to get out of the house for a little adventure!
To get an elevation profile or more information about the track, click on the track on the map
Area we hiked in just south of Bellingham along Samish Bay
Hiking track to Oyster Dome, with our warm-up road hike included