Winter Hikes 2021 - Part I

Squak Mountain, 5.3 miles, 1,100' gain:

The first target in 2021 was selected for its very modest level of difficulty in recognition of a holiday break spent stuffing my face with turtles and other assorted health foods. Squak is not the mountain above, that's the eye candy to get you to click on the post (see next hike below). Instead, Oak and I were strolling up a modest lump of a "mountain" that sits between its more popular siblings: Cougar and Tiger. The most impressive feature was how quickly the trail maintenance volunteers got after fallen trees from the wind storm the day before. In multiples places I was stepping in fresh sawdust from that same morning but never ran into anyone with a saw. 

Squak has a network of trails and I think I ended up on 6 different ones but Bullitt Fireplace and the summit were the main two destinations. The Bullitt's donation of 590 acres was the catalyst for the 1,545 acre park. I went down the Wikipedia rabbit hole, as one does, and learned that Dorthy Bullitt took over her father's businesses in the middle of the Great Depression and eventually became the first women in the United States to buy and manage a TV station. KING Broadcasting is still around and Dorthy's children are still active in the family foundation, working primarily on conservation in the Northwest.

This is not a hike for classic mountain vistas as the summit comes with the gentle hum of generators that would give a prop plane serious competition plus it is socked in by trees. That being said, the trails are in good shape, you get some peek-a-boo views through the trees just often enough to keep your head up from the beautiful carpets of ferns, and there was hardly anyone there.

Barclay Lake: 5.8 miles, 500' gain

Barclay Lake is fine but really its only purpose is to give you enough space to truly appreciate Mount Baring. Even after numerous attempts to weed out pictures, I still have 30 shots of the mountain that I cannot bring myself to part with. The unofficial trail to its summit was already on my bucket list and that was just based on the less imposing views from its south face that you see from the highway. That trail is a step up in difficulty from anything I have tried before but I'm hoping to be in shape for a September attempt. If there are no more posts after September, the mountain won.

In a first for me, I was packing a bow saw to help address trip reports mentioning a lot of downed trees. Someone got there before me but left enough for me to feel useful, especially along the lake itself which sees less traffic. Oak was more than a little confused, alternating between continuing the hike on his own or standing under whatever I was cutting. Lost my phone at this tree but the stranger I was playing leap frog with along the trail found it, turned back around and ran me down. Thanks! In total about 20 decent sized trees were removed and I left at least that many which looked like way too much work.

I highly recommend this hike for those with kids, just over 2 miles to reach the outlet of the lake and its a very gentle rise along the way. 

Heybrook Lookout: 2.6 miles, 850' gain

Hiked this one on the drive back from Barclay Lake. I was curious to see if Mount Index still had the same place in my heart after fawning over Baring for the last four hours (nope). The trail itself is just the work you need to do to reach the top. Lots of people, relatively recently logged, etc. The lookout is an impressive 7 stories (eight if you had a key) and gives good views of Index and Baring plus you can see all the way down to the Skykomish river. 

The afternoon light was washing out Index so I'll have to come back for the early morning comparisons. In the last picture you are looking up through the valley you would hike to reach Barclay Lake. I should have been paying more attention on the descent but I didn't and I rolled on a wet rock. Luckily it was just a minor ankle sprain and a bruised knee. Not sure if I get to blame the mask I had just pulled up or old age. The fact that I'm still feeling both injuries 1.5 months later makes me think it's not the mask.