August 5 - Hope and Mig Lakes

Tunnel Creek Trail to Hope and Mig Lakes

Route: Tunnel Creek Trail → Pacific Crest Trail (north)
Total Miles: 5.2
Elevation Gain: 1,550 feet
Highlights: Two nice lakes, lots of berries, descent views, good campsites
More information: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/mig-lake

Saturday I was scheduled for a Mountain Steward shift on the trails at the Mt. Baker National Recreation Area.  Friday evening, just as I was getting my gear ready for that outing, I got a call that our shifts were being canceled on account of the heat and unhealthy smoke conditions.  The Mountain Steward coordinator is always overly cautious about sending Stewards out in anything less than ideal conditions, and they like to play it safe when we're under the liability of the U.S. Forest Service. (I wasn't too disappointed because a couple of years ago I did a Mountain Steward shift on a really smokey day and my throat was sore and scratchy for a few weeks afterwards.)

At any rate, I needed to make some alternate hiking plans since I couldn't miss out on hitting the trails on Washington Trails Day.  I checked out a radar map showing the smoke concentrations and decided on a hike in the Highway 2 corridor.  Then I perused the WTA hiking guide and settled on a trip to Hope and Mig Lakes, two small lakes near Steven's Pass that I had not been to before.  

The Tunnel Creek Trailhead is just over a mile off of Highway 2, a few miles before the ski area.  I was surprised to find 12 cars at the small trailhead when I arrived and some not parked very courteously which made it hard for other vehicles to come and go.   The trail climbs up through a valley, and on this particular morning, the valley was filled with super stagnant, muggy air.  It was still pretty early and not that warm out, but I was sweating quite a bit.  

Once I got out of that valley and reached the first lake, the air was much more pleasant.  From Hope Lake, I turned north on the Pacific Crest Trail for under a mile until I reached Mig Lake.  I found an unoccupied campsite on the shore of the lake which was a perfect spot for enjoying my snack and taking in the views.  (Note:This trail has some nice views of surrounding mountains at times, but they aren't spectacular or of any noteworthy peaks, which was part of the reason I chose this trail on a hazy, smokey day.)

After my break, I headed back down the trail and was looking forward to making a quick pit stop at Deception Falls on the way back home.  But then, as I was getting in my car, I dropped my phone.  The screen shattered and wouldn't work anymore. I was funky so I just came home without stopping at the falls.  I am still figuring out a new phone situation and haven't been able to retrieve the photos off of my broken phone yet, so that's why there are no photos accompanying this blog entry.  You can always use your imagination or search Google images if you want to know what these two quaint lakes look like.  

Cheer me up over the loss of my phone by making a donation to my Hike-A-Thon campaign!