The first MBVRC field trip of 2013 will be on Saturday June 8th. We will hike the Baker River Trail, a moderate, five-mile round trip south of Mount Shuksan. All are welcome on this fun hike through old growth on the valley floor into North Cascades National Park. The trail is moderate, with only a few short ups and downs. There is one short, optional off-trail side trip to see a waterfall that is hundreds of feet high. Trip leaders are Dave Tucker, Doug McKeever, and Sue Madsen. Registration information is below. Highlights include:

Shuksan greenschist (metamorphosed subducted seafloor basalt) which is the local bedrock;

new salmon restoration facilities;

an active alluvial fan;

river erosion and deposition;

a great variety of rocks in river bars;

rock slides;

a fantastic ‘faerie forest’ of lichen-draped maples.

If the weather be good- fabulous views into the heart of the North Cascades.

Fisheries ecologist and stream restoration specialist Sue Madsen (one of the MBVRC board of directors) will tell us about how juvenile salmon are captured on Baker Lake and transported down the valley for release below the two hydroelectric dams. We’ll visit the new facilities built to improve this system.

Registration is first come, first served, until the two vans are filled. The cost of the trip is $75 (tax-deductible), and includes van transportation from the rendezvous points and a field trip handout. Proceeds benefit the MBVRC research and operations fund. Vans will leave from Bellingham at 8:30, with an intermediate rendezvous at the Cook Road I-5 exit (Sedro Woolley). We will return to the pickup points by 4 PM.

Register and pay via PayPal– the MBVRC account is our email. Pay by check- email MBVRC to reserve a spot and find out how to pay by check.

Folks who register for one MBVRC field trip receive discounted fees on later trips in the same year.

Baker River trail report by Washington Trails Association (join up while you are at their website!)

Baker River trail description (2012) in the Bellingham Herald