Damfino Lakes - Excelsior Peak

Location: North Cascades - Mt. Baker HWY SR 542

Length: 6.5 miles roundtrip 
Elevation: Gain/1500 ft. Highest/5699 ft.
Difficulty: Easy-Moderate
Time: 5 hours (probably 4 or less hours with no snow)

This hike just boogied on up into my top 5! We arrived around 9:30 am to only two cars at the trailhead. I expected it to be a lot busier on a Saturday. You already have a scenic drive up Canyon Creek Rd. with a stunning view at the trailhead itself. There's a decent porta potty and bear-proof garbage disposal area there along with very clear signs about hunting, trail usage, and trail access points. Pack it in, pack it out. Litterers go to hell. Note that there are many ways to do this hike...

Reaching Excelsior Peak or accessing the High Divide appears to be the easiest from this vantage point.

The trail is an easy incline through beautiful forest. Damfino Lakes are more like glorified ponds--beautiful nonetheless, as you would totally expect to find a moose hanging out here. In fact, I have read that people have seen moose before on this trail. Crazy, I know, that's why I had to try... The boardwalk at the shore of the lake is a gorgeous reminder that the stupid Northwest Forest Pass is just a scant $30 to maintain trails like these (along with volunteers from WTA). Super grateful for priceless views at such little cost! 

The incline increases a bit after Damfino and you get to see many pretty creeks, which we noticed were running significantly faster on the way down.

I imagine this hike is pretty easy when the trail is clear of snow but I was determined to reach the top unless it got too dangerous. A clearing appeared with a large creek running through and the footprints leading us on the snow trail stopped. I was bummed for a minute but scouted a little bit and luckily, found the trail again. We crossed a large snow field before heading into the woods for a little shady reprieve and then reached the meadows. After the meadows came the hardcore snow...

I probabbblyyyyy was a little ill-prepared/foolhardy scrambling around in just tennis shoes and a tank top without sunglasses or sunscreen... I was in doubt that we'd see anyone with only two cars at the parking lot but two little hiking angels were on the decline with their poles and other appropriate accoutrements. Taking pity, the older couple donated their sunscreen and pointed us in the right direction for the shortest way to the summit. The final tread uphill was trying not to break an ankle in the sinkholes crossing the snow shelves with water at times running underneath. We've come this far! There's no giving up now! Once a tiny peek of Mt. Baker came into view I practically ran uphill.

Still so far to go!

The only people I could see were up on the summit's left shoulder on the High Divide. It was a perfect sunny day which made for supreme visibility. If you push to the tippy top, you get a 360 view of the whole valley and mountains beyond. You can see Mt. Baker, Shuksan, Church Mountain, the Border Peaks and more! It's jaw-dropping gorgeous. So much that I hung out at the top for an hour or so just eating lunch and taking it all in. 

What up, Baker?!

So amazing...

The descent was a breeze as the stark realization of how sunburnt and totally snowblind we were. My eyes are still red today... A lot of people were hiking upwards at high noon which I feel is odd for avoiding the complications of snowmelt. I do not recommend this hike until it's fully thawed out. It's getting too slushy to tread safely. I will definitely be doing this one again this summer! 

Now there are people here!

Directions: head toward Mt. Baker on SR 542 for about 35 miles and take a left on Canyon Creek Rd. Head up for another 15 miles and "Damfino Lakes" will be clearly signed with an arrow pointing left.