So many times we've taken the trail most people take to snowshoe near Mount Baker. I do love that trail.  It is so satisfying to make it to Huntoon Point that allows a 360 view of the area showing Canada and south into Skagit Valley. However as we make our trek up the hill I often look over towards the small bowl that has Bagley Lake buried under multiple feet of snow and wonder what that trail is like.  This was our day to find out. The avalanche warning was low, I thought it should have been a bit higher seeing as how we could hear and then watch snow tumble off the cliffs picking up speed and more snow once it hit the ground. The starting point for both Huntoon Point and Herman's Saddle are the same.  The end of the road near Chair 1 at Heather Meadows Ski Lodge. From there you drop down into the bowl following a light used trail over the lake to the northwestern side of the valley.  We could see out of bound skiers make their trek up to ridge right below table mountain only to leave just a bit of snake like trail behind them.  An hour of hiking for 10 minutes of beautiful graceful skiing. We wound our way along the valley floor hugging the south facing side peak and started to climb. So very slowly up towards the saddle, thinking it was closer than it actually was.  We hiked and hiked and hiked. I paused all along the way to soak up the sun, the view, the clean mountain air, the bright blue sky. Each step was closer to our destination. We talked about finding a spot part way up although as we neared the top we couldn't imagine not making it. At about 5200ft we looked up and realized that the skiers who had passed us about 45 minutes ago were taking out parachutes of all things. The brightly colored fabric filled with the breeze as they prepared for their decent to the valley 1000 ft below them. One at a time they started downhill picking up speed until their chutes filled enough and lifted them up to skim the trees below. They were pulled right and left weaving  down the hill and finally out of sight to leave us wondering how many actually made it to the bottom of the valley. A 200 ft higher and we had made it to Herman's Saddle which offered a spectacular view of Mount Shuksan, Mount Baker, and the Northern Canadian Cascades. During the summer this can be hiked as a loop called the Chain Lakes Loop, shich is 6.5 miles and it definitely leaves you feeling as if you've had a good day hiking.   In the winter, Herman's Saddle is as far as you can get and it will still leave you feeling as if you've had a great day outdoors.  Note to self on sunny days, bring sunscreen and shorts.  I was sweating rivers of water hiking up and my nose was more of Rudolph's color the next day. This will definitely be one that we do again.