This hike ranks at the top of my list if not as my favorite hike here in the Mount Baker Wilderness.  There is no bad hike here but there is something about this one.  The first two miles are through a heavily shaded forest thick with ferns.  It invites mystery and contemplative moods as if I've stepped into a world with fairies and trolls.  Happily I climb the switchbacks hardly noticing because of how the light plays peek-a-boo with the trees and the woodpeckers drill for their breakfast.  As the forest gives way to a little meadow here and there, the heliotrope colored flowers spring forth and then all of a sudden I am on the ridge with the valleys spread out on all sides.  I take a deep breathe, feeling the vastness of the mountain range with Mount Baker standing as a sentry over all the other peaks. Usually we turn to the right following the trail that seems to have no end, but this time we explored to the left first.  Keeping in mind a future trip for us to set up camp here.  We wandered the ridge until the trail was no more and there was a drop before us.  Returning to the path we again made our way along the ridge hiking southward and up with Mount Baker looming ever larger before us, taunting us to reach it, drawing us closer.  It fills my viewfinder on my camera and begs to be photographed which I happily oblige.  The other peaks are still under a morning mist as if they haven't yet woken for the day and I am entranced by the scene before me.  There isn't a direction that I turn on this hike that I'm not falling in love.  As we turn again to leave, I again take a breath thankful for the time in the mountains.  My tired legs and feet making the return trip back to the vehicle and home, tired and refreshed at the same time.