- Oyster Dome (wa100.dnr.wa.gov)
Take an invigorating hike up Blanchard Mountain, located south of Lake Samish, to the geologic treasure known as Oyster Dome—a rounded, rocky promontory with spectacular views of the San Juan Islands and the Olympic Mountains. Oyster dome is located in the 4,500-acre Blanchard State Forest, the only place in Washington where the Cascade Mountains meet the Salish Sea.
- Oyster Dome (wta.org)
Oyster fishing and logging were the dominant industries in the Chuckanut area from the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. The forest lands of Blanchard Mountain became state trust lands in the 1920s and 1930s, giving the forest a needed respite. Much of the forest on Blanchard is second-growth; logging artifacts can be seen on the trail, and giant stumps inspire imagination about the towering cathedral forests that blanketed the mountain prior to logging.