THE
HIGH DIVIDE
I was sore
the next morning after the Sunday’s marathon hike. We took showers at the campground before
packing up. It was a good deal - $1 for
4 minutes, and 25 cents for each additional minute. I put in 5 quarters and set my alarm for 4
minutes, so I’d know when the water was about to shut off. That was a good plan, except that apparently
the machine ate one of my quarters. The
water shut off right before the alarm went off, and shortly after I had really
soaped up my hair. I was out of
quarters, so I had to rinse my hair in the sink.
Christy had
stumbled upon 5B’s Bakery (http://5bsbakery.com/)
in the nearby town of Concrete a couple of days earlier. It is a cafe that is entirely gluten
free. She’d been ecstatic about it, so
we decided to go there for breakfast.
The owner was friendly, and the meal was fantastic. The toast was so good, we ordered a second
helping (which they didn’t charge us for).
That went well with the excess coffee we were drinking. Afterwards we drove west to Sedro Wooley and
got groceries. Then we headed north
(yes, you can still go farther north in America) and on to the Mount Baker
Highway. We drove through the town of
Glacier, Washington and continued on to the Douglas Fir Campground. There were a few vacant sites, and we picked
a nice one under an impressive tree canopy not far from the river. We set up camp, and I planned my hike for the
day.
A recovery
day may have been wise, but we were now in the final week of our trip. There was no longer time for recovery. It was go time. There were 5 hikes I wanted to do in the
immediate area, but we only had two days free.
Could I do 4 of them? That seemed
a bit ambitious, considering that we’d slept in a bit and had spent a good part
of the morning eating breakfast and drinking coffee.
The weather
was fantastic, so I decided to focus on one of the most appealing hikes on my
wish list. The High Divide Trail follows
an alpine ridge for several miles through grassy meadows with expansive views
in all directions. The only catch is the
long, steep hike up to it, and back down.
Although I was still sore from the previous day, I decided to go for
it. Christy wanted to take the day off
after reintroducing her ankle to hiking the previous evening. That worked out well, as the High Divide
Trail is a point to point hike. She
dropped me off at the Welcome Pass trailhead, and picked me up that evening at
the Excelsior Pass trailhead. While I
was hiking she did some sightseeing and did the short hike to Nooksack Falls.
The trail to
Welcome Pass is an insanely steep climb through deep forest. It reminded me of the trail up to Sourdough
Mountain. This climb was only 3,000’ in
2 ˝ miles though. I passed one couple
heading down early on, and they were the only people I saw all day. At Welcome Pass I finally broke out of the
trees. From there, I strolled through
several miles of alpine meadows. The
views were fantastic, particularly of Mount Shuksan
and Mount Baker. To the north, I could
see jagged peaks in British Columbia.
The meadows were full of wildflowers, and incredibly, the weather was
spectacular the entire time.
The High
Divide Trail officially connects Welcome Pass and Excelsior Pass. Spur trails connect the passes to the Mount
Baker Highway. However, I noticed that
there was a beaten path continuing along the ridge east of Welcome Pass, and
another going west from Excelsior Pass.
I wonder where those go? I’ll be
you can wonder around in that alpine wonderland for days.
I made good
time on the descent and found Christy waiting for me. We headed back to camp, where we cooked
chicken, corn on the cob, broccoli, and potatoes over the fire. We slept in hammocks that night, which was
the first time we’d done that in quite a while.
BAKER
We broke
camp the next morning and drove up to the Mount Baker Vista. It was an ok view, but it wasn’t worth the
long drive up there just for that.
Fortunately the hike we’d planned starts along that road. Christy was ready to hike, so we decided to
tackle the trail to Heliotrope Ridge and the Coleman Glacier. It’s a popular route, both for dayhikers and climbers on the approach to Mount Baker.
We hiked
through the woods most of the way. We
passed a couple of waterfalls – the first was small but elegant, while the
second was a roaring run of steep cascades. There were several creek crossings as
well. When we arrived at the first we
encountered a large group of older women attempting to rock hop. This was somewhat entertaining, even though
they were creating a major traffic jam.
The final creek crossing was a major obstacle for us. The creek originates from glaciers high
above, and several days of sunny weather had it running strong. We managed to cross it without completely dunking
our boots. On the far side, we climbed
up to the lateral moraine above the Coleman Glacier. Here, a massive river of ice spills down the
flank of Mount Baker. The glacier is
riddled with crevasses, and there was a group of climbers way down there practicing
on the ice.
After eating
lunch, I scrambled as far up the moraine as I could. Christy was just a speck below when I finally
reached a cliff and a steep snowfield. I
didn’t see a safe route farther up. I
stopped there and enjoyed sweeping views to the north, into Canada. I scrambled
back down quickly, and Christy and I returned to the trailhead. Her ankle was a little sore but it had held
up pretty well.
At that
point it was late afternoon, but I wasn’t ready to leave the North
Cascades. We decided to drive up past the
Mount Baker Ski Area to Artist Point. We
parked at the end of the road, where the parking lot was surrounded by
impressive snow banks. This area is
famous for its snowfalls. In fact, it
holds the world record, having accumulated a total of 95 FEET of snow in the
winter of 98-99.
Aside from
impressive quantities of snow, Artist Point features great views of Mount Shuksan, Mount Baker, and many more peaks in the North
Cascades. It is also the starting point
for several trails. One of the hikes I’d
hoped to do follows Ptarmigan Ridge towards Mount Baker. That is a 9 mile round trip though. We didn’t have that much time, so I hiked up
Table Mountain instead. The hike is only
a little over a mile each way, but it was slow going due to sheer drop-offs and
the snow. The nice views from the
parking lot became even more expansive as I climbed. I spotted a ptarmigan along the way, too.
Table
Mountain features a long, nearly flat summit plateau. Most of the mountain was snow-covered, and I
couldn’t resist hiking all the way to the far end. The best views were of Mount Baker, as the
summit of Mount Shuksan was hidden in a cloud. I made a quick hike back down, and Christy
and I headed down to Picture Lake. This
small lake provides an ideal view of Mount Shuksan. Luckily the clouds cleared shortly before
sunset. We made dinner there and enjoyed
some fine alpenglow on Mount Shuksan. Afterwards, we drove all the way back to Oak Habor in the San Juan Islands. We stayed at a hotel that night, so that we
would be within striking distance of Olympic National Park the next
morning. Our plan was to spend the last
three days of our trip backpacking to Shi Shi Beach
in the northwestern corner of Olympic National Park.
Continue reading about our trip as we finish with a 3 day backpacking trip to Shi Shi Beach and the Point of Arches in Olympic National Park.
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!