Mount Baker Scenic Byway

Sunday, September 20 - Today Mom and Dad are going to hike the Chain Lakes Loop.  There are three places to access this hike.  Mom and Dad decided to start at the Austin Pass Picnic Area.  That means the hike starts with a steep climb to Artist Point.  They think it's better to do this at the beginning when they are fresh, rather than at the end when they are tired.

The first "stairway".  Almost a ladder!!

The white line through the middle is the trail
that lead them to this second stairway.  The Jeep is parked
in the valley at the upper middle of the photo.

There is probably more beauty behind
those clouds, but it's still stunning!

After more climb, they reached Artist Point, then they hit fog

They reached a pass and the fog cleared
and beautiful vistas opened up.

The glaciers just below the clouds are on Mount Baker. 
Even though we can't see the rest of the mountain,
it's still pretty magnificent!

The first view of the chain of lakes

Iceberg Lake

At the top of the pass, climbing out from Iceberg Lake

Looking into the next valley to Bagley Lake

That white line through the red/gold in the middle
is the trail with a glimpse of Bagley Lake

The wild blueberries are putting on a good color show

Made it into the valley to Bagley Lake. 
The Jeep is just up the hill to the right!  Mom and Dad were
really glad that they didn't have to climb to Artist Point!

Today's stats

Monday, September 21 - Today Mom and Dad went back to Artist Point and hiked parts of three trails for a total of about four miles.  The North Cascades (where we are) is an area known as the Alps of North America.  It's clearer today, so I'm starting to see why.  

First they climbed the first part of the Table Mountain Trail
and had a nice view of Mount Baker.  Clouds were starting
to move in around it and shortly after this photo,
it disappeared from view.  

Next they went to the Artist Ridge Trail
and were treated to this view of Mount Shuksan.

And another view of Mount Shuksan, reflected in a
small lake on the Artist Ridge trail.

Then they hiked part of the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail
where they still had nice views of Mount Shuksan 

Another view from the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail

The last stop was Picture Lake

View a few days ago.  Glad they were able to see it when it was clear.

 Tuesday, September 22 - Today we say good-bye to Silver Lake Park and our spooky tree

Today we are driving over the North Cascades Highway to Winthrop, Washington.   We are going to spend three nights at the Pine Near RV Park (named by the owner's young daughter, who had heard the term Pioneer, but didn't know how to spell it).  😄

Once we got set up in Winthrop, Mom and Dad looked for a quick hike that was nearby, so they could do it before dark.  They settled on this trail...

The first part of the trail was through a wooded area and
looked like this.  At one point, Mom and Dad came up
on a flock of about 10 wild turkeys, just sitting in the
middle of the trail.  The turkeys scattered as they
came up, so this was Mom's best photo. 😞

The rest of the trail was along Patterson Lake

After the hike, they drove up on the ridge and took
another look at Patterson Lake from above.  

Wednesday, September 23 - It's rainy today, so Mom and Dad hung out with me in the RV and caught up on computer stuff.  Silver Lake Park was pretty remote, so we didn't have cell or internet service, so there were several things that they needed to do.  The rain let up a little in the afternoon, so they took a walk into town and along the river, then came back and we all had dinner.  While we were eating, we had a little visitor at our campsite.

Our dinner time visitor.

We have one more day in Winthrop and then plan to move on to Sandpoint, Idaho for a few days.  I'll tell you about that next time.

Love,

Doolin