Bob and Pam Nodine: North Cascade National Park and Mt Baker

We posted previous about Highway 20 and Deception Pass and the treacherous walkways on each side of the bridge. Highway 20 continues east out of Burlington traveling thru the North Cascade National Park. At Gorge Creek there is another bridge on Highway 20 with walkways on each side of the bridge. We felt safer on this bridge because the railing was higher and more secure. At Deception Pass there were stairs down underneath the bridge allowing pedestrians to cross from one side to the other without crossing the highway. Gorge Creek has a well marked crosswalk across the road but you had to be very careful since most of the cars flew by ignoring the crosswalk. While we were there two cars stopped to let folks cross and a truck came speeding up slamming on its brakes and skidding into the car in front. On one side of the bridge was a waterfall that flowed down the gorge traveling under the bridge and into the Skagit River.

Waterfall at Gorge Creek

On the other side of the bridge the waterfall flows into the Skagit River

Notice the sturdy railing and the crosswalk sign at the end of the bridge

A little further up the road from Gorge Creek is Diablo Lake filled with glacier runoff water the color of turquoise.

Diablo Lake

Since seeing the snow covered Mt Baker from over a 100 miles away in the Olympic National Park I have wanted to take a photograph of the mountain. We drove up to Artist Point at the end of Highway 542 only to find ourselves in the clouds with visibility of about 50 feet. Obviously we were not going to see any of the mountain that day. The snow had been cleared from the road but there was still plenty of snow. Mt Baker is one of the snowiest places in the world. In 1999 Mount Baker Ski Area set the world record for snowfall in a single season, 1140 inches. Below is a photo of Pam standing in front of one of the pit toilets at the Artist Point parking lot.

Restroom at Artist Point parking lot

While we were there a Honda sports car club showed up

This is what the road looked like

How about this speed limit sign

We have spent considerable time trying to get a good photo of Mt Baker. Seems like it is always cloudy and when the sky is clear there are still clouds over the North Cascade and Mt Baker. I managed to get a shot of Mt Baker just south of Mt Vernon between a dip in the ridge. We spotted the mountain showing itself while traveling north on I-5 and took the next exit looking for a location to take a photo. You had to be in just the right spot and Mt Baker was only visible thru the gap for a few miles. We located a road near a farm that had a place we could get off the road and get a picture. It was still not the photo I wanted and we continued our quest.

Mt Baker taken just south of Mt Vernon

We speculated that a better view of Mt Baker could be had further north and when we were in Bellingham at the Best Buy asked several folks if they knew a good location. One gentleman said to travel up 539 and look for an open field south of Lynden. Since 539 was in front of the Best Buy we turned left and headed north to explore. The day was sunny but the Cascades were covered with clouds and none of the range was visible. On one of the back roads we found a good location we surmised would be ideal based on looking at Google Maps on the phone. We noted the coordinates and continued north when we spotted a business with a large parking lot. We asked the lady inside if Mt Baker was visible from there when the sky was clear. She indicated it was but knew a better location up the road were the mountain was visible at a boat launch on Wiser Lake. We thanked her and continued up 539 to investigate that location. After checking out the location we returned to the campground in he hopes that the clouds would clear later.

Late in the afternoon the sky was clear everywhere but the Cascade Range. We hoped the clearing would continue and headed back north to the Wiser Lake spot. When we got there Mt Baker was still hidden so we waited. After about three hours we were able to take the photo below. You can still see clouds near the base but at least the peak is visible. It was getting late so we decide to head back but the location we had mapped out that morning was on the way so we stopped there. Turns out it was a better location than Wiser Lake and the clouds had cleared even more. There we took the next photo. The following two photos are close ups at each location. The last photo is at a wider angle showing both Mt Baker and more of the Cascade Range. It gets daylight here at 4:30am and is not dark until about 9:45pm. We made it back to the campground before dark and arrived at 9:30pm