Flying into Seattle from Chicago on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, I was able to see all three of Washington’s National Parks. And I would continue to glimpse them in the week and a half before we actually set foot on Mount Rainier. Meanwhile, Bold Bison was out there to be with a client, and Patrick and I had work to do. But we also made time for a really fine day hike up on the flanks of Mount Baker, right on the doorstep of North Cascades National Park.

After my gorgeous flight in, I found Patrick at SEA-TAC, and we picked up our rental, which I would have for the full nineteen days that I would be out here.

We had time to kill before checking into our AirBnB at four and then heading over to the campus of Western Washington University for a client event. So we took the scenic route to Bellingham, crossing Possession Sound by ferry to Whidbey Island.

I had taken this route after dropping Patrick off at the airport the previous year. And it was a glorious day for it.

Our place for the week was a charming little bungalow in downtown Bellingham.

Our task that week was capturing more video interviews and photography for the Kinship Conservation Fellows program. Wednesday evening through Saturday afternoon that was our sole focus.

Sunday, July 23, 2023 was our day of rest. So, as is typical with the Bold Bison guys, instead of resting we went on a long hike. See here and here and here for previous examples.

Bellingham lies within the larger North Cascades ecoregion, but we couldn’t go into North Cascades National Park because Sean and I had not yet visited it. But the region’s public lands are held by a dizzying array of public agencies with overlapping Wilderness designations. Because of the jealousy of the USDA Forest Service, Mount Baker, northernmost of the legendary Cascades volcanoes in the United States, is not included in the National Park. Instead it is in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. And it is pretty easily accessible from Bellingham. So Patrick scoped out a nice loop hike for us to do, Chain Lakes straddling the Mount Baker Wilderness.

We were out the door by 6am and on the trail by 8am. Normally, I am unnerved by high, looping mountain roads with steep drop-offs. And the road up to Artist’s Point on Mount Baker certainly has those. But for some reason it doesn’t bother me. All the better.

We had been here before, almost exactly a year earlier with the Kinship Conservation Fellows. But in 2022, there was still lots of snow on the ground. In 2023, it was almost completely clear.

We parked at a lower trailhead in a parking lot that was basically empty, so after a little effort, I was able to find a suitable place to park. We chose the lower trailhead so that we would ascend at the start of the hike and descend at the end.

Overall, it would be an 8.1-mile hike with a total elevation gain of 1,900 feet. Our highest point of elevation would be 5,400 feet above sea level. That’s the thing about the Cascades. They’re steep and dramatic, but other than the big volcanoes, they’re relatively low. But we were sleeping literally at sea level, so…

Taking the hike counter-clockwise led us along a scenic creek and wetlands complex between two small lakes.

While i still had a little cell signal, my Merlin app IDed the call of a Spotted Sandpiper. Very cool.

Essentially, the hike circumnavitaged Table Mountain, dominating our view to the southwest.

There were few other hikers out on the trails yet, but we did encounter a very happy Bernese Mountain Dog splashing in a puddle. Throughout the hike, this was the biggest difference between this National Forest and the National Parks. There were a lot of dogs on the trail, often for the worse.

We began our ascent toward the ridgeline below Table Mountain. This would be our longest sustained ascent of the hike. Fifteen years younger and an avid hiker, Patrick is unfazed by big mountain hikes. And I was doing just fine with my trekking poles for assistance. But at one point we were both like, “Maybe we should slow down a little bit.” Patrick pointed out that we had been on a pace that had us gaining one-hundred feet of elevation every five minutes.

Shortly, we entered the federally designated Mount Baker Wilderness.

One thing that’s nice about hiking with Patrick is that he’s just as avid a photographer as I am, so even with a robust pace, we stop often.

We were both pleasantly surprised at how well-maintained the trail was. behind us, we saw Mount Shuksan looming in the distance. That mountain is squarely inside the boundaries of North Cascades National Park.

Ahead, we reached the ridgeline saddle and got our first good glimpse of 10,781-foot Mount Baker, the highest peak in the North Cascades.

Hey there, Mount Baker.

It is an active volcano, one of the legendary string of ten Cascades volcanoes. From north to south, they are Mount Garibaldi in British Columbia; Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams in Washington; Mount Hood and Mount Mazama (Crater Lake) in Oregon; and Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak in California.

Up here there was still a little snow on the trail.

From the ridge, we descended past a few beautiful mountain lakes.

The trail was getting busier. Given the number of dogs, I was surprised we saw any wildlife.

But we did, including a family of Sooty Grouse.

After the third lake, we began a long, gradual ascent up the western slopes of Table Mountain.

Mount Baker was completely shrouded in some clouds, the only place in the surrounding sky that had any clouds at all.

As we crossed a scree field, we heard the whistles of Pikas. And then Patrick spotted one. At last! At last I finally saw a Pika. This raised my hopes for seeing, or at least hearing, them on Mount Rainier the following week.

We reached Ptarmigan Ridge where a sweeping southerly view opened up from east to west. To the east, Mount Shuksan dominated.

We turned left on Ptarmigan Ridge Trail, which traversed the steep, amphitheater-like slope of Table Mountain toward Artist Point.

The trail was hopping as we exited the Mount Baker Wilderness.

It was easy to see the volcanic origin of basically everything in sight.

And then we reached the absolutely packed Artist Point parking area, where Mount Baker Highway ends. It was a zoo.

The USDA Forest Serice’s tortured relationship with, you know, the public was on full display here because the loop trail sort of follows the shoulder of the road? Or something. Good job, Department of Agriculture.

Eventually, we found the trail marker for Wild Goose Trail, which would lead us back down to the lower parking area.

Up to this point, Patrick and I had been so pleasantly surprised by the Forest Service’s trail design and maintenance. Then we reached this nonsense. (We were probably a little pleased because we got to have a great trail experience for most of the hike, but still got to harsh on the Forest Service for this laughably bad portion of trail.)

The stupidity was underscored by a family of four who was trying to ascend the trail with a couple of small children. This was a popular area. At this point early on Sunday afternoon, it was obviously over capacity with folks parking willy nilly along the road. And this family was struggling with their kids up this weird, steep path.

Farther down, past the visitor center, the trail was very poorly marked as it intersected with a whole mess of social trails. Patrick was leading and turned a corner into a woman with two dogs, one off leash and the other on leash because it was very unfriendly. It snarled, barked, and nipped at Patrick while the woman screamed, “Hunter! Stop! Hunter!” She finally got Hunter under control so we could pass. As we continued we could hear Hunter barking maniacally at everyone and everything they passed.

We were ready to head out, and we reached the trailhead soon after at 1:20pm. Five hours, twenty minutes. Overall, it was a really lovely, really nice hike, even if the final section was a poorly managed shit show.

Our beautiful day of hiking got underscored later on when Sean sent a photo from our back deck at home in Chicago. Much of the country was at the height of the horrifying wildfire smoke that choked out huge swaths of North America that summer. So many immolated bits of trees, coyotes, bears, deer…just floating across Turtle Island.

Monday and Tuesday were busy as we wrapped up with the Fellows program before checking out of our AirBnB Wednesday morning, July 26.

Then for me it would be time for Seattle fun.