Mount Baker Highway

Rarely do we travel just 400 total miles on any of our vacations, but with such a compelling destination so close to us, we took the short drive to Mount Baker and spent a week of camping, hiking, driving, geocaching, and exploring.  We had sunny skies all week with high temperatures in the seventies.  Mia was even able to take some time off of work, so she and her boyfriend, Chris, joined us for the week as well.  It was unanimous that Mounts Baker and Shuksan do not disappoint.  They are truly jaw-droppingly beautiful mountain peaks.  

We stayed at the lovely and small Douglas Fir campground near Glacier, WA and enjoyed sleeping to the tumbling sounds of the North Fork Nooksack River.  It was the perfect base camp for launching our activities along the 20-mile scenic portion of the Mount Baker Scenic Byway.Mount Shuksan behind Picture Lake.  Arguably, this is one of most photographed scenes in all of Washington State, as indicated by the number of wall calendars it finds its way into.

Hiking

We hiked nearly 24 miles in five days.  That's not even close to a Lewis family vacation record, but when you're in volcano and glacier territory like this, elevation gain is to be expected almost everywhere.  While my GPS claimed that we climbed just over 10000 feet, I've noticed that GPS trackers (at least the ones that I have owned) don't do a great job in conveying elevation accurately.  Instead, I relied on my Fitbit Blaze (which uses atmospheric pressure change to track elelvation) to determine that we climbed about 4660 feet during the week. 

Here are the details on our individual hikes:

Hike	Distance  (miles)	Elevation Gain (feet)
Artist Point	0.5	99
Bagley Lakes	1.7	493
Boyd Creek	0.4	122
Canyon Creek	1.3	291
Fire and Ice Trail	0.7	138
Heliotrope Ridge	5.3	2835
Horseshoe Bend	3.4	2050
Nooksack Cirque	8.5	3487
North Fork Nooksack Research Area	0.4	196
Thompson Creek Ridge	0.9	329
TOTALS	23.1	10040

* Elevation Gain does not convey total climb (i.e. ups and downs along the trail) 

Here is a link to our GPX file and KML file for Google Earth.  This topographic overlay also shows the steep terrain of the area as well.  GPS Visualizer created this Google map of all of our hikes as well.  

Highlights

• The scenery is so spectacular in this area, we can't believe that the powers that be didn't include Mount Baker inside of the North Cascades National Park boundary.  At least the Heather Meadows area should've been included, since it is so close to the border.
• The Douglas Fir campground was an awesome place to stay.  There are some really spacious sites right along the North Fork Nooksack.  The camp hosts did a great job of keeping the place tidy (including the pit toilets!)
• Not a drop of rain for an entire week in the Pacific Northwest.  In fact, we barely saw any clouds at all! 
• This was one of the quietest campgrounds we have ever stayed at.  Perhaps it helps that the raging North Fork Nooksack River ran through the campground, but even so, all of the campers were rather quiet.  Perhaps everyone comes here to enjoy the reverence of the area.  

Lowlights

• Insects, insects, and more insects.  The silver lining is that they weren't doing a whole lot of biting, but the flies were out there on almost every trail we hiked on.  Luckily, we were spared at the campground.
• Surprisingly, we came across very little wildlife.  We saw birds, insects, toads, insects, chipmunks, and insects.  Oh yeah, we also saw insects.
  
• Temperatures in the mid-70s is ok when you're hiking in the shade of forest trees, but when trails opened up, the sun could seem a little too warm while wandering up steep mountain trails.
• Because of the massive winter in the area, there were still a lot of trails closed due to snow and roads closed due to washouts.  We really wanted to do a couple of other hikes (e.g. Excelsior Peak, Chain Lakes) which were either too snowy, or completely inaccessible.  At the Heliotrope Ridge trail, we were unable to reach the Coleman Glacier due to the swift moving Heliotrope Creek.  We measured it as too deep and swift to safely cross.
  

Favorites

Here's what each family member said was their favorite part of the trip:

Raymond:	Artist Point	Incredible close-up views of Mounts Baker and Shuksan
Amelia:	Artist Point	Incredible close-up views of Mounts Baker and Shuksan
Chris:	Heliotrope Ridge Trail	Mushroom Heaven!  (Chris loves to hunt for mushrooms)
Suzanne:	Picture Lake	360 degrees of mountains seem to circle this tiny reflective lake.   The picture of Mount Shuksan from here is one of the most photographed mountain scenes in the world!
Mike:	Artist Point	Incredible close-up views of Mounts Baker and Shuksan

It's not too often that three of us agree on the same highlight, but that's probably a testament to the splendor of Artist Point.

Photos

We took nearly 250 pictures.  After converting panoramas and weeding out the worst images, we were able to boil it down to 180 useful scenes.  You can take a look at all of these albums here. 

Mount Baker Geocaching

 

After three straight days of hiking on our Mount Baker vacation, we decided to take some time to do some geocaching instead, while resting up our legs for more exploring.    While there were a lot of geocaches in the area we could've looked for, we opted for some that would allow us to explore other areas near Glacier, WA.  In the end, we found ten out of eleven caches attempted.  Not bad for a group of amatuer and rusty geocachers.  The effort earned us triple digits on geocache finds.  

Mia was rocking the finds on Canyon Creek Road.

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Geocaches Attempted

	07/30/2017	mll1013 found  CCR - It Came Out of the Sky	Washington	Visit Log
	07/30/2017	mll1013 found  CCR - I Put a Spell On You	Washington	Visit Log
	07/30/2017	mll1013 found  CCR - Fortunate Son	Washington	Visit Log
	07/30/2017	mll1013 found  CCR Travelin Band	Washington	Visit Log
	07/30/2017	mll1013 found  CCR - Proud Mary	Washington	Visit Log
	07/30/2017	mll1013 found  CCR - Up Around the Bend	Washington	Visit Log
	07/30/2017	mll1013 found  CCR - Run Through the Jungle	Washington	Visit Log
	07/30/2017	mll1013 found  CCR - Lookin' Out My Back Door	Washington	Visit Log
	07/30/2017	mll1013 found  CCR - Bad Moon Rising	Washington	Visit Log
	07/30/2017	mll1013 found  Ridge Trail Cache	Washington	Visit Log
	07/30/2017	mll1013 couldn't find  Down by the River	Washington	Visit Log

Kelcema Lake Snowshoe

Along with three other adult leaders, we took BSA unit 655 on a snowshoe trip to Kelcema Lake along the Mountain Loop Highway.  With the exception of a couple of young men, very few of the twelve boys who came along had ever snowshoed before.  We had a great day enjoying the beautiful scenery, even though it was a more rigiorous adventure than most were expecting.  Originally, we had planned on hiking to the Big Four Ice Caves, which would have been an easier itinerary, but that hike was closed due to avalanche danger, so rather than hike along the road which didn't really need any snowshoes at all, we decided to hike along Deer Creek Road (NF-1042).  With 1700 feet of  elevation gain, we definitely found enough snow to strap on the showshoes.  The 10 mile round-trip hike took six hours to complete, but it didn't feel that long (although some of the scouts might debate that.)  

When we started out, I told our scouts that we had 4.5 miles to reach the lake, but that we would hike for 2.5 hours and then turn around if we couldn't make it all the way in that period of time.  We were at the 2.5 hour mark when the entire group had caught up to an icicle-laden rock wall that the boys were having fun with.  I told them that we still had about a mile to get to the lake, and that we could turn back as promised.  I asked who wanted to continue on to the lake, and nearly every one of them pressed forward!  I was proud of these young men for their determination to press on to their final goal even though it was hard work.

Photos of the boys and the scenery are posted online here.

Scout leader, Adam Robinson, stands above the Kelcema Lake trailhead sign, indicating the snow depth.

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GPS Info

We collected all of the following data from our GPS unit during the adventure:

Maps

This Google Map is provided by GPS Visualizer

Elevation Profile

This profile is provided by GPS Visualizer

Coordinates and other details

Mileage:  Time:  Average Speed:  Elevation Gain: Trailhead Coordinates:

9.8 Miles 5:41:39 1.73 Miles/Hr. 1710 Feet N48 05.092' W121 33.144'

If you would like to use this info with your GPS unit, the full GPX file is here.
If you want to view this in Google Earth, you can download the KMZ files of the track and topographic overlay.

Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Ten years ago, we made our first visit to Washington state as a family for our Washington Loop vacation.  Mia had great memories of the lush forest we camped at along the Lewis River and wanted to go back and re-experience it before heading to college in the Fall.  Instead of just a couple of nights at the Lower Lewis Falls campground, we decided to spend a few days and explore more of Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which hosts Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helens, and Mount Adams.  We drove over 500 miles and hiked almost 25 miles.

This year, we were joined by Mia's friend, Chris, who loves the outdoors, and has a keen eye and enthusiasm for spotting unique features of nature.  At times, having Chris around felt like having our own personal nature guide.

Picturesque Lower Lewis Falls on the Lewis River   

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Maps

The following map has GPS tracks of all of the hikes we did, colored by day.  You can zoom into each hike by clicking on the arrow next to the hike name.  You can also download the full GPS file here.

Map Courtesy of GPS Visualizer

Highlights

Here is a list of places visited in just 5 quick days of driving around Southern Washington:

• Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument:
• June Lake Hike
• Lava Canyon Hike
• Miner's Car
• Spirit Lake
• Bear Meadow
• Windy Ridge
• Indian Heaven Wilderness
• Placid Lake
• Indian Heaven Trail
• Cultus Lake
• Deep Lake
• Sawtooth Berry Fields
• Mount Adams
• Takhlakh Lake
• Ollalie Lake
• Chain of Lakes
• Council Lake
• Lewis River (and vicinity) Waterfalls
• Lower Falls
• Middle Falls
• Upper Falls
• Twin Falls
  
• Copper Creek Falls
• Big Creek Falls
• Curly Creek Falls
• Miller Falls
• Guler Ice Caves (and natural bridges)

Lowlights

While the weather was great for the first couple of days, it got gray and cloudy at the end of our trip, forcing us to pack up and leave a day early due to inclement weather.  Gifford Pinchot is expansive.  Mount Rainier, Adams, and Saint Helens all lie at least partly within this forest's jurisdiction.  Driving around to see everything requires patience in traveling many miles over poorly maintained forest roads... not that the National Forest service has much to blame.  This area gets so much rain that roads frequently washout.  Even the paved sections of roads had numerous bumps and potholes due to rain.  Because of the large distances and the quality of road surfaces, visitors to this area will spend a lot of time in the car.  

Favorites

Here's what each family member said was their absolute favorite activity of the trip:

Raymond:	Mount Adams
Amelia:	Twin Falls
Suzanne:	Lava Canyon
Mike:	Lower Lewis Falls

Takeaways

Here are a few final thoughts from our vacation:

• Mount Saint Helens is awe-inspiring.  The after-math of the 1980 eruption can still be seen and felt 36 years later when the Spring blast reduced the summit by 1300 feet of elevation.  Spirit Lake still contains an immense log mat of thousands of trees that were blown down during the explosion.
• The Lewis River waterfalls put on quite the show.  Mike says that the Lower Falls are probably his favorite waterfall he's even seen.  Not super-tall, nor immensely powerful, the beautiful setting, crystal clear water, and rocky shelf that the falls fan off of make for a very unique and charming set of falls.
• Washington's volcanic mountains are majestic.  Mia commented that Rainier appears mammoth no matter where you are in the state.  You can be a hundred miles away, and it still seems in-your-face close.  I guess when you're 14,000 feet tall, you don't have to do much to be impressive for many miles around.  Mount Adams and Mount Saint Helens are beautiful to see as well.  

Photos

We took over 200 pictures of the area, which you can see on our Flickr photo album.

Olympic Coast Wilderness Trail

Nine months ago, the leaders and scouts of BSA unit 655 decided to do a 50-mile backpack along the Washington coastline inside Olympic National Park.  Two groups, hiking in opposite directions were to traverse the 50 miles of rugged coastline between Shi Shi Beach and Oil City.  A shuttle would be arranged to allow for the 12-mile portage around the Quillayute River between La Push, WA and Rialto Beach.  The plan called for a six-day / five-night itinerary.  I went with the Varsity team, which took on the south-to-north trip, while the venturing crew took the north-to-south direction.  For the Olympic Peninsula, the weather was sensational.  There was one day that was soggy for a couple of hours, early morning mists tended to dampen our tents while the morning breeze off the ocean would quickly dry them off, and marine layers were the norm in the mornings and evenings.  However, the temperatures were pleasant, and we stayed relatively dry.  We were also treated to sensational sunsets twice.  I was a bit surprised at the lack of wildlife.  We did see plenty of Bald Eagles, a Leopard Seal, and a handful of Otters, along with the typical tide/beach life, but for one of the most remote stretches of coastline along the Pacific Ocean, I was expecting a lot more.  It should be noted that this trail is not simply a stroll along the beach.  This is a primitive trail that throws various kinds of difficult terrain at you one after the other.  From soft sand, loose gravel, boulder scrambling, driftwood, fallen trees, tidal moonscapes, steep headlands and muddy overland trails, the Olympic Coast is a rugged experience that I couldn't not have mentally or physically prepared myself for except by doing it.

Sunset behind seastack at Cedar Point

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Trip Log

Day 1 - Oil City TH to Mosquito Creek CG:   We planned on a 5:30am departure, but ended up leaving a little late as it took a while to get all of the gear loaded up.  We stopped at the Quinault Wilderness Information Center, where we got our permits and bear cannisters.  The rangers had us on our way pretty quickly.  By the time we left the trailhead, we were about 40 minutes behind schedule, but fortunately, we had planned about an hour of buffer to make a critical tide window that was needed to get into Jefferson Cove.  We had to traverse a beach largely strewn with gravel and rocks with one small section of boulders before making the overland trail around the impassable Hoh Head.  A steep rope and wooden ladder took our group up 300 feet to a long 3.5 mile slog of mud before dropping down to Mosquito Creek, where we camped for the night.  Mosquito Creek is actually a lovelier spot than the name might suggest.  It had one of the best water sources we had all trip, and the breeze on the beach was too brisk for the little critters to brave.  

Milage:	6.7 Miles
Climb:	2325 Feet
Pace:	0.88 MPH

Day 2 - Mosquito Creek CG to Third Beach CG:   We got warmed up with an easy hike along the beach.  Since the tide was out, we were able to hike on the wet packed sand, which was everyone's favorite hiking terrain possible since it was flat, and our hiking boots didn't sink into the ground.  Just before the overland trail, we found a cool rock to explore with an arch that opened to the ocean.  One of the only waterfalls to be found along the way was on Goodman Creek, where we had to ford through a wide ankle-deep stream.  It made for a great spot to eat lunch that ended as soon as the rain began to fall.  We agreed that the seastacks near Toleak Point are among the best to be found along the entire coastline.  We endured a couple more shorter overland trails along with an increasing number of dayhikers before arriving at our campsite on Third Beach.

Mileage:	8.9 Miles
Climb:	2102 Feet
Pace:	1.10 MPH

Day 3a - Third Beach CG to Third Beach TH:  We enjoyed a beautiful sunny start to our short and easy hike up to our car shuttle at the Third Beach trailhead.   While this would be our longest day of hiking, we were glad that it was broken up by the shuttle, which allowed us to restock our food supply, pick up a clean change of clothes, grab some clean water, and use a flush toilet... the last we would see for three days!

Mileage:	1.9 Miles
Climb:	713 Feet
Pace:	1.45 MPH

Day 3b - Rialto Beach TH to Norwegian Memorial CG:   Rialto Beach was teeming with beachcombers, and who could blame them on such a beautiful day.  However, once we got past Hole-in-the-Wall, the crowds thinned out quickly.  We found ourselves traversing interesting rock formations, boulder scrambles, and moonscape tide pools before taking a quick break only to realize we had to meet a critical tide window past Johnson Cove.  After a string of long beaches, we had one last sketchy overland descent before dropping into our planned campsite at Cedar Creek.  As a beautiful sunset formed while we dragged ourselves into camp, we spotted a familiar-looking set of backpackers who invited us to camp with them at Norwegian Memorial, just on the otherside of a final overland trail. 

Mileage:	10.3 Miles
Climb:	1057 Feet
Pace:	1.04 MPH

Day 4 - Norwegian Memorial CG to Sand Point CG:   A shorter, yet rugged day awaited us on our hike to Sand Point.  A stretch of the coast that consisted of nearly five miles of boulders, moonscapes, tide pools kept us on our toes and rolled more than one ankle along the way.  It was a sufficiently challenging and tiring stretch that we decided to hang out at Yellow Banks for some well-deserved rest and recreation.  As we headed out for the final push for the day, we had to crawl through a tiny arch and make our way over a beautiful headland that contained some prime tide pools.  The site of one of the longest stretches of packed sand beach made for a welcomed push into camp where we arrived with time to take a dip in the ocean, relax at camp, and enjoy another wonderful sunset atop a rocky point.

Mileage:	8.4 Miles
Climb:	491 Feet
Pace:	0.78 MPH

Day 5 - Sand Point CG:   At the encouragement of the venturing crew, we modified our itinerary to avoid a stretch of coastline between Cape Alava and Shi Shi Beach that would've been very difficult to succeed on.  As such, we decided to stay at Sand Point and exit the coast at Lake Ozette instead.  While this means we didn't get the full 50 miles, it made for an experience that would prove to still be very hard and yet also be rewarding. So, day 5 It was a complete down day for us, and I can't help but wonder if this might have been one of the favorite days of all for many of the scouts.  We filled the day by playing cards, exploring the amenities of the beach, connecting as a group, climbing rocks, enjoying the views, exploring the tide pools, and discovering the creative ways that campers had set up campsites.  Since this was our last night of high-adventure, we decided to end with a candlelight vigil, made from Babybel wax wrappers and local products.

Mileage:	0.0 Milew
Climb:	0 Feet
Pace:	0 MPH

Day 6a - Morning Hike to Cape Alava:   While we couldn't rope any of the boys to get up with us at 5:30am, Adam and I took a morning hike up to Cape Alava to check out this part of the coastline ending at   Tskawahyah Island, the western-most point in the contiguous 48 United States.  The hiking wasn't too bad through this section, and even though we made all of the tide windows, we decided to scale the brief overland section at Wedding Rocks for a better view of the area.

Mileage:	7.9 Miles
Climb:	518 Feet
Pace:	2.30 MPH

Day 6b - Sand Point CG to Lake Ozette TH:  The trail back to Lake Ozette was the most well-maintained of any we had experienced.  Packed earth and boardwalks made this a walk in the park both literally and figuratively.  The final stop at Fat Smitty's was well-deserved and enjoyed. 

Mileage:	3.1 Miles
Climb:	367 Feet
Pace:	2.01 MPH

Photos 

I took over 200 photos of the action.  Each photo is named with the day of the trip on which the picture was taken. 

GPS Info

We collected all of the following data from our GPS unit during the adventure.  Red circles denote tide windows along with the tide level required to pass.  Purple circles show where overland trails were required to bypass impassable coastal headlands.  Days are differentiated with a different color track.

Maps

This Google Map is provided by GPS Visualizer

Elevation Profile 

While there isn't much true elevation gain on this itinerary, there are enough overland trails with ups and downs to add up to 7500 feet.  The following profile is colored by speed.  As expected, our speed was much greater on flat sections (2-3 MPH), while climbing and traversing the overland trails dropped our speed significantly (0-2 MPH). 
This profile is provided by GPS Visualizer

Coordinates and other details

• Mileage:	47.2 Miles
• Elevation Gain:	7573 feet
• Time:	22:23:34
• Speed:	2.05 MPH
• Trailhead Coordinates:	47 44.959'N, 124 24.515W'

 
If you would like to use this info with your GPS unit, the full GPX file is here.
If you want to view this in Google Earth, you can download the KMZ files of the track and topographic overlay.

Otter Falls Hike

For our final preparation hike, BSA troop 655 hiked to Otter Falls in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near North Bend, WA.  Otter Falls plunges 1200 feet from its precipice, although only 500 feet is visible from Lipsy Lake, where the falls tumble to an end down a 50-degree rock slide.  In one survey, Otter is considered to be a top-100 waterfall (among a list of over 4000) in the Pacific Northwest.  This hike was specifically chosen to mimic conditions we might experience on our high-adventure activity--lots of miles with little elevation gain.  

We endured a pothole-filled (and in one spot a nearly-washed-out) forest road and drizzly rain for much of the hike to Big Creek Falls, where we ate our lunch during a break in the precipitaiton.  Impressive in its own rights, Big Creek tumbles 238 feet down a series of rock steps until disappearing under an old forest road bridge.  Once we had refueled, we continued back down the trail and took a poorly marked but short spur trail to Otter Falls.  While admiring the falls, a light rain began to fall again, spurring us back to the trailhead.    Because of the weather, only the hardiest of day hikers were spotted along the trail, including another scout troop from Bainbridge Island also preparing for a 50-miler this summer.  All along the trail, the salmonberries were beginning to ripen.  One could trust in a fairly tasty natural treat by testing each berry to make sure it wasn't too firm.  I wouldn't trust returning to collect any there, however, as one of our scouts tried to pick the bushes bare by the end of the day.  (You know who you are, Joseph Boss!)

Here is a link to all of the pictures I took.  There weren't as many pictures from this trip... it's hard to be motivated to pull out the camera when it's raining.

From little Lipsy Lake, only 500 feet of the 1200-foot tall Otter Falls is visible to hikers.

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GPS Info

We collected all of the following data from our GPS unit during the adventure:

Maps

This Google Map is provided by GPS Visualizer

Elevation Profile

This profile is provided by GPS Visualizer

Coordinates and other details

Mileage:  Time:  Average Speed:  Trailhead Coordinates:

11.0 Miles 5:44:52 (total),  4:44:56 (moving) 1.91 MPH (total), 2.30 MPH (moving) 47 33'39.5"N 121 31'55.9"W

Goat Lake Backpack

 As a final warm-up backpack/gear check for our 50-mile high-adventure activity this summer, BSA troop 655 packed to Goat Lake in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness.  This is one of the more popular hikes along the Mountain Loop Highway, so we worried about how busy it would be at the campground.  When we arrived at the trailhead, there were five vehicles there, but when we got to the main campsite, it was completely empty.  A couple of backpackers set up farther down along the lake, but we had the main site to ourselves.  The normal crowds may have been deterred by the grey skies, but fortunately, we were able to arrive at the campground right as the sun set, set up our tents, and cook our dinner without any rain at all.  We enjoyed the dehydrated meals that we had learned about during our last couple of scout meetings.  Thanks to Aaron McCain for preparing our delicious fare!  

Around 4am, the clouds settled right on top of us and the rain started coming down.  We were forced us to make breakfast and break camp in a light rain that nonetheless managed to soak all of our gear.  By the time we hit the trail, however, the rain had stopped allowing us to make our trip back to the trailhead along tumbling Elliot Creek more enjoyable, even if we were faced with increasingly muddy hiking conditions.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn't ideal for taking good pictures, but here is an album that contains some shots of the scenery and the scouts in action.

Evening Reflection on Goat Lake.  

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GPS Info

We collected all of the following data from our GPS unit during the adventure:

Maps

This Google Map is provided by GPS Visualizer

Elevation Profile

This profile is provided by GPS Visualizer

Coordinates and other details

Mileage:  Time:  Average Speed:  Trailhead Coordinates:

9.1 Miles 4:33:14 (total),  4:05:32 (moving) 2.00 MPH (total), 2.23 MPH (moving) 48 03'13.1"N 121 24'46.4"W

 
If you would like to use this info with your GPS unit, the full GPX file is here.
If you want to view this in Google Earth, you can download the KMZ files of the track and topographic overlay.