No Wrong Turns - Exploring the Pacific Northwest: Snow Shoe Mount Baker

Many boast that one of the joys of living in the lower mainland area of British Columbia means that in the winter you have the opportunity to ski and play golf all in the same day. Living here in the rain forest means that one often "forgets" about winter, as it never really feels like it. (of course, our reference for defining winter is growing up in Alberta and Manitoba) Well, this weekend we both craved WINTER. Maybe the long hours on the couch watching our athletes compete in Sochi drew us to the mountains or maybe our recent cold snap reminded us of winter. Whatever, the reason we decided to pack up our gear and head to Mount Baker in Washington State.

Creative Fencing at Glacier Ski Rentals

Yep...we were going in the right direction!

The only way to describe Baker is MAJESTIC. The glacier covered peaks of Baker lie within Snoqualmie National Forest. The following description is from the USA Forest Service website:

The most prominent feature of the Mt. Baker Wilderness is the 10,781 foot [3,286 meters] active volcano from which the wilderness takes its name. Mt. Baker is the northernmost volcano in the United States Cascade Range located 15 miles south of the Canadian border. The mountain is perpetually snow-capped and mantled with an extensive network of creeping glaciers. Baker's summit, called Grant Peak, is actually a 1,300-foot-deep mound of ice, which hides a massive volcanic crater. Directly to the south is a smaller and younger crater, which is currently a center of periodic steam eruptions. Sherman Crater is only partially ice-filled and the rim's pinnacle, known as Sherman Peak, reaches an elevation of approximately 10,160 feet [3,097 meters].

Leaving the ski are boundary for the back country

We decided to start our day trip from the Mount Baker ski area. We arrived to a full parking lot! It was a winter wonderland and we were thrilled to see families skiing, snow-shoeing and sledding. We made our way to the upper parking lot area, found the road up the mountain and entered the back country. The snow was absolutely fantastic...quite a surprise as we had seen very little snow as we made our way up the mountain. The weather conditions were not great, the light was flat and there was definitely a storm moving in. We decided to not venture too far and chose to head to Artist Ridge in the Heather Meadows area. This trail is well known for its many viewpoints - but today, was not the day to capture a view. Visibility was really poor. Despite the poor visibility we enjoyed bumping in to numerous winter enthusiasts and many snow hounds in search of fresh powder in the back country.