Railroad Grade

"the mountains are His own"

On September 2 I did the first and long hike of 2017.  Before surgery in May, I had not had opportunity and after surgery did not feel like hiking.  This hike to Railroad Grade was very nearly too much for me and we did not hike again until 2018.

Railroad Grade has nothing to do with trains.  The trail, which follows the edge of a glacial moraine, is named for its gentle grade and is one of the approaches for climbing Mount Baker from the south.  I hiked there with my wife and three others.

We went as far as the climbers' camp and enjoyed thee spectacular views of Mount Baker or Koma Kulshan, the White Watcher and Easton Glacier which left the moraine up which we hiked.  The trail is about 7 miles with 2000 feet of elevation gain.

 first views of Baker

Purple Monkeyflower

sedge

beginning of the Railroad Grade trail

(the first 2.5 miles are part of the Park Butte trail)

Park Butte

Sitka Mountain Ash

Gray Jay

Northern Checkerspot

Mount Baker

(Easton Glacier on the left and the trail along the glacial moraine just visible)

on the moraine and looking back

on the moraine and looking forward

Sitka Mountain Ash

 Park Butte across the valley

 Twin Sisters

more trail

near the climbers' camp

Snowshoeing to Artist's Point

On January 2 a group of us, including several Australians, went on snowshoes to Artist's Point from the Mount Baker Ski Area.  Artist's Point, accessible in the summer by car, is inaccessible in winter except by skis or snowshoes.  The car park and toilets there are now buried under 25 feet of snow.  The viewpoint lies on Kulshan Ridge between Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan and offers fabulous views of those peaks and of the peaks to the north including Mount Larabee, Winchester Mountain and the Border Peaks.  The round trip on snowshoes is about 5 miles and we were gone for several hours.  The Australians had never experienced so much snow or temperatures so cold, but they were game and all made it to the top.  There was a stiff wind blowing at the top and it was bitter cold so we did not stay long, but did get plenty of photos.

some of the peaks to the east early in the morning

Mount Larrabee

Table Mountain from the beginning of the trail

getting higher

Table Mountain

Herman Saddle

the ridge above the trail

Table Mountain again

Mount Shuksan

Mount Larrabee and the Border Peaks

Mount Shuksan and Shuksan Arm

the valley between Shuksan and Kulshan Ridge

trees

shadows

snowshoers

snow and more snow

 Table Mountain coming into view again near the top

at the top

Mount Shuksan

Table Mountain

Mount Baker

still at the top

Mount Shuksan again

headed down

the valley between Kulshan Ridge and Shuksan

Kulshan Ridge from below

trees

Mount Shuksan

lone snowshoer

east

snowy branches

Table Mountain

one more view of Table Mountain

more trees

Mount Shuksan from the lower ski lodge