Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
number of vehicles that use this road. However, passing between the two units
of the national park is the North Cascades Scenic Highway, which does provide
access to viewpoints and trails that lead into the national park. While there is
very little road access in this area, there are plenty of trails, and day hikers and
backpackers can head off on hundreds of miles of trails through wilderness areas,
national forest, national park, and national recreation areas.
Though numerous attempts were made over the years to build a road through
the craggy, glacier-sculpted North Cascade mountains, it was not until 1972
that Wash. 20 finally connected the Skagit Valley communities on the west side
of the North Cascades with Winthrop on the east side of the mountains. Today
the road is known as the North Cascades Scenic Highway, and it's one of the
most breathtakingly beautiful stretches of road anywhere in the United States.
Unfortunately, because of heavy winter snows and avalanches, the road is only
open from April to November (depending on the weather). The scenic highway
begins east of Sedro-Woolley, and along its length you'll find more than a dozen
campgrounds.
Lying just outside the northwestern corner of North Cascades National Park
is 10,778-foot Mount Baker, which on a clear day dominates the skyline to the
east of Bellingham and the San Juan Islands. This is the northernmost of Wash-
ington's Cascade Range volcanoes, and, as such, rises high above the surround-
ing North Cascade peaks, which are geologically unrelated to Mount Baker.
Because it is open to the winter storms that sweep up the Strait of Juan de Fuca
from the Pacific Ocean, Mount Baker usually receives more snow than any other
Cascades peak, and in the winter of 1998-99, a world record 1,140 inches fell
at the Mount Baker Ski Area.
While it is the North Cascades Scenic Highway, with its mountain vistas and
excellent hiking, that attracts most people to this area, the slopes of Mount
Baker are almost equally rewarding. In summer, hikers can explore alpine mead-
ows, and in winter, skiers and snowboarders can sample some of the most leg-
endary snows in the country.
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE To reach Mount Baker ski area (and, in summer,
Heather Meadows and Artist Point), head east from Bellingham on Wash. 542
(the Mount Baker Hwy.). The North Cascades Scenic Highway is Wash. 20,
which leaves I-5 at Burlington.
VISITOR INFORMATION For information on the Mount Baker area, con-
tact the Glacier Public Service Center, Mount Baker Highway, Glacier
( & 360/599-2714 ). For information on the North Cascades National Park
Complex, Mount Baker National Recreation Area, and Mount Baker-
Snoqualmie National Forest, contact the jointly operated Forest/Park Service
Information Office, 810 Wash. 20, Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284 ( & 360/856-
5700; www.nps.gov/noca or www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs).
VISITING THE MOUNT BAKER AREA
Wash. 542, known as the Mount Baker Highway, is a dead-end road that climbs
to 5,140 feet in elevation at a ridge between 10,778-foot Mount Baker and
9,038-foot Mount Shuksan. The road ends at the aptly named Artist
Point , an area of rugged beauty nearly unequaled in the state. Rising
directly above Artist Point is flat-topped Table Mountain, up which there is a
short but precipitous trail. Three miles before you reach Artist Point you'll come
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