Travels with rarecat: Pacific NW - Mt. Baker Scenic Byway

We hit some pretty spectacular places in the Pacific Northwest on a road trip this past September. Over three weeks, we drove a figure eight through Washington and Oregon in a rented car. From Seattle, we drove up to Mt. Baker near the Canadian border, then drove the Scenic Highway through the North Cascades National Park to Winthrop; turned south to Mt. Rainier National Park, head west via Mt. St. Helens to the Oregon Coast; from there inland to Crater Lake, John Day Painted Hills, north to Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge, Portland, then up to the Olympic Peninsula before completing the top of the loop in Seattle.

We were mostly lucky weather-wise, with at most a couple days of rain in the entire three weeks. But the mountains could be elusive, even in dry weather. Low clouds would do it and we never saw Mt. Baker in the two and a half days we spent in Mt. Baker National Forest. Them's the breaks!

Please join me as I take you through this scenic journey - the best thing looking back at the trip, was the flexibility of stopping whenever we wanted and not encountering a single tourist bus at any of the sites visited!

When we arrived at Mt. Baker, the forecast was for rain all of the following day. So even though it was late afternoon, we took the Mt. Baker Scenic Byway into the park in the hopes of seeing the mountains before the rain. Unfortunately, it had already clouded over and all we saw was the foot of Mt. Shuksan above the ski lodge. We drove up to the lakes where there would have been reflections of the mountains - but it was too late.

The following day we took the ranger's advice to visit Nooksack Falls as it was wet, more water wouldn't hurt! It turned out to be a perfect day to get silky waterfalls without a filter because of the dark skies. The other lucky thing was we encountered two rainbows in our drive through the park - sure helped us stay positive! The misty mountains were magical and Heather Meadows was beautiful with its fall colours even in the rain.

We woke up the following morning to blue skies although there were still some low clouds. It was our last morning in the area so we made full use of the time re-doing the drive through the park that we did the day before. It was amazing how a little change in the weather could make the scenery look completely different. Seeing the reflections of the mountains in the lakes made all the difference! You could see below the before and after shots of Mt. Shuksan although we never saw Mt. Baker - it was still hidden from view in spite of the blue skies!

PRACTICAL TIPS:
- Plan to stay more than one night in any location on a road trip. Allow for time for the weather to change.
- Always dress in layers (or at least have them handy) with hat, scarf and gloves ready as the weather changes very quickly in the mountains. At one point on that rainy day, the temperature dropped more than 10 degrees within an hour as we drove up to Artist Point at 5,100 feet.
- You don't have to drive all the way up to Artist Point to see the mountains. You could see Mt. Shuksan before you get to Heather Meadows. On a clear day, there should be a beautiful reflection of the mountain at Picture Lake. This is likely the best spot in the late afternoon for that iconic photo. We were there in the morning and the mountain was backlit.

View of the ski lodge at the foot of the mostly hidden Mt. Shuksan

Nooksack Falls from above - I was a little leary of making it further down as the wet rocks were slippery. But glad I did because the full view of the falls were quite different

Nooksack Falls - two of the trio anyway

Double rainbow on our drive through the park - the second one is only barely visible on the top right. There was this eerie light shining just on that particular spot on the mountains.

Mountains can be particularly beautiful when it's wet!

This photo of the area around Picture Lake was actually prettier than the one I took the following day when it was sunny!

The second rainbow at Heather Meadows

Heather Meadows

Morning reflection of these mountains. The hike around Picture Lake is easy, accessible, and rewarding. You have your pick of mountain reflections - particularly pretty with fall colours.

Reflection of Mt. Shukshan, which was backlit. Late afternoon would have been a better time for photos, weather permitting! But we were happy to even see it!