Mt. Baker Scenic Byway

Mt. Baker Scenic Byway was a 3 hour drive from Redmond via I-405 and I-5 north. The 50-mile climb to the mountain top was an uneventful (but not exactly boring) hour and half drive. There were very few houses and they seemed to be at least a mile or two away from each other and almost no people. After driving for about 30 minutes of seeing only livestock, we amused ourselves by searching for, and counting the number of people we saw who were outside their homes. We must have seen about a couple hundred cattle and less than 10 human beings! HAHA.

Halfway through the climb, we stopped by the Silver Lake County Park located on the edge of the Mt. Baker National Forest. The lake was calm, beautiful, reflective (literally), and so flat and quiet. We didn't stay too long. It wasn't fishing season so there was really not much to do except enjoy the calming effects of the lake and its sorrounding forest.

Next stop was the refreshing view of Nooksack Falls down Wells Creek road. The water flows from the North Fork Nooksack River, at the top of which are huge glaciers from which icy water flows through the river. We stayed there a bit longer taking pictures of the forest from one side of the river and from the the other side, which bore the sign "No Tresspasing," but we went anyway to get closer to the river atop the water falls and to get a good view of the gigantic rocks that anchored the trees of the forests on either side of the Nooksack River. The track down the water falls view point was muddy and slopy but it was a short hike and the spectacular view more than made up for it!

This is a view of Picture Lake, at the very top of the Mt. Baker Scenic Byway park. This was what we hoped to see when we got there. But what we did see was nothing but ice and snow covering the entire lake. No picture views. No reflection of Mt. Baker on the lake. Just white snow everywhere.

The temperature at the top was way below freezing point. It wasn't snowing. Nor was it raining but it was freezing cold. And guess what, we had no proper jackets (not for this temperature anyway), no gloves, no bonets. Hour hands, nose, ears, were frozen. But we didn't care. The view of Mt. Baker and the cascades was so dramatic. It didn't look real. It was like looking at an oil painting. We couldn't resist posing and taking as many shots as we possibly could in an attempt to preserve the histrionic sight.

We headed back before it turned dark. The trip to Mt. Baker was too short but even though we didn't see as much as we would have wanted, what we did see was enough to make the weekend a glorious one with nature.

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Of course what would a weekend be without a trip to the outlet malls, right? Well, we did go and spent some...We ended the day with a nice japanese dinner and a visit (well it was more than just a visit) to a nearby Wallmart.