Mount Baker Area

This is where we were last Saturday - my first hike since my surgery! The doctor told me to "push the envelope" with physical exercise and I took that as an invitation to go hiking. It was a bit more than I bargained for, however, and I was tired and hurting when we finally arrived back home. This is Mount Baker from the south and from Railroad Grade, the edge of an old glacial moraine. The Railroad Grade trail (nothing to do with any railroad, but so named for its steady even climb) is a popular climber's route to the top of Baker and we followed it as far as High Camp, the jump-off point for most summiters. The glacier is Deming Glacier.

This looks back down the Railroad Grade trail (nothing to do with trains, but a reference to its steady, nearly level grade), a glacial moraine on the south side of Mount Baker. After hiking to the moraine, we hiked its length as far as High Camp, a jump-off point for those who are going to the top of Baker. The mountains in the distance are still the North Cascades with Glacier Peak the dominant peak on the right.

Usually we see the Twin Sisters from the other side - they are visible from the town in which we live. This photo of the peaks was taken from the Railroad Grade trail on the south side of Baker and the east side of Twin Sisters.

The Railroad Grade trail is visible on the left of photo and is the trail we followed nearly to the glacier, Deming Glacier. The trail follows a glacial moraine and is named, I suppose for its gradual ascent.

Here again is the Railroad grade trail, this time looking back down the trail, with the North Cascades in the distance.

The trail to Railroad Grade is also for part of the distance the trail to Park Butte, shown here from Railroad Grade. The old fire lookout at the top of Park Butte can just be seen in the photo as can parts of the trail. I hiked to Park Butte last autumn but we were tired and hot and did not feel like more hiking on this occasion.

This is another view of the glacial moraine called Railroad Grade. It is on the southwest side of Mount Baker and is a climbers' route for Baker. The view here is southeast and the photo was taken looking back not long after I started hiking up the trail.

Hiking the Park Butte and Railroad Grade trails, Mount Baker had been hidden in the clouds the whole time, but began to clear as I reached the glacial moraine known as Railroad Grade and was soon completely free of clouds. In the photo, the peak is at the far right with Easton Glacier below it and Railroad Grade curving up from the left. The sharply pointed peaks at the left are the Black Buttes, the more rounded peak near the center, Colfax Peak and the slope between Colfax and Baker the Roman Slope. When we climbed Baker we came from the other side of the Black Buttes, camping there on Coleman Glacier and climbing through the notch and up the Roman Slope, all much steeper than it appears in this photo.

As the sky cleared Twin Sisters also came into view to the southwest. These peaks are visible from our home town, but from the opposite side.