Mt Shuksan, Mt Baker, and Artist Point

We decided to drive east into the Mt Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest today as it was predicted to be a pretty day. It was a gorgeous day and we thoroughly enjoyed all the beauty that we saw...

Some cars ahead of us had pulled over to take pictures... so we did too, thinking the photo-op was of the mountains in front of us...

Until we got out of the Jeep and looked behind us to see Mount Shuksan - wow!

A few miles further, we stopped to walk Picture Lake Trail...

It was an easy paved trail...

From which we could get some gorgeous pictures of Mt Shuksan. An information sign said that the glaciers on Mt Shuksan are about 380 feet thick (91 meters).

There were pretty berries on some plants (the broad leaves are the plant that had the berries, but I thought they looked pretty against the evergreen tree).

This looked like lupine...

Picture Lake was picturesque all the way around!

A rock formation at the side of the road...

A duck in Picture Lake looking as if he is swimming in the sky above the reflections of the mountains.

This gave us a preview of some of the hikes that we could take - we decided that Artist Ridge Trail should be on our to-do list for today also...

We drove on up to the end of the road to the parking for Artist Point and trailhead for Artist Ridge Trail.

 I had looked up information about Artist Point last night and found this website with some questions and answers about the road:  http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Northwest/Baker/ArtistPoint/faq.htm
I found it interesting that they "usually" get the road open by July (!), when they are clearing the snow from the road, it can be 30-50 feet deep (!!), and it has closed as early as the end of September! The information also indicated that there is little in the way of safety features (e.g. guard rails) as they would just need to be replaced each year!

Once we got to Artist Point, we could see Mt Baker. It is a volcanic mountain, and a signboard there told us that as recently as 1975, volcanic steam melted ice fields forming a lake in Sherman Crater. "Occasionally, steam plumes rise from the crater, reminding us that Mt. Baker is an active Cascade volcano like Mt Saint Helens to the south."

Another signboard told us that we could look down into the deep Swift Creek drainage, seeing Baker Lake and the Cascade Mountain Range beyond. Baker Lake was just above our campground when we were in Concrete last week (though we did not visit there).

 Now... I have greatly culled the number of pictures from the total that we took today, but... I suspect you are going to be mountain-pictured-out before you complete reading this blog post...

Mt Baker

Mt Shuksan

Looking down the valley toward Baker Lake

Mt Shuksan

My Sweetie - and yes, it was that cold - probably mid 40s and there was a breeze blowing!

Mt Shuksan

My sweetie took a picture of his sweetie... ;-) - unfortunately his camera's settings had something set that made the blues wash out so most of the pictures today are from my phone.

Mt Shuksan

Mt Baker

Another view toward Baker Lake

Mt Shuksan

On our way up the hill we had passed by The Firs Chalet just before Picture Lake...

On the way down we got a picture of the Chalet with reflection in another lake nearby Picture Lake - note the steep pitch of the roof!

A picture from the parking lot - where you can see the big windows on the end of the building.

It appeared to be closed, though the website (https://thefirschalet.org/#intro) indicates it is a year-round facility. It appears to be a Christian retreat location - looks like it would be a beautiful spot, but I'm not sure I would want to make the drive up to it in the winter (there are two ski resorts too - one just below The Firs Chalet and the other above it).

We had a great day enjoying the majesty that God has made!