Mt Baker Highway (out and
back summit)
This is one of the great north western volcano
cycling climbs. Comparing this road with other
volcano climbs in the northwest, the special thing
here is, that the end of the road is also located
well within the North Cascades. This volcano is
surrounded by other glaciated peaks like a cutlery
gallery. The whole scene makes a more alpine
impression than the other high, coastal volcanoes.
Mt Baker Hiway was conceived with
the idea to advertise Mt Baker to tourists. The
road does not actually go to it, but to a scenic
highpoint, named Point Honfoon, very roughly
equidistant between the 10781ft high Mt Baker and
also the 7191ft high Mt Sefrit.
Generally I group out and back
summits with the closest two way summit ( that is
a summit with a least two separate approaches ).
But in this case, that is impossible. There are
none around. Generally speaking, when riding paved
roads in central and western Washington, it is
nearly impossible to come up with loop rides over
high passes or summits anyway, even on the two way
summits, at least not for rides in my limited
distance range. So I might as well get used to the
idea of "out and back" rides, and also to the idea
of a page about an out and back summit.
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1.(00.0m,0640ft)START
WEST: Maple Falls, jct Mt Baker Hiway -
Silver Lake Rd
2.(08.6m,1040ft)jct with Glacier Creek Rd
on right
3.(09.7m,1080ft)jct with Canyon Creek Rd
on left
4.(20.8m,2030ft)jct with FR32 on left
5.(28.2m,4100ft)Picture Lake
6.(31.7m,5080ft)END EAST: end of Mt Baker
rd
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Approaches
From East. The slope on
the climb between Maple Falls and Glacier is
barely noticeable. The "town" Glacier is easy to
miss too, barely a handful of buildings, grouped
around an intersection, unless there is more
hidden in the woods.
The lower part is a rainforest ride. With the
right light the moss turns into a hanging garden,
that extends for many miles. Two other paved roads
branch off into the green carpet: East Glacier
Creek Road, just past the town of Glacier and FR31
towards Canyon
Ridge.
The forest ride is a nice contemplative
introduction for the interesting views to come, on
the last 5 miles. The first time the road breaks
out onto a grand view, you notice a picturesquely
placed hotel of sorts near the road below. Funny -
I never noticed it riding up. It turns out to be a
ski lodge, just far enough up a (in summer) closed
ski access road.
In Washington parking anywhere close to an
interesting looking mountain will often cost
dearly in parking fees. Luckily even here,
bicycling in scenic locations is still free - what
a bargain.
At "Picture Lake" the road divides for a short
distance, one direction on each side of the lake.
Names like "Picture Lake" are common in American
tourist landscapes. They act as kind of
promotional suggestions on what self respecting
tourists should do here. And the name fits well.
When it is calm (which it often is), snow covered
Mt Sefrit gives off a striking crystal clear
reflection in its water. A trail around the lake
is paved and I carefully rolled along it with my
bike.
Just up the road is Austin Pass. This is not a
pass as far as the road is concerned. But a hiking
trail leads down into a small alpine basin. Around
the next turn, Mt Baker makes its first
appearance. So much snow and ice in August - hard
to conceive after all these hot weeks. The day I
am up here the haze from forest fires is
manageable. It gives the mountain an even more
foreshortened appearance than during blazing
sunlight.
One more turn and the road ends at a parking lot,
deserving of a football stadium, almost as large
as the one a small distance back at Austin Pass.
The crowds frolic in the snow, and family members
direct each other on how to pose in the
photographs. The crowds here seem more exuberant
than on the top of pass roads, maybe because there
really is nowhere else to go in their vehicles on
this day, except back down to where they came
from. The views are spectacular and the National
Forest Service often has a tent with people
knowledgeable about the local geology, botany,
history, who can point you in the right direction
to the answer of a question about the universe,
including this particular corner.
Descending this same section, the valley below
seems to approach quickly, just 2.3 thousand feet.
The proportions of the landscape above is much
larger, than the part that was actually climbed by
the road. That seems to be typical of northwestern
volcano rides.
Dayride without Two-way summits, and this out and
back summit as highest point:
COMPLETELY PAVED:
( < Burpee Hill
Rd(sh) | Canyon
Ridge Trail s(u) > )
a small distance up East Glacier Road <> down
East Glacier Road <> up Mt Baker Hiway with
small detour such as viewpoints, parking lots and
around Picture Lake << turnaround point Mt
Baker Hiway (ows) <> separate short out
and back from starting point a short distance up
East Glacier Road << to turnaround point at
about 1500ft: 50.3miles with 5300ft of climbing in
4:20hrs (garmin etrex30 r4:17.11).
Notes: lots of company on this apparently very
popular cycling climb, some BC smoke refugees,
some Wahingtonians, and a Coloradoan.
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cLiCk on image , arrows ,
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