[Sadie's Driver]

  Well, I honestly don't know how many snowmobiles fit into Park Butte Lookout, but there must have been 150 snowmobiles on the road that leads to the Park Butte lookout trailhead!    This is the third time in the past three weekends that I have visited the far reaches of the North Cascades - same with David (Opus) - but we decided that the third time was the charm! Last weekend we had "locational issues."  That is, we had difficulty hooking up with our group, thereby causing us to have "destinational issues" - meaning, that we didn't really get to where we wanted to - but it was fun, none-the-less.  And then, the weekend before (Mt. Ann/Artist Point) we again had "destinational" failure and didn't achieve our original goal. So, today, yes today, we were going to succeed!  Luckily, friends are (somewhat) tolerant and understanding, so Jim K, Elle, Barb E and Kolleen and Bob (Trail Pair) were willing to give us a second chance!  (Trail Pair brought alpine guide dogs Luis and Lupe to ensure we reached our goal!)    Well, all started out good - the two cars of intrepid NW Hikers converged at the proper location about 8:30 a.m. on the Baker Lake Road off of Rt. 20.  We headed up toward the Park Butte Lookout trailhead, not sure how far we could make it before hitting snow.  Well, snow wasn't the problem.  It was the nearly 100 trucks with sleds carrying snowmobiles that would stimy us!    Oh no! We got stuck behind trucks maneuvering to off-load their rigs.  We witnessed one guy skillfully back up his truck for about a half-mile (slowly!) with trailer up this narrow road and park the thing to let us by.  But we didn't get far - because in another 100' was the end of the road for wheeled vehicles!  This was about 1 mile from the trailhead (actually, there was snow on the road, but it would certainly have been easy enough to drive to the summer trailhead).  So, we needed to call it good at this point and turn around and find a place to park - which we did.  But all of this fooling around meant that we didn't get started until about 10:00 a.m. - even though we arrived closer to 9:00 a.m.  But the snowmobile folks were quite nice - this was some big event day for the Northwest Glacier Cruiser group - great, wouldn't you know that we would pick the same day to be in the same place!        Oh well, we were hopeful that they would be heading more toward Baker and the Railroad grade, rather than the lookout.  Off we headed toward the trailhead. 
The day was spectacular!  Even along the road walk we got some great views on this cloudless day! 
On the road we had to deal with the constant snowmobile traffic - something that was driving Gus and Izzy crazy!  We kept them on-leash until we reached the trees. 
As we walked along, we ran into a couple of guys who said they were going to summit Baker today!  We thought they had a bit of a late start - but lo' and behold, we would see them in a snow cat coming out as we returned to our cars.  Indeed, they had summited Baker - of course, getting a ride via snowmobile up to 9000' helps quite a bit!    Anyway, before long we were at the summer trailhead - and were amazed at the relatively low snow level. 
It was about 10:30 a.m. and already it was time to shed clothing.  In fact, some of us figured it was more like late spring - rather than late winter! 
Even the driver removed the legs of her pants - and had short sleeves!    Off we headed, on the summer trail that crosses a footbridge over the creek. 
We became a little route-challenged - Barb and Elle seemed pretty sure about where we needed to go and waited patiently. 
As we headed N/NW, we ran across the snowmobile meeting place - quite the event. 
We could see Baker ahead, but we knew we had to cross the creek and head through the trees where the summer trail switchbacks up to an upper meadow.  One thing we did notices was the incredible "scarring" on the south flank of Baker from all of the snowmobile tracks - quite the major highway running up and down the mountain.

We were still just "booting it" at this point, because the snow was relatively firm.  Once we got into the trees higher up, snowshoes seemed to help with traction and avoiding tree wells.  We would keep them on the rest of the way.
It appears that Jim K is relinquishing his pointing duties to protege Opus.
It was here that we got our first glimpse of the lookout ahead - not all that far as the crow flies, but it would be a steady 1000' up.  Elle and I took off for the direct route leading up to the ridge that goes to the lookout.  The others, opted for a more gentle route that would lead them past the tarns (that were totally snow covered). 
Meanwhile, Elle, Gus, Izzy and I were getting closer to the lookout - without a hint of a snowmobile. 
We arrived at the lookout in 3 hours from our start at the cars, and scouted around the inside while we waited for the others.  Before, too long, they joined us. 
Sadly, our little respite would be disrupted with the arrival of a whole gaggle of snowmobilers - yes, Tom, there were definitely more than 12 folks converging on this poor lookout - however, there were only 11 heartbeats in our group (counting the 4-legged friends).  The canine alpine protectors, Luis and Lupe, saved us with loud screeches to ward off the invaders with the noisy vehicles!  YEOW, it was loud!    In any case, our new-found friends were most accommodating and took our group pic and we took some pics of them. 
We enjoyed a few more moments at the lookout - with more snowshoers showing up (not sure if they were planning to stay overnight or not).  The views are absolutely stellar! 
We decided it was time to depart and made our way back down the ridge.
As we were leaving, a very, very low-flying helicopter zoomed by us at the lookout and headed up the slope of Baker - we lost sight of it and aren't quite sure where it was headed and why.  Someone also said that there was an Air Force jet buzzing the top of Baker as well.  Just a busy, busy day on the ol' mountain.

We got in a few glissades on the way down (thank you Jim for setting the path for me).  It's a bit brisk scooting down a slope when you're wearing shorts!  The snow had softened considerably - some of us decided to bag our snowshoes for booting it in the trees - but, before long, micro spikes were applied, helping us negotiate the steep slope back to the creek. 
The snowmobile party had been dismantled and they were on their way out.  We were still seeing folks heading in toward the lookout - so, likely someone would be staying overnight.  It would have been lovely.

We got back to the summer trailhead parking lot 
and made our way down the road and back to our cars.  There were hardly any trucks/trailers left.  Stats for the day:  2400' or so of gain; 8 - 9 miles roundtrip; 3 hours up; about 2 hours down.  An absolutely fabulous day in a gorgeous location!    Great way to spend 12 hours with some special friends! 

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Four-paw buddy lets me tag along!

[Hulksmash]

With all that snow machine traffic...postholeing should have been minimal.

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"Bears couldn't care less about us....we smell bad and don't taste too good. Bugs on the other hand see us as vending machines." - WetDog

"Just because it is the truth does not mean i am obligated to believe it" - Slugman

[TrailPair]

What a beautiful day to be at Mt. Baker!  We haven't sorted through Bob's photos yet, but here are a few of mine.  We will add more later.


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This thing called work is interfering with my play

[Jim Dockery]

Thanks for reminding me why I don't go there until the snow melts back so the snomos can't get going.

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jimdockery.com
Panoramio

[Trail Angel]

When I did the glacier monitoring trip this summer with Peltoms we found pieces of snow mobiles alll over the glacier.
I guess he does every year.
And lots of beer cans. lots.

[Hulksmash]

[TrailPair]

Here are Bob's pictures:


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This thing called work is interfering with my play

[BarbE]

Sharing a stunning winter wonderland with a "few" (possible 50-100) exuberant and rather noisy folks was a new wilderness experience for me.
Was it terrible? Nope, not at all!
Watching the snowmobilers do their stunts was pretty darn entertaining.
If only I could have hitched a ride to the top of Baker 
A few more pics.

[ragman and rodman]

[Sadie's Driver]

[aywolfpac]

[RokIzGud]

It looks like a club outing like the Mountaineers on Ingles
Nice work   

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No, I'm not going to climb that! All this rope and gear is to tie up your wife and daughter.

[Spotly]

[Highwalker's Daughter]

Timely report - hoping to get up there next Saturday.  Looks like the Rock Creek crossing won't be a big problem based on your pictures, but tons of snowmobilers isn't too appealing.  However, I've never been to the lookout in the winter and really want to see it that way so I guess I'll persevere.

[JimK]

Here is a short clip from our trip.



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Hiking Northwest