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Brushbuffalo
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PostThu Sep 15, 2016 5:14 pm 
My friend and colleague Dave Tucker is writing a book (his second on Washington geology, the first being this) on the geology of the Mount Baker area. He has several chapters in draft form and asked for field checks. I volunteered to do Rainbow Ridge. About twenty years ago I hiked the little-known not officially built and unmaintained (by the Forest Service) trail to the ridge and was awe struck with the up-close views of Baker and Shuksan. About then in a community education class I held through my college on Hiking in the North Cascades I listed it as the Best-Unknown-But-Soon-To-Be-Famous trail in the area. When I returned on September 14, 2016 I found that the trail, while even more rooty , had seen much more use by two legged critters compared to the" deer trail" I recalled. However, I'm convinced it is steeper now! eek.gif Drive the good gravel access road , FS 1130, almost to the Baker Hot Spring, then turn uphill (left) and continue to road's end to the trailhead. The trail first climbs through magnificent old growth until at 0.7 mile you get your first view of Baker. Another tenth finds you on the ridge with nearly unobstructed views all around. edit: map in post below. Thanks, Schroder! I walked about 3.4 miles from the trailhead to a prominent knob (5633') just short of the gnarly crumbly piles of volcanic rubble from the 300,000 year old Lava Divide andesite. The final bit was a scramble up steep dirt and grass to get around a resistant ridge of andesite. Rainbow Ridge is the only easily accessible place to see that rock, which is much older than Mount Baker itself and a remnant of one of about a half dozen volcanoes in this area that preceded Mt. Baker, the Black Buttes being the largest, most obvious, and best known of those. With all of the ripe huckleberries I thought I would be fighting off the bears, but didn't see one! Seems the numerous robins and grouse were taking more than their share. I did encounter one other solo hiker on this day.
old growth
old growth
thanks, unknown sawyer!
thanks, unknown sawyer!
steps in the steep dirt
steps in the steep dirt
steep rooty trail
steep rooty trail
beats a brush bash any day
beats a brush bash any day
big mountain
big mountain
BIGGER mountain
BIGGER mountain
how long will this campfire scar persist?
how long will this campfire scar persist?
at least this one is on gravel rather than fragile vegetation
at least this one is on gravel rather than fragile vegetation
could gaze here all day
could gaze here all day
Rainbow Valley
Rainbow Valley
Rainbow Glacier and The Portals
Rainbow Glacier and The Portals
tension cracks parallel ridge axis due to deglaciation of Rainbow Valley
tension cracks parallel ridge axis due to deglaciation of Rainbow Valley
Baker andesitic ash from 6500 years ago ( black stuff)
Baker andesitic ash from 6500 years ago ( black stuff)
Baker ash
Baker ash
interesting recumbent isoclinal flow structure :confused:  :dizzy: ..(horizontal hairpin fold... :agree: )
interesting recumbent isoclinal flow structure confused.gif dizzy.gif ..(horizontal hairpin fold... agree.gif )
Rainbow Lake, result of the huge 1890 rock avalanche from north side of ridge blocking part of the valley
Rainbow Lake, result of the huge 1890 rock avalanche from north side of ridge blocking part of the valley
colors starting to show
colors starting to show
Mt. Blum
Mt. Blum
huckleberry bushlet growing in a crevice..... "soil is over rated"
huckleberry bushlet growing in a crevice..... "soil is over rated"
Marten Lake with Baker Lake in distance....refreshing!
Marten Lake with Baker Lake in distance....refreshing!
going farther along the ridge
going farther along the ridge
right side (north)  is easiest, unless you go several hundred yards to the left (south...untested by me but looks good if a bit brushy)
right side (north) is easiest, unless you go several hundred yards to the left (south...untested by me but looks good if a bit brushy)
steeper than it looks but only Cl.2 dirt, heather, and grass. Go up center then right to behind trees for easy exit. Big cliffs drop away to far right ( out of view).
steeper than it looks but only Cl.2 dirt, heather, and grass. Go up center then right to behind trees for easy exit. Big cliffs drop away to far right ( out of view).
east of the cliff in the previous image, there was a small clean pond in Sept. 2016 (at my fingertip...beyond are Marten Lake and Baker Lake)
east of the cliff in the previous image, there was a small clean pond in Sept. 2016 (at my fingertip...beyond are Marten Lake and Baker Lake)
my second-most favorite mountain
my second-most favorite mountain
#1 to me!
#1 to me!
hot out in mid-Sept!
hot out in mid-Sept!
view east along broad part of Rainbow Ridge
view east along broad part of Rainbow Ridge
I wonder a) how old that giant mountain hemlock was and b) how long ago the top blew off
I wonder a) how old that giant mountain hemlock was and b) how long ago the top blew off
tree points to debris from a debris avalanche from Sherman Peak on May 25, 2016.
tree points to debris from a debris avalanche from Sherman Peak on May 25, 2016.
twin peaks of Goat Mt. in distance; Slesse at far left
twin peaks of Goat Mt. in distance; Slesse at far left
Ptarmigan Ridge and Coleman Pinnacle
Ptarmigan Ridge and Coleman Pinnacle
the Portals
the Portals
looks like a slab of concrete....but it's not!
looks like a slab of concrete....but it's not!
byebye Baker
byebye Baker
Here is an excerpt from Dave Tucker's Rainbow Ridge chapter of his forthcoming book: Geological highlights: Only trail to reach 300,000-year-old lava flows erupted from the Lava Divide volcano and their contact with the Chilliwack Group bedrock; unusually coarse-grained BA tephra; best views of Rainbow Glacier terminus, Park Glacier’s stupendous cliffs, and Mount Baker’s northeastern flank. This is an unofficial trail, and is not maintained by the US Forest Service. Walk up a short rough logging spur that leaves the road on the left just as you reach the parking area. The trail dives into the brush at the end of the spur and reaches the crest of Rainbow Ridge, which is the northern leg of the ‘wishbone’ at the east end of Lava Divide, enclosing Marten Lake. West of the junction of these two gentle ridges, Lava Divide is the extremely rugged remnant of a thick stack of 300,000-year-old lava flows that erupted from a mostly obliterated volcano at the far end of the ridge. The 7136’ vent is 1.7 miles northeast of the summit of Mount Baker. These Lava Divide andesite flows were unmapped, undescribed and undated until 2003 (Hildreth and others, 2003).

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostThu Sep 15, 2016 9:05 pm 
Is Rainbow the next ridge to the northeastish from Crag View area? I was eyeballing that ridge a month ago or so thinking it looked pretty cool.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostThu Sep 15, 2016 9:15 pm 
Thanks, I'll have to look at a map. I've seen Rainbow Ridge in the Spring/Manning book and it sounds intriguing, but I haven't tried it yet.

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camut
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PostThu Sep 15, 2016 10:22 pm 
If you want to visit Rainbow Ridge I'd advise you not to wait too long. There is a large wash out in the road just after the junction with the road to Baker Hot Springs. Once the road goes, I'm told FS has no plans to repair it once it is gone. Another good winter rain storm could easily wipe it out. This is one of my favorite hikes; I'd sure be sad to lose it. The FS does not recognize it as an "official" trail, and has no interest in preserving access to it. I was there just last week, and am enormously grateful to whomever recently cut out most of the blow downs. Some of them had been down for several years. There was a large one near the beginning of the trail that was a challenge to get over. I am recovering from a recent knee injury, so really appreciated having that one gone. The only other people we saw all day when we were there last week were some climbers over on Shuksan.

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camut
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PostFri Sep 16, 2016 6:13 am 
Lava Divide is not Rainbow Ridge. From Rainbow Ridge looking SW is Lava Divide, Boulder Ridge, then Forest Divide. OlderthanIused to be, you were probably looking at Boulder Ridge from Crag View. It does look inviting, but trust me, it's miserable to get to! Much better to go to Rainbow Ridge IMO, but I'm getting old and wimpy.

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Brushbuffalo
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Brushbuffalo
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PostFri Sep 16, 2016 6:59 am 
camut wrote:
If you want to visit Rainbow Ridge I'd advise you not to wait too long. There is a large wash out in the road just after the junction with the road to Baker Hot Springs.
The place caput speaks of is passable now with ease, but since the problem is not due to water passing over the road but instead due to the hillside below slipping down to FS 1130 about 50' directly below, it would be difficult and probably expensive to repair even if there was money and inclination to do it. When it fails sufficiently to make the road truly impassable, there will be about a 4 mile road walk ( or bike) each way to the trailhead. Go now. tongue.gif Regarding names, Rainbow Ridge is not identified by name on the GT map #14 ( Mt. Shuksan). It is the northern part of a "wishbone" with Marten Lake in the middle and Lava Divide forming the southern part. After Rainbow Ridge merges with Lava Divide, the western continuation remains Lava Divide, eventually culminating in a rocky point informally known as Tiara Tower, where the Park and Rainbow Glaciers diverge on opposite sides of the divide at about 6950'. This farthest-west part of Lava Divide is very rugged and probably only visited by goats and rarely by a geologist or two.

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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n16ht5
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PostMon Sep 19, 2016 7:45 am 
photos or it didnt happen

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camut
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PostMon Sep 19, 2016 9:40 am 
n16ht5: I don't take photos and I don't write TR's. Sorry.

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cartman
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PostMon Sep 19, 2016 11:56 am 
Doug, if you can get the photo thing fixed (I think Google is no longer supporting Picasa and it is being phased out), I'd love to see the pics. Matt and I were looking at where you were when we did the Portals last year in winter. Would be cool to see the opposite perspective in the opposite season. I use Flickr, it's very easy. You'll need to open a Yahoo account to open a free Flickr account, then: 1. Use the Upload function (upward pointing arrow in cloud upper right) to choose the photos you want to load from your desktop; 2. Click the Upload # Photos upper right (the photos will now be uploaded to your Flickr account and the pics are ready to be uploaded to nwhikers); 3. If you want to organize them into an album, click Albums then click Create New Album; 4. Drag the desired photos to the Drag Stuff area--you can drag an entire block of photos at one time by clicking and holding the Shift key then clicking on the first pic and clicking on the last pic to be dragged (if you do this, Flickr will have them ordered in reverse order, this can be immediately fixed by going to Arrange > Reverse Current Order); 5. You can change photo captions etc by going to Batch edit; 6. Give the Album a title, and change the pic above the title by dragging any pic you want to that spot; 7. Click Save. All done!

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Abert
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PostMon Sep 19, 2016 12:19 pm 
I'm still uploading photos using Picasa (on the public setting when I upload them). They go to Google Photos but the nwhiker Pics function still shows the new albums and works (for me) for posting them here. Also the album view page on Google Photos allows you to create a link to the album to share it with others. For me, at least, the major difference so far is that there isn't a public page with all my photos, just the option for linking to individual albums. I do still pay $5 a year for additional storage. I'm not sure if that might somehow make me more special when it comes to retaining some of Picasa's exterminated functionality. I remember two things about that trail from years ago: not getting very far and how good the huckleberries were.

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Brushbuffalo
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PostMon Sep 19, 2016 12:38 pm 
Thanks for the tips, Eric. I'll try Flickr this afternoon. Although my photography isn't at par with most of you who publish on this forum, outstanding scenery compensates for mediocre skill and modest equipment. I remember your TR from that low snow year out Ptarmigan Ridge. I'm heading there on my next free sunny day to field check another draft chapter in Dave Tucker's forthcoming book on geology of the Mt. Baker region. Hopefully by then I will again be able to use images to show what a wonderful area that whole side of Baker is.

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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Brushbuffalo
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PostMon Sep 19, 2016 12:41 pm 
Abert wrote:
I'm still uploading photos using Picasa (on the public setting when I upload them). They go to Google Photos but the nwhiker Pics function still shows the new albums and works (for me) for posting them here. Also the album view page on Google Photos allows you to create a link to the album to share it with others. For me, at least, the major difference so far is that there isn't a public page with all my photos, just the option for linking to individual albums. I do still pay $5 a year for additional storage. I'm not sure if that might somehow make me more special when it comes to retaining some of Picasa's exterminated functionality. I remember two things about that trail from years ago: not getting very far and how good the huckleberries were.
Thanks for the info, Abert. I suspect you are "more special" by paying $5. smile.gif I have had success with Picasa in my few past TRs but I am going to take Cartman's suggestion and try Flickr.

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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Schroder
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PostMon Sep 19, 2016 12:52 pm 
Rainbow Ridge

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Brushbuffalo
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Brushbuffalo
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PostMon Sep 19, 2016 12:57 pm 
Schroder wrote:
Rainbow Ridge
Beautiful, and thanks, Schroder! That's exactly the route I took to the prominent high point before the ridge crest gets pretty scary. The middle part ( sections 13 and 14), where the ridge broadens, gives one lots of excuses for meadow wandering. For those wishing to camp, the ridge is quite dry this time of year ( no surprise, it's a ridge! lol.gif) but the snow patches just east of Point 5633 are permanent (as of 2016 anyway) and easily accessible. I also found a small pond of relatively clean water 100 yards east of the cliff shown in images on OP)

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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raising3hikers
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PostTue Sep 20, 2016 5:21 pm 
nice pics! that's such a great area

Eric Eames
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