Hello Mr. Baker!

Last Saturday, Jared and I were handed a gem of a day: blue skies, sunshine, and a big old mountain range waiting to be explored. Since arriving in BC, the two of us have developed a bit of an infatuation with Mt. Baker. So we hopped in our car, grabbed our Best Wildflower Trails of Washington book, zipped over the border into Washington, and drove to the trailhead. It was a curvy twelve miles down gravel forestry roads to get there, but it was well worth it. The views on the way up were spectacular.

The trail basically started out with a two mile uphill climb through the woods. About a mile in, we met up with a man who gave us some bad news: the trail was still snowy, the flowers sparse. But the views at the top were still supposed to be spectacular. This year was especially snowy in the mountains, and mixed with the cold summer/spring we've had so far, the snow's been a bit reluctant to leave. But we decided to treck on anyway. And thank goodness we did. There was some snow.

 Well, quite a bit of snow.

But within no time, we hiked right out of the treeline and the snowfields and onto a sight straight from heaven itself. Or at least the Sound of Music. Just try to tell me these hills aren't alive :)

 

And there were flowers. They were a bit small and shy, maybe not as abundant as they should be in a couple weeks, maybe not the bright primary colors we were promised, but they were still there--just waiting to be appreciated .

 

 And some of those beautiful reds poked their heads out.

  

 

  

And these little yellow guys were just everywhere. (this photo isn't ours, by the way.)

But I've got to admit, the blue skies and Mr. Baker smiling at us right up over the horizon sort of outshone the flowers. It was hard to tear my eyes away.

 

The trail came out on an alpine meadow adorned mountain ridge. It was one of these sweet flexible hikes where you can hike along the ridge to your heart's delight. The only problem was the snow.

 It disappeared in spots, but grew a bit more abundant as we climbed higher. And the drop offs became a bit steeper as well.

 

 But we kept going. And with each slip and slide across the snow, we were one step closer to Mr. Baker. There he is,smiling  all proud on the horizon.

We spent an amazing morning exploring the area, enjoying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches perched on a little peak, and becoming more and more convinced that we should try backpacking together (me, at least. Jared was already convinced about 4 years ago).

And to be honest, we spent a bit of time plotting how to get to the top of Mr. Baker. From our perspective, we could just keep going and going and going on our ridge until we got right to the top. But the clouds started growing a bit heavier, and we had to admit that we weren't exactly prepared for the trip. Apparently it takes more than PB&J, a new pair of hiking pants, and half a pop-tart to complete the climb. Maybe another time.

The snow was firm enough that we could hike right on top without sinking down. But the downhill slopes were still a bit tricky. I ended up taking a little bit of a slide down one small patch, but fortunately a small tree caught me before I could go too far. This picture shows just how much snow is left to melt.

 

Our little Kia made us proud this trip. She may be small, but she handled the rocks and gravel like a pro. Sort of.

 Once we got off the mountain, we pulled off for a nap next to the river.

All and all, it was a pretty spectacular day. I'll admit, our infatuation with Mt. Baker grew into a full on love this weekend. We both can't wait to get into those mountains again, and have already picked out a bunch more trails to try.

And yes, Jared finally convinced me that backpacking and primitive national forest camping would be a fun time. But that'll be an adventure for another day. :)