Mt. Baker ride 11/02/2007

[Bill_Anderson]

Yesterday I rode along salt water, today I rode along snow.

There was frost on the roofs this morning, so I took I-5 north to Hwy. 20 to let the back roads get a little sunshine on them. From Hwy. 20 I took Hwy. 9 north to Mosquito Lake Rd. just outside of Acme. I made one stop outside of Wickersham to take some photos of the Twin Sisters with Mt. Baker peeking up over the ridge. This is the same spot where Mike has taken some good photos. It is hard to get a good shot here without including the power lines in the photo.

I stopped for lunch at the Frosty Inn in Maple Falls on the Mt Baker Hwy. It is under new management and not the place to eat if you are in a hurry. Hopefully the staff will be fully trained by spring.

The road up to Mt. Baker is fine until you get to the 35 mph zone, which is the start of the switchbacks. It already snowed once, so there was road sand in the 15-20 mph switchbacks. The sand, wet road, and some gasoline "blooms" on the road caused me to ride very slowly through the switchbacks and hairpin curves.

The road to Artist's Point is closed. The sky was overcast, so I stayed long enough to take some photos of Mt. Shuskan and left.

[Bill_Anderson]

On my return route I took Silver Lake Road north from Maple Falls to where it veers west to become South Pass Road. At this point you are literally yards from the Canadian border. My GPS actually had me briefly in Canada. I have ridden this road several times, but this is the first time I stopped to take some photos and try to figure out exactly where the border is. I advise against riding this remote area at night, for it is reportedly an entry point into the US for British Columbia's largest cash crop.

I took South Pass Road all the way west where it passes between Vedder Mtn and Sumas Mt. and winds down to Hwy. 9 at Noosack. The tall trees along the Noosack River between there and Deming are in beautiful autumn colors.

I continued on Hwy. 9 all the way south to Bryant, where I cut west to I-5 and headed directly home. It was a very good ride and I only got behind some slow traffic twice. I wish the weather had been sunshine as predicted, but I am thankful it did not rain. I will have to make this ride about two weeks earlier next year in the hope of catching the autumn colors at their fullest.

I have now logged 12,000 miles on the DUC this year with two months left to go.

[John]

I noticed the mountain in the background had a pretty sizable glacier on it. Is it stable or is it melting like most of them are.

Very nice pictures, awesome views. Makes the day even better seeing stuff like that.

[Bill_Anderson]

Originally Posted by John

I noticed the mountain in the background had a pretty sizable glacier on it. Is it stable or is it melting like most of them are.

I really can't say. It looks the same to me as when I saw it for the first time in August, 2003 (see atached photo).

[RobertVP]

Nice pics Bill.

From your description of the road condition it looks like we need to put that ride (up Baker) to bed for the year.

Glad you had a good ride. It looks like the roads were for the most part dry.

[Bill_Anderson]

Originally Posted by RobertVP

From your description of the road condition it looks like we need to put that ride (up Baker) to bed for the year.

I think that is a fair assessment. I don't think it is worth the ride up unless you can go all the way to Artists' Point, which probably won't open until July or August.

The Silver Lake-South Pass Road section is still fun. You could probably make a nice loop from Vancouver by crossing at Lynden and finishing at Sumas with lunch or dinner at Bob's, the log cabin looking restaurant on the south end of Sumas on the west side of Hwy. 9.