If there’s a more picturesque ski hill than Mt. Baker Ski Area on a clear day, please enlighten me because the views from the top here certainly seem unbeatable. I had previously snow camped twice near Artist Point during college, so this was my third time making the trek up the snowy slopes outside of Mt. Baker Ski Area. For Anna, it was her first.
Mt. Baker Ski Area is about 2.5 hours from Seattle, so we got an early start in the hopes of beating the crowds to the top.
Once we started to rise further into the mountains, Anna’s love for the snow became incontrollable as she practically hung out the window of the car to get a view of the frosty ridgelines. By the time we reached the ski area, she was basically trembling with excitement, but I assured her that the views on the drive up were nothing compared to those at the top.
Once we were all suited up, we walked to the edge of the Heather Meadows parking lot and set out on the trail at approximately 8:30 am. The trail was nice and packed already, so it made for easy going. There were a few other hikers getting an early start with us, but not enough to cause any sort of congestion on the trail. We noticed a lot of dogs making the trip up with their owners as well (a huge bonus for us).
About halfway to Artist Point, you catch up to the final stretch of Mount Baker Highway, which is obviously covered in snow and closed for winter. The road is easily recognizable as a single switchback cutting into the ridge below Artist Point. In the past, I had done this trip later in the winter, so there was more snow and we were forced to stick to the road for the final stretch. However, this time there was a clear trail, shortcutting the road up the steeper part of the mountain.
About 10-15 minutes after taking the shortcut, we arrived at Artist Point. With views of Mt. Baker on one side and Mt. Shuksan on the other, Artist point could easily be the endpoint for some hikers. Snowshoeing just to Artist Point is easily one of the most high-reward views for minimal exertion I have ever done. With that being said, Artist Point doesn’t have to be the end of your hike. Most hikers we saw continued further along the ridge to the right, but we elected to go left towards Huntoon Point, since that’s where I had camped the previous two times and I was eager to show Anna the view from further up the ridgeline.
The going got a lot more difficult as we set out for Huntoon Point, since we were leaving behind the packed snow of the main trail. Only one other snowshoer had blazed the trail ahead of us towards Huntoon Point, so we had to do a lot more sifting through the deep snow. While difficult, walking the ridge was incredibly rewarding as we had a clear view of Mt. Baker to our right and the vast expanse of the ski area to our left. Finally, we reached the top, where we sat down for a well deserved lunch and hot coco break.
After lunch, we explored the area around Huntoon point, taking in the views of Mt. Shuksan and Mt. Baker simultaneously. The weather seemed to improve consistently as we hung out, until there was hardly a cloud in the sky when we decided to head back down around 2:30 pm. On the way down, we found ourselves full of energy from our lunch break and time spent lounging around at Huntoon point, so we traipsed around in the untouched snow, exploring different parts of the mountain. If it wasn’t for all the goofing around, the descent would probably have taken us about half the time it took to go up, but we were still surprised to pass hikers heading up as we worked our way down. We even ran into a group of snowboarders who had built a kicker off the snow covered highway about halfway down. I wish Anna had had her skis so she could have shown them how it’s done. For anyone who doesn’t know, Anna is hands down the best skier I have ever seen. Maybe one of these day’s I’ll convince her to write a blog about it.
As we neared the bottom of the hill, we saw lots of families using the lower parts of the slope as a sled run with their kids…note to self: Bring sled next time for improved descent experience.
Finally, we arrived at the car, packed up and made the drive back to Seattle, with Anna already planning our next trip to Artist Point in the passenger seat.
