Railroad Grade

We drove out to the Park Butte Trailhead south of Mount Baker to hike up the Railroad Grade Trail towards Sandy Camp. This was about 8 miles round trip with 2,400 ft of gain. The first 2.4 miles are along the Park Butte Trail in the forest.

We found lots of ripe huckleberries along the trail, yum!

As we crossed the wooden bridge over Sulphur Creek, we noticed this section was along the Pacific Northwest Trail.

view of Sulphur Creek from the bridge with my and the bridge's shadow

small pond near the trail in the meadow

sneak peak of Mt Baker along the trail through the meadow

We had to do some rock hopping in a couple of places before we could reach the bridge over Rocky Creek.

view of Rocky Creek from the ladder bridge

View of Mt Baker after we left the Park Butte Trail for Railroad Grade Trail

Steps up through the meadow

Looking across the meadow to Park Butte with the lookout on top

The Railroad Grade Trail goes up on the edge of a large Lorraine, view to the south

zoom of Glacier Peak in the distance

We had great views of Mt Baker as we headed up along the Lorraine.

zoom of Mt Baker

zoom of a waterfall on the creek in the Lorraine

It was beautiful hiking up with Mt Baker and the Easton Glacier in front of us.

Throughout the day we met both parties that had successfully climbed Mt Baker and those heading up to climb Mt Baker.

view of the Twin Sisters Range to the west

Getting closer to Sandy Camp

We didn't see many wildflowers today, but here was a nice patch of fireweed in bloom.

We found a nice dirt spot along the side of the trail overlooking Sandy Camp and Easton Glacier, a great place for a lunch break.

Pano of Mt Baker and the Easton Glacier

As we headed back down the trail, I kept turning around to enjoy the views of Mt Baker.

We decided to take a short detour through the camp sites at a lower camp before going back up on Railroad Grade, there was some nice heather in bloom here.

We also had a great view of a large section of the Railroad Grade Trail to the south of us.

Another look back after we rejoin the Railroad Grade Trail

south of the Railroad Grade Trail

Back in the meadow, we had a nice view of Mt Baker and the raised Railroad Grade Trail.

Rocky Creek seemed a little fuller on our way back down the trail.

some of the wildflowers and fungi we saw along the trail today:

  

 

  

  

 

Railroad Grade

We drove up to Mt Baker National Recreation Area to hike the Railroad Grade Trail, 7 miles round trip with 2,000 ft of elevation gain. A bit over half way up we put on our microspikes as the trail was quite slippery.

 The trailhead is the start of 3 trails. There was good signage along the trail, making it very clear which way to go.

 Fun to see part of this trail is along the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail.
This bridge is near the beginning of the trail.

 view from the bridge













We had a brief glimpse of Mt Baker as we hiked through a meadow.

 Survey Point rises up from the meadow along the trail.
In the morning the trail was a mixture of frost and ice, in the afternoon it was muddy.

The suspension bridge is removed every fall, but we were able to cross Rocky Creek on this tipsy board.

 some icicles along the trailside

 About 2 miles up the trail we began to reach the open meadows and view of the peaks to the west of Mt Baker

 Up to the split in the trail, the snow was well packed down, as we continued along the Railroad Grade Trail, there were fewer and fewer boot prints.

 In the morning the snow was very firm and we did not post hole.

 Looking across the meadow to Park Butte and the lookout on top

 zoom of the lookout on Park Butte













The top of that ridge below Mt Baker is the trail

 I found the snow covering most of this narrow trail a bit intimidating, this was a slow portion for me.

 We only saw one set of footprints before us on this ridge, and later met this hiker on her way back. She was the only other person we saw on the Railroad Grade part of this trail today.










So happy we choose this hike today, gorgeous views! And so quite and serene. We were blessed that the winds did not start until we were almost back to the car.









Pano from Park Butte to Mt Baker:

Pano view to the south, Glacier Peak in the far distance:

 zoom of the Easton Glacier on Mt Baker

 I was even slower hiking down this ridge.











near the end of the ridge, looking back up towards Mt Baker and the gathering of clouds.

 Frozen pond below Mt Baker