Fire and Ice

After getting back from my honeymoon, my plan for beating jet lag was to stay active and adjust to the time zone. So the very next day, Logan and I headed up to the North Cascades for a chill day in the mountains. The smoke forecast was iffy, so we chose to head out to Ptarmigan Ridge near Mt. Baker, focusing on close up views, rather than hazy distant views. Although I’ve skied in the area many times in the winter, neither of us had been to Artist Point without skis!

Since it was September 1st, many others had skis in the parking lot. The “Bagely Lakes patch” wasn’t much, but it was enough for Turns-All-Year folk to get their September “turns”.

We hiked over the Iceberg Saddle down to Iceberg Lake. The air was still, and it felt hot and hazy.

In the winter, we would always skin across Iceberg Lake. Instead, we took the trail around the lake towards Ptarmigan Ridge. The trail got busier as we joined up with the route from Artist Point.

Although our plan was mostly to run on trails, we were both feeling a bit tired – me from travel, and Logan from Covid a few weeks earlier. So instead, we made an audible and decided to do a mini high route around the NW side of Ptarmigan Ridge. However, it might be more accurately described as a “low route” because we dropped in elevation from the trail.

While this area is renowned for gentle north facing powder skiing in the winter, I doubt many tread here in the summer. I expected it to be rather mundane, but the geology is actually super fascinating. The whole area from Artist Point to Baker is volcanic. There are interesting volcanic features like weird ash-rock, basalt columns, and deep ash layers cut by water. It reminded us of exploring the post glacial side of the Goat Rocks.

We had to cross a small remnant glacier patch to reach the ridge. We managed to sneak by on the side of the ice in running shoes with no traction.

On the other side of the ridge, we quickly joined the standard trail, meeting dozens of other hikers. This was some of the easier and more accessible off trail travel we have done, but we reckon it is quite rare because a trail can take you to the same place much quicker.

We continued on to the Portals. From the high spot on the trail, the view of the north side of Baker is impressive! We were actually surprised that most of the glaciers still had seasonal snow coverage, despite the bad winter and dry spring. Interestingly, Logan was the only non Asian on the summit.

On our way back, we took a detour to what I call the “Insta-lake”. This lake has formed with the death of a super flat south facing glacier. It made for a lovely swim on a hot afternoon.

From there, we just took the trail back to Artist Point and finally down to our car at Heather Meadows. For such a flat looking trail on the map, it is surprisingly rocky and slow. But the views are stunning, so it is popular for good reason.

With hazy skies and both of us feeling fatigued, this was a great choice for a chill day in the mountains. Sometimes, we avoid crowded places, but this was a reminder that most popular places are popular for good reason! There is a lot of beautiful terrain to roam along Ptarmigan Ridge, during any season.