Mount Baker Escapades...

Keith and I spent the weekend of our first (1st!) anniversary in a cozy condo near Mt. Baker in a glorious, woody, mountainy area of the Cascades up by the Canadian border. It was only for a couple days, and we both felt we could have stayed longer, but did enjoy the spectacular scenery and a few of the condo's 800(!) laser disc movies. Saturday, our only full day there we went for a drive up into the mountains in search of Mt. Baker herself...

But first we had to stop and see these incredible Nooksak falls.

I told Keith to look amazed. He's such a good actor.







But... it was cold here because the water is all snow run-off (of course) and there was still PLENTY of snow on the mountain adding to it. Plus it was really shady and wet. Pretty, but time to move on...

Could that be Mt. Baker? No no, far too small and not nearly enough snow on top. We heard it was snow-capped. Hmmm...

After that we drove and drove and always the mountain eluded us. We knew we were headed in the right direction but... Wait! Could that be it?





We weren't sure. Finally, after straining around every windy bend of mountain road, we found ourselves looking over the tops of trees to see this beautiful mountain! We found her! Didn't we?

We consulted the map yet again and found that we were actually looking at Mt. Shuksan.

Mt. Baker is supposed to be HUGE and yet we couldn't see her. If that isn't some kind of major contradiction... Finally, the road we were on dead-ended at this wall of snow that was blocking us from our ultimate destination. Sigh.

We weren't to be daunted. We traveled another road that would take us to a open and perfect view of several mountains.

We drove past (and through) streams and mondo pot holes...

We even caught glimpses of the shy Lady far off.

But, alas, that road ended in a dead-end of snow as well. And we weren't wearing the proper shoes for a snow-hike, you know. No, only the next morning, several miles away, as we were leaving could we see her shrouded in morning mist. Our quest was ended only half-fulfilled. But golly it was fun trying!