It was a gorgeous sunny day - ended up being the hottest of the year - and Justus had the day off. This hike has been on my list for years, but I had never made it up north to hike it. Today was the day! Bringing the adventure dogs meant getting an early start and planning on some slower hiking with breaks to avoid the heat and accommodate Cedar being older now.
We got to the trailhead about 9am and the parking lot was full, but there were not too many cars along the road yet. The road was supposed to be pretty bad, but after the ones on the Mountain Loop Hwy, it was a piece of cake. It was a pretty drive too, with some river views and lovely bridges.
A great thing about this hike, especially on such a warm day, is that there are quite a few water crossings. This is also a detriment in some seasons, because at times they can be dangerous. Even with the water level being pretty low and manageable, there were a couple I carried Cedar and Luna across.
Wildflowers were abundant - I didn't see a huge variety, but what was blooming there was a lot of - lupine, red willow-herb, yellow daisy type flowers and a variety of others.
The first part of the hike winds up through the trees, and as we gained elevation we noticed more alpine varieties and less of the large firs and spruces.
The first glimpse of some of the cracked towers of ice that make up the edge of the Coleman Glacier, gleaming glacier-blue against the cap of Mt Baker was stunning! And it just got prettier from there on. Once we rounded a large glacially-carved rock and got to the Ridge that runs along the glacier, the view was just spectacular. The glacier itself was mesmerizing - pits, valleys, arches, chasms, and water-carved channels intricately woven across the expanse of living ice.
We ate our lunch, got some nice video of Justus spinning his Devil sticks (we agreed to stay way from the cliff edge), and then reluctantly left our gorgeous vantage point.
Apple Watch stats: 6.59 mi RT, 1774 ft of elevation gain.
This is definitely a hike I'll want to come back to. I don't know if it is even possible to spend 'enough' time up on the ridge looking over that great glacier.
Happy (and safe) hiking!
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