Baker Lake

Lunar Light

Last week, forecast sites on the internet were projecting some active auroras, even for northern Washington State. A promising forecast and clear skies only convinced me more to head out so I went to someplace REALLY good. I’ve known about this area up the Baker Lake drainage for over a year and I’ve been waiting for conditions and opportunity to come together. The night before my visit, I discovered another spot to set up using Google Earth which was not far away from my original ID’d location. As it turned out, the location turned out to be a great spot. All I needed to do was wait for darkness and for the auroras to show up.

The sun set but a transitioning 3/4 moon kept the landscape somewhat illuminated. This was great for my general night landscape photos since I do like to have some amount of detail in my foregrounds at night. I kept watch in my folding chair, swatting away mosquitoes (which were a bit aggressive while it was still light) throughout the night. The moon stayed up until 1:30am. Again, this was great for my general shots of Mount Baker or Mount Shuksan but for the auroras I was hoping to see. After the moon had set, the Milky Way and even more stars came out- but not the auroras. It was now about 2am and if the auroras were to appear, it would have happened by this point. I rattled a couple more frames off before I decided to call it a night and head home. I was pretty crushed that they did not appear but, on the other hand, I found an even better location to photograph them. I guess next time I’ll be REALLY ready!..
Mount Shuksan and the Sulphide Glacier as night falls. North Cascades National Park
Mount Baker and Ursa Major
Mount Baker and Ursa Major
Mount Shuksan and the Sulphide Glacier under stars. North Cascades National Park
Mount Baker and Ursa Major
Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan night sky panorama

Waiting for Auroras

Late afternoon high above the Baker Lake valleyAuroras are trademarks of the high latitudes such as Alaska, Norway, and Canada. It is much rarer to see them at the lower latitudes of places like Seattle. After a tremendous solar burst last week, that’s exactly what was forecasted for the weekend. Sometime in the early 2000s, I saw some aurora activity from the front yard of my house in Everett and it was mesmerizing. I desperately wanted to capture the auroras above some of our fine northwest scenery.

There have been some near misses in terms of seeing auroras over the last couple years and that gave me some time to figure out where to go. Over time, I finally found my “spot” in the Baker Lake vicinity of Mount Baker. My location looked to have a great view of both Mount Shuksan and Mount Baker and was fairly accessible. Predictably, the weather slowly degraded as Saturday arrived. Clouds would be bad enough but persistent afternoon thunderstorms in the mountains really threatened to ruin any chance we had.

Clouds and the Twin Sisters range in late afternoon light
Partial view of Mount Shuksan in late afternoon lightAs the afternoon went on, the storm activity seemed to tail off and so we gave it a go. Surprisingly, the Forest Service roads were bone dry; the thunderstorms never dropped their payload in this area. Despite some concerns about having to hike on snow to our destination, everything ended up being snow free. Even better, the site I had researched turned out to be great. Mount Baker remained cloaked behind thick clouds but Mount Shuksan had a horizontal slit across its mid flanks. I think the struggling optimists inside of us hoped that the pockets of blue sky were the beginnings of a clear night sky.

Below us, the Baker Lake valley was filling with clouds and gradually creeping up the valley sides. Sunset drew closer and closer bringing color to the various clouds across the sky. As daylight continued to fade, so did our hopes for clear skies in this area. After sunset, the clouds finally swallowed us whole. It was still early enough to come up with a Plan B. It was tough but some reports of clear skies back down in Snohomish County lured us back closer to home. The Mount Pilchuck trail head was our Plan B and two hours of driving later, we were there.

View across the Baker Lake valley in late afternoon
Twin Sisters range and clouds as sunset approaches
Twin Sisters range and clouds as sunset approachesClear skies were directly overhead but clouds filled the northern skies. no auroras were visible to the naked eye. Or were they?…..While taking some night shots, my peripheral vision seemed to catch a shimmer in the sky. Clouds were still thick so I wasn’t sure what I saw. On one of my shots, there was a small green orb. The auroras! Sadly, that would be all that we would see. It was now pushing 2am; we now accepted the bitterness of defeat and drove home. Hopefully soon, the skies will cooperate and we will capture the auroras. One of these days…

Mount Baker's east slopes and a cloud filled Baker Lake valley
Mount Baker fades from view
Mount Shuksan at sunset
The summit pyramid of Mount Shuksan pokes above the clouds at sunset
Aurora borealis peeking through cloudy skies at Mount Pilchuck

Sunset from Anderson Butte

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This past weekend brought one last “summer”-esque pattern of weather so I decided to find someplace to go for sunset. After researching some options, I decided to head out for Anderson Butte, which is located just along the perimeter of the Noisy-Diobsud Wilderness in the vicinity of Baker Lake. The site of a former fire lookout, it’s accessed via a spur trail off of the main trail that travels to Watson and Anderson Lakes. The trailhead is located above 4,000 feet so you’re already treated to great views of the Baker Lake valley and Mount Baker.

The trailhead is located high on a ridge along the east bank of Baker Lake. It’s accessed by crossing the Baker Lake Dam and heading up the Forest Service road 12 miles. From the trailhead, it’s a short mile through the forest brings you to a small meadow within a ravine and the junction for the Anderson Butte Trail. Although the wildflower season was long over, the huckleberries were in absolutely prime conditions and located everywhere. I had arrived early to the area so that I could make some quick sidetrips to check out the lakes in the area.

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Click for a larger view
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The Anderson Lakes were by far the more picture-esque lakes:

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Another brief sidetrip to the Watson Lakes didn’t reveal too much so I turned around to make it up to Anderson Butte. The trail to the Butte starts out gently but has a short, steep stretch before joining the ridgeline below the lookout. The payoff is immediate and fantastic but just gets better when you finally reach the site of the former lookout. From this vantage point, the Cascades drop off all around you. Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan dominate the view but American Border Peak, Mount Rainier, the Olympics and Mount Redoubt are all visible as well.

On this day, patchy clouds drifted throughout the area which added interest during sunset. Unfortunately, Mount Baker remained mostly cloudy but it was still a fantastic sunset. This spot is truly a gem and I’ll be adding this into my annual rotation of destinations (if not more than once a year!).

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Click for a larger view
Click for a larger view
Click for a larger view
Click for a larger view
Click for a larger view
Click for a larger view
Click for a larger view
Click for a larger view

Swift Creek

This past weekend brought more exploration but closer to home. No doubt photographers in the Pacific Northwest are familiar with the Waterfalls of the Northwest website. While looking through the database of waterfalls, I was drawn into a listing for Rainbow Falls in the vicinity of Mount Baker. It’s described as having a 150 foot drop but also very hard to see due to the deeply incised canyon it empties into. I’ve looked over the topo maps and decided to try and access the falls via the canyon floor by following Rainbow Creek upstream.

The area is accessed by a little used trail- the Swift Creek trail. Long ago, this was the route used to reach Heather Meadows (now the site of the Mount Baker Ski Area) from the Baker Lake region. These days the trail is slowly returning to nature- only the first 2 miles or so receive any maintenance (and its been a few years since the last trail work). It’s a short hike down to Rainbow Creek from the trailhead. The Swift Creek Trail crosses the creek over a very primative log bridge that’s probably not for the faint of heart:

Log Bridge over Rainbow Creek - Swift Creek Trail
From this point, Rainbow Falls is a half mile upstream to the left. In theory. Last fall, I attempted to follow the creek upstream but chose to cross the creek and then follow the far bank. I made it slightly less than halfway before getting cliffed out. This time, I chose to follow the near bank but this also led to the same conclusion- cliffed out. I can say definitively that it’s not possible to reach the falls from the canyon bottom.

With my primary objective out of reach, I decided to cross the creek via the log bridge and head up the Swift Creek trail. This trail is a hidden gem which affords the hike with some quality traits: a lush & diverse forest and solitude. So much solitude that I started to think about bears. The last thing I wanted to do was surprise a bear on the trail so I constantly made noise by banging my trekking poles together.

Following the crossing of Rainbow Creek, the trail heads gently up valley before a brief series of switchbacks that place you into an upper bench of the Swift Creek valley. At this point, some huge cedars are passed alongside the trail:

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Swift Creek Trail
Since the trail has not received much maintenance, there are some areas of blowdown to negotiate. As I drew closer to Swift Creek, I came across a black bear’s track in the mud:

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Two miles in, Swift Creek is reached. It’s unclear to me what this crossing used to be like- a bridge? A cable car? In either case, there’s no good way to cross (especially when the creek runs high such as on this day). Even without continuing further, there’s still a lot to see and appreciate..

Looking upstream - Swift Creek
Looking downstream - Swift Creek
The Cauldron - Swift Creek
Swift Creek
Reminants of an old crossing - Swift Creek

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