Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

This forum is used to share your experiences out on the trails.
User avatar
Naturebat
Posts: 315
Joined: January 27th, 2013, 9:18 pm

Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

Post by Naturebat » December 4th, 2016, 12:11 am

I have two trip reports from August that I hope to write eventually. I decided to get the easier one out of the way, Ptarmigan Ridge, since it'll be shorter to write about. xD


For the last hike of the year before heading off to college, we made the long 7 hour drive from Portland to Artist Point in northern Washington. This was originally going to be an overnight backpacking trip, but we changed it to a hike at the last minute.

Traffic was quite bad through Seattle; we got there by 3:00 PM, hiked until around 8:45 PM, and got back home at 3:10 AM. So worth the long drive, though! Northern Washington is so much more rugged than what we have in Oregon. This was the second time I've visited the North Cascades–the previous time was Cascade Pass, Rainbow Ridge, Slate Peak, and Washington Pass.




Opening Photo:
Image
Mount Baker from along the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail







Lots of tourists at the trailhead. Just before we got to the trailhead, we passed Picture Lake, famous for its reflection of Mount Shuksan. It is claimed to be the most photographed mountain in the Pacific Northwest–I wouldn't be surprised! It's photo reflected in Picture Lake can be found on numerous world nature calendars and tourism photos. I even saw a photo of it up in Canada promoting tourism in Alberta. :lol:
Image
I didn't have time to take a photo, but here is a picture from Wikimedia Commons.
Creative CC: Taken by Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium.






Topo Maps Showing our GPS Track
Image
USGS Topo map of the hike.




Image
The route viewed in Google Earth.




Image
Ptarmigan Ridge extends down from the northeast side of Mount Baker.








Image
Just past the trailhead, we passed the information signboard.



Image
The first part of the trail ran gently along the edge of Table Mountain, gradually making its way up towards a saddle.



Image
Mountain goats down below.



Image
Every time we would look back, Mount Shuksan would be right in our face.
Notice the trail on the left side leading to a saddle or "bench"; the trailhead at Artist Point sits right on the bench.
Huntoon Point is the low peak to the right of the saddle, right in front of Mount Shuksan.




Image
Entering the Mount Baker Wilderness. No wilderness register box along this trail, it seems.



Image
Making our way to the saddle and trail junction with the Chain Lakes Trail.



Image
Can't help but turn around and take a million photos of Mount Shuksan. :)




At 1.2 miles, we reached the junction with the Chain Lakes (loop) Trail. From here, the crowds fizzled out to almost nothing. I would guess that around 90% of the crowds turned right for the Chain Lakes Trail. We turned left, following the Ptarmgian Ridge Trail.

Image
Ptarmigan Ridge–Chain Lakes junction.



Image
Mount Shuksan from the junction and saddle.



Image
On the other side of the pass, Mount Baker came into full view.
The trail goes up and skirts just below that dark, prominent black rock to the left of Mount Baker.




Image
A photo taken on the way back of Mount Baker and the trail.



Image
The saddle, as viewed from the other side. The grey cliffs behind it is part of Table Mountain.



Image
The trail making its way over an alpine rock garden.



Image
Several springs above the trail.



Image
Wildflowers galore! Several nice patches of flowers were found along here.



Image
Looking down the Wells Creek valley.



Image
A photo of the Wells Creek valley taken on the way back.



Image
Wildflowers and Table Mountain.



Image
The trail sort of splits up here. The old, lower route is blocked off.



Image
At about 2 miles, the trail ascended a few steep snowbanks and (almost) hand-over-foot scrambling.



Image
The second snowbank.



Image
Taken on the way back: Looking down over the second snowbank and the Wells Creek valley.



Image
The steep, hand-over-foot scrambly part.



Image
Distant peaks of the North Cascades. The Cascade Pass hike is somewhere over there.



Image
The third snowbank.



Image
Looking back towards Mount Shuksan (mostly hidden). It's a subalpine paradise up here!

See a 360° Photo Sphere from here to get the full perspective!



Image
A few more patches of lupine, with Table Mountain in the distance.


Image
Soon enough, Mount Shuksan comes back into view!



Image
The view from the trail as it skirts another ridgeline.



Image
And the view looking back towards Mount Shuksan again. :D



Image
The views kept getting even more spectacular!



Image
Mount Shuksan dominating the view to the east.



Image
Looking back down behind us.



Image
I just couldn't help myself from taking multiple photos of Mount Shuksan. xD



Image
The view southeast.



Image
The more this trail goes on, the more it begins to look like the Sierras or something.

See a 360° Photo Sphere from here to get the full perspective!



Image
Granite, granite, and more granite.



Image
More granite, in case I forgot to mention it. ;)



Image
One last steep snow section before making it to our destination for the day.



Image
At the top of the bend, Mount Baker stood in all its icy glory. *cough, cough* Views like this is why I love the North Cascades... *cough, cough*



Image
We made our way down along this ridgeline for an excellent lunch/dinner spot, making use of an unofficial spur trail. Mount Shuksan on one side and Mount Baker on the other. :D
We would have kept going, but it was getting very late.


See a 360° Photo Sphere from here to get the full perspective!




Image
The view of Mount Shuksan from our lunch spot. Also, I took a "#PoniesAroundTheWorld" photo.



Image
The sun ducking behind the ridgeline before we left (as viewed from the junction with the spur trail).



After spending about an hour on the lunch spot, taking photos, enjoying the view, etc.; we headed down.


Image
One of the snowfields before we crossed down.



Image
Hiking back towards the saddle and junction. Sunset is, by far, my favorite time to hike.
Just before sunset, there is little to no people left, cooler temps, sunset alpenglow, and a nice breeze to cool you off. :D




Image
Looking back up towards the snowfields.



Image
Looking back towards Mount Baker and the split in the trail.



Image
Mount Baker peeking over the ridge.



Image
Sunset making its way over the saddle and junction.



Image
Panorama of Mount Baker from just below the saddle.



Image
Looking back towards Mount Baker from the trail at sunset.



Image
The sun's last rays on Mount Baker.



Image
The sun's last rays on Mount Shuksan.






-----------


More #PoniesAroundTheWorld
Image



Image



-----------

Summary:
Distance: 6.1 miles round-trip.
Elevation Gain: 1516.49 ft
Elevation Loss: 1514.85 ft
Min Elevation: 4984.25 ft
Max Elevation: 5640.09 ft




-----------


GPS Tracks
http://gpsfly.org/g/6365




Image
Click on the image for the CalTopo link.






Flickr Album: Ptarmigan Ridge Hike
- Previously ElementalFX

Webfoot
Posts: 1759
Joined: November 25th, 2015, 11:06 am
Location: Troutdale

Re: Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

Post by Webfoot » December 4th, 2016, 4:18 am

Great report and photos. Thank you.

User avatar
VanMarmot
Posts: 1924
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Contact:

Re: Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

Post by VanMarmot » December 4th, 2016, 7:44 am

Great pictures! And an amazingly long drive for a dayhike!

User avatar
Peder
Posts: 3401
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:02 pm
Location: Lake Oswego

Re: Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

Post by Peder » December 4th, 2016, 8:09 am

VanMarmot wrote:Great pictures! And an amazingly long drive for a dayhike!
Ditto!

Yes, the Ptarmigan Ridge is a great hike with fantastic views!
Some people are really fit at eighty; thankfully I still have many years to get into shape…

justpeachy
Posts: 3066
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Portland, OR
Contact:

Re: Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

Post by justpeachy » December 4th, 2016, 12:45 pm

Impressive that you drove all that way for a day hike!

That is some incredibly beautiful country up there.

olderthanIusedtobe
Posts: 488
Joined: January 2nd, 2014, 10:45 am

Re: Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

Post by olderthanIusedtobe » December 4th, 2016, 2:21 pm

One of my favorites. High on the bang for the buck scale. Views start from the parking lot and never end. Wide open traverse, hardly any switchbacking, not much elevation gain. Shuksan or Baker in your face nearly constantly and sometimes both. Border Peaks just to the north. I've seen goats, marmots, pikas, ptarmigan and grouse there frequently. If you have more time, you can keep getting closer to Baker and get right up to the edge of one of the glaciers on top of a little ridge.

Such a long drive for a day hike though, holy cow! Next time you should do yourself a favor and stay for 3 or 4 days. There are probably close to a dozen top notch hikes in the nearby vicinity, just do as many of them as you can in the amount of time you have out there.

User avatar
Naturebat
Posts: 315
Joined: January 27th, 2013, 9:18 pm

Re: Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

Post by Naturebat » December 5th, 2016, 3:10 pm

Webfoot wrote:Great report and photos. Thank you.
Thank you. :)

VanMarmot wrote:Great pictures! And an amazingly long drive for a dayhike!
justpeachy wrote:Impressive that you drove all that way for a day hike!

That is some incredibly beautiful country up there.
Thanks! Yeah, I took it as a challenge (and I was just itchin to get up there lately...). :P

olderthanIusedtobe wrote:One of my favorites. High on the bang for the buck scale. Views start from the parking lot and never end. Wide open traverse, hardly any switchbacking, not much elevation gain. Shuksan or Baker in your face nearly constantly and sometimes both. Border Peaks just to the north. I've seen goats, marmots, pikas, ptarmigan and grouse there frequently. If you have more time, you can keep getting closer to Baker and get right up to the edge of one of the glaciers on top of a little ridge.

Such a long drive for a day hike though, holy cow! Next time you should do yourself a favor and stay for 3 or 4 days. There are probably close to a dozen top notch hikes in the nearby vicinity, just do as many of them as you can in the amount of time you have out there.
Yeah, we were originally planning on backpacking to camp at Camp Kaiser. I'll have to go back there again sometime.

If it wasn't for the lateness in the day, we would have decided to go all the way to the camp.

That hike drew me in before I even stepped foot on the trail. I also kind of loved Mount Baker even before I stepped foot on that mountain. I wonder why they never built a round-the-mountain trail for it... I'd definitely hike it if it did. Seems like a missed opportunity.
- Previously ElementalFX

User avatar
romann
Posts: 2417
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

Post by romann » December 5th, 2016, 8:11 pm

There's some amazing views up there! Need to ask my boss to move company up North lol. Thanks for GPX map, hope to make it there someday.

olderthanIusedtobe
Posts: 488
Joined: January 2nd, 2014, 10:45 am

Re: Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

Post by olderthanIusedtobe » December 6th, 2016, 10:03 am

ElementalFX wrote: I also kind of loved Mount Baker even before I stepped foot on that mountain. I wonder why they never built a round-the-mountain trail for it... I'd definitely hike it if it did. Seems like a missed opportunity.
Around the mountain would be incredible. I'm not positive, but I would guess there is a hodge podge of land ownership that could make trail building challenging. If someone got really creative they could probably manage a circumnavigation combining trails, some x-country travel and roads. It does seem like a missed opportunity though. Glacier Peak, Rainier, Hood and Adams (maybe that one require a bit of creativity too?) all have routes around them.

User avatar
Naturebat
Posts: 315
Joined: January 27th, 2013, 9:18 pm

Re: Ptarmigan Ridge, Mount Baker Wilderness | North Cascades

Post by Naturebat » December 6th, 2016, 5:31 pm

olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
ElementalFX wrote: I also kind of loved Mount Baker even before I stepped foot on that mountain. I wonder why they never built a round-the-mountain trail for it... I'd definitely hike it if it did. Seems like a missed opportunity.
Around the mountain would be incredible. I'm not positive, but I would guess there is a hodge podge of land ownership that could make trail building challenging. If someone got really creative they could probably manage a circumnavigation combining trails, some x-country travel and roads. It does seem like a missed opportunity though. Glacier Peak, Rainier, Hood and Adams (maybe that one require a bit of creativity too?) all have routes around them.
Yeah, if it did have one, it might be a strong competitor to the Wonderland Trail. It would really be nice to have a circumnavigation route on Mt. Baker, because all of the current backpacking destinations on the mountain seem to be rather short and local.


Isn't all of Mount Baker managed by the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie NF? Including the Mount Baker National Recreation Area?
- Previously ElementalFX

Post Reply