Skyline Divide
Aug 25, 2010
by
Sydney Kaplan
—
last modified
Aug 26, 2010 12:09 PM
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Skyline Divide
- Region: North Cascades -- Mount Baker Highway
- Agency: Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest - Glacier Public Service Center
- Trails: Skyline Divide (#678)
- Avg Rating: 4.06
- Why You Should Go Now
- Wildflowers blooming
- Be Aware Of
- Bugs
It's been a number of years since I last hiked Skyline Divide. largely because the road there was closed for some time. I'm glad I returned to it yesterday as it was the most spectacular hike I've taken this year. It's a long drive there and the last eight miles of the 13 mile road are particularly potholed and bumpy. But it is well worth the drive. We were lucky to have taken the opportunity to hike on the last day this week of good weather. Three weeks earlier we had climbed the 4.5 miles up from the Mr. Baker Highway to Excelsior Pass and by the time we reached it Mt. Baker was completely covered by clouds. Yesterday, the view was perfect. When we broke out of the forest onto the Divide, the views were amazing. We wandered along the trail up and down and climbed a steep peaklet that took us to about 6500 feet elevation, where we had our lunch. Then we returned back to the junction where the trail up from the road reaches the divide, but this time took the other direction (to the left). This turned out to be the most wonderful part of the whole hike for me. I had neglected to explore this eastern section of the Divide, and I'm glad I finally did so. First of all, the crowds disappear, and you suddenly find yourself in complete solitude in meadows filled with more flowers than I saw on the usual route. The lupine were particularly abundant. Moreover, the views of Shuksan and Baker are consistently in front of you the whole way. We kept thinking the trail would end, but it wandered along the ridge for about a half a mile until it reached an obvious end at a precipice. We returned to the junction and then made a quick descent to the car--what a great day!
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