A few potholes, mostly paved, any car can drive on just needs to be slow.
Several water crossings, the last is about calf deep, some people managed to stay dry by hopping on boulder with poles going slow.
We did through climber’s route towards hogs back camp, had a great view of Colman’s glacier with many water falls on rock face.
Mushrooms love this trail as well, they are everywhere.

I finally got to spend the night at the climber’s camp. Lots of space up there so I didn’t feel I was intruding on the climbers. If you are interested in doing this, just know the trail kind of disappears just before you get there; I think it was washed out a bit. Just keep going straight up; or going around the left side works too. And don’t try to bomb up the road even though there are sections that feel like you can. Those few sections of pavement are deceiving and have huge dips that are hard to see until you’re on them. More info and pics on my blog, link below

We hiked up the Heliotrope Ridge trail on a cool Friday, with low clouds over the mountains but sun in the valley.  Hoping for clearing later in the day, we started late, getting to the trailhead at about 11:30 a.m.  The Glacier Creek Road was in bad shape, especially lower down, with lots of areas where the old pavement has eroded, leaving potholes and irregular road edges.  Roadside bushes are pushing over the road shoulders, making the narrow road seem even narrower.  We took it slowly and had no trouble, but we were glad not to meet any oncoming vehicles.  The parking lot held about a dozen vehicles when we arrived, including two large vans that had likely transported climbing groups. 

The trail itself was in excellent shape all the way to the moraine.  We had no trouble hopping across Kulshan Creek, but the first crossing of Heliotrope Creek was a bit of a challenge. With the help of hiking poles, we managed to step across on rocks without getting water in our boots.  Our 50 lb. collie opted to wade rather than rock hop and she was fine.  The second crossing was a little easier, but still required careful rock hopping and hiking poles for balance.  On the way back, much later in the day, we crossed this fork about 0.1 miles upstream, where the main trail to Glacier View crosses, and that was much easier.  There the east fork is separated into three shallow streamlets that are easy to step across.  My advice for those hiking up is to stick to the main trail as it heads up the west side of the east fork of Heliotrope Creek rather than taking the direct trail to the moraine that forks east (left as you head up). 

We were wowed by the view of the glacier from atop the moraine, and then followed the use trail up the moraine to a lunch perch above Glacier View.  As we were eating, the clouds over Mount Baker lifted and we reveled in the gorgeous view.  We were so grateful that we hadn’t missed it.  After lunch, we continued climbing along up toward Grant Peak to an altitude of about 5800 ft., where we reached a stream cascading over the ridge and down a bare rock face before disappearing under the glacier.  From there we had great views of Mount Baker, Chowder Ridge, and the tumbling hulks of the Coleman and Roosevelt glaciers (see photo).  Proceeding further would have involved scrambling and rock-climbing skills and equipment that we do not have, so we made that our turnaround point.

Although it is past mid-September, the hillsides or the alpine and sub-alpine were still green and a few late flowers were still in bloom (see photo).  We saw three marmots in the alpine meadows above Glacier view, so they are still out surveying their territories.

Overall. I would rate the Heliotrope Ridge hike as excellent in terms of both the ease and condition of the trail, and the amazing views at the end.  

🏔️ Heliotrope Ridge – Glacier Views & Fall Fireworks We rolled up to a rather large trailhead, but it was packed—no surprise given Heliotrope Ridge’s popularity and its role as launchpad for Mt. Baker summit attempts. Ended up parking a couple hundred feet down the road, which honestly just added to the anticipation.

🥾 Despite the bustling start, the trail itself felt spacious and uncrowded. A few water crossings kept things interesting—one in particular made a strong argument for trekking poles on the return.

🌸 Once we hit the ridge, it was nothing short of spectacular. The Coleman Glacier was front and center, and with the sun warming the upper snowfields, the creeks were roaring in full voice. Wildflowers still clinging to summer, fall colors starting to pop—it was nature showing off in high def.

🚗 Worth the drive from Seattle through Bellingham? Absolutely. The kind of day that makes you forget how many emails and projects you ignored to be there.

it had rained overnight. parking lot was 2/3rd full by 10am. trail climbs fairly easily the whole way. the difficult stream crossings are all almost at the end. the 2nd one was dicey, one of our party balked and remained behind.

We also took the extension up to Hogsback camp. very steep but nice views. On the way back we tried the "Creek crossing bypass trail" from the top, but there was almost no trail. steep and basically in the stream. given how wet it was we abandoned the attempt and went back to the ridge trail.