The forest service road with has plenty of pot holes but easily passable for all cars.

Weekend trip spending two nights on the base of Mt Baker. First night along Railroad Grade campsite. Standard PNW fall weather or fog, wind, clouds. It's fall berry season so millions of tasty ripe blueberries. Ate them by the handful, added them to my granola, took some home.

Second night at Mazama Shelter campsite. Clouds moved away overnight and turned cold but rewards with fantastic views. Stopped at Park Butter lookout on hike out.

The road in is potholed and rough, but i think most vehicles would be fine. We drove around many of the larger potholes. This trail is brethtaking. Today the ground was damp so we had no dust from the trail. It was surprisingly uncrowded. The temperature was perfect for a hike (65 f or so) with little wind. Blueberries carpeted the area and they were ripe and sweet. A creek crossing was challanging for some. We hiked upstream and found a good spot to rock hop across. On our way back we found some kind soul had made a crossing out of wood. Once at the Lookout there were people, but plenty of room to check out the lookout and surrounding views. Mount Baker maintained a cap of clouds just above the bottom of the glaciers but we even got some sun.

Went on a Thursday. Saw about 8 parties, > 20 people total. Our progress was slowed by picking huckleberries which given their size, one could not resist. Fording the river in the afternoon (around 2pm) was somewhat challenging as river level had risen. Driving back down the forest road was akin to a rodeo ride.

I arrived at the trailhead at 10:30 and found plenty of parking.  I was actually surprised to find so many hikers on a late fall week day.  

I hit the trail at 10:45 am.  The Rocky Creek crossing was pretty easy at 11:00am, but was raging later in the day.  More on that below.

I reached the lookout at 1:00pm.  It took 2 1/4 hours of steady hiking....with brief stops for pictures and water.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  The blueberries were abundant and delicious.  The weather was perfect in the high 60's.  Didn't see any bears, but heard there were 4 bears near the lookout, the day before.

When reaching Rocky Creek again at about 3:30pm, the water was flowing at a much higher level. The logs I used to cross in the morning, had been washed away.  I found a smaller tree further upstream to use to ford the creek.  It was exciting to say the least.  

This is now one of my top ten hikes in the North Cascades.  I loved it. 

We made it to the trailhead from Tacoma in about 3 hours, arriving around 10:15am with a quick stop in Sedro Wooley for coffee. The gravel portion of the road is a little bumpy, but any car can handle it if you take it slowly. 

The trail starts off with a meander through a lovely meadow; Mt Baker just peeking through the trees. The rocky creek crossing has two parts, the first we navigated by skirting upstream a little way until there was a branch crossing the widest part, and rock hopped the rest. The 2nd section has a rickity metal bridge that makes the widest crossing very simple. Pink flagging marks the trail.

Then you head up through some switchbacks under forest canopy until you arrive at another lovely meadow FULL of ripe blueberries YUM! The mountain teased us in and out of clouds most of the day, but we caught glimpses of views in all directions as we hiked up. After a meadow of tarns, you reach a trail junction. There were several campsites to the right, however the lookout is left at the junction. Then you pass the lovely pothole lakes before the final climb to the lookout, which was crammed with folks on a Sunday. 

We opted to take lunch a little below the lookout, and found a campsite below. We had in-your-face mountain views in the morning, and I recommend scouting campsites on your way up if you do want to spend the night, as the tower is quite small and also quite popular. Even if you did snag a spot, you'd be dealing with visitors nonstop. Our spot gave plenty of options for photographs, ripe berries, a water source, and complete solitude. Woke up to frost on the tent!

Great way to wrap up backpacking season!