Park Butte — Saturday, Sep. 24, 2011

North Cascades > Mount Baker Area

Chippie and her friend Jess accompanied me on this trip to Park Butte and Railroad Grade. Neither of us had much energy so this seemed like a good choice. There were about a zillion cars at the trailhead and everyone seemed to have a dog. I hadn't done this trip for a long time and it seems like there's been work on it since. The trail is a freeway with lots of steps, and the old crossing below the grade is no more since the creek rerouted itself. There is a new crossing a short way up the trail from there and there's a plywood bridge in place that is sufficient, but looks to be easily removed. There were berries in Schriber Meadows......more than I've seen anywhere this year, but that's not saying much. They were delicious though and we chowed down coming and going. The lookout is in great shape as ever and we had lunch on a knoll below it watching the hoards of people climbing the trail. We then decided to pay a visit to the tarn and meadows that lie on the bench below the lookout and threw snowballs at Jess. Then, on to Railroad Grade. There were many tents in the campsites that lie right off the trail. Not my idea of getting away from it all. The glacier seems to have receded since I was last here about ten years ago. Is that possible? The scenery was very beautiful and we avoided the weather that was coming in, although it was very hot and muggy all day. There were small biting flies that dive bombed our faces throughout lunch time, but weren't so annoying while we hiked. Shouldn't these bugs be gone by now? Also, lots of wildflowers just below the moraine.......lupine, valerian, yellow things. The fragrance was intoxicating!