Lots of snow! What a beautiful place. Is was our first time on this trAil. You can follow the downhill ski run until it veers off for artists point or you can follow all the small trails that have been created by xc skiers and snowshoers. Some parts going down some trails were narrow and slippery. overall seemed easy to navigate as there were lots of people on the trail but there are no marking or anything telling you where to go. We got there around 11:30 and the parking lot was almost full. Going slowly and taking a break at the top we got back down around 2:30. We saw lots of people heading up as we were coming down but I would not recommend being here after dark.

The snow is here! Intermittent fluffy snow with solid frozen chunks made for slow going. The snow is deep enough for a thorough snowshoe all the way to the ridge line.

Took the Mt Baker Scenic Byway to Artist Ridge Trail. Stopped and took pictures of Picture Lake & Highwood Lake along the way up there. This is a short, gentle paved loop leads to kid-size, heather-framed tarns (small lakes sculpted in bedrock by a passing glacier) and summer snowbanks, dramatic views of Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan, and lessons in volcano behavior. Signs along the way give explanatory geological information, in terms kids can understand, about the formation of Mount Shuksan and Mount Baker. The trail ends a few feet from the top of Artists Ridge. For those with very young children or those intimidated by the steep Table Mountain Trail, this makes a picturesque short alternative. This was a slice of Heaven! Here are some pictures I took while up there on my website:

It was a beautifully clear day for views at Artist Point. This is our first time at Artist Point so late in winter, and we learned that it is still beautiful :). WSDOT is working on clearing the road, but it is pretty straightforward to find a route that does not bother the crew. The WSDOT guy at the Artist Point parking area came over to chat for a bit; he was making a river to move melt water away from the area. It was nice to see him at work on the road: very impressive. The snow in the entire area is very compact already. It might even be pleasant to hike to Artist Point with just traction devices if the day is not too warm. Today it got a bit slushy in the afternoon. There were about 5 cars in the parking area when we returned. We saw two other cross country skiers - I'm not sure where they went. Of course, this is a straightforward and short hike, so there is not too much to report on the conditions. We got some nice pictures of snow levels at the mountains on Mt. Baker Hwy though. More photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/sets/72157644622189798/

My wife and I snowshoed from Mt Baker Ski Resort parking lot to Artist Point. The large parking lot was virtually empty with only a few people there to ski. It was only 1.6 miles one way with 850 ft elevation gain to Artist Point. It took us 1.5 hours going up, 1 hour coming down. The weather was warm and sunny. That made snow soft. There was nobody else at Artist Point. Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan was gorgeous. We had a great fun. We learned that a Seattle skier was killed in an avalanche on Mount Shuksan that morning. It was a sad reminder that when the weather is warm you need to stay away from avalanche chutes and cornices.