Heliotrope Ridge

Me and waterfall

Today marks the first day this season when we made it up to the High Country. Melanie, Dianne and I headed up to Heliotrope Ridge off the Mt. Baker Highway near Glacier. When we started out, we noticed how warm it was, but still rather pleasant, since we were at a higher altitude than in Bellingham. This is the first stream crossing out of three (other than the one that has a bridge over it at the beginning of the trail). It was easy, and the water coming off the waterfall was simply delightful. But it turned out to be the only  crossing we were able to make.

Second stream crossing

Now this might not seem to be all that hard to cross, but after spending considerable time trying to find a way to cross without getting our feet wet, we watched several other hikers trying to cross, too, and nobody made it across without putting on water shoes or going barefoot. I had brought water shoes, too, but Dianne had not. We decided to turn around, retrace our steps, and instead go up a side road and look at wildflowers.

Mt. Baker

We also had a wonderful view of Baker, since we couldn't get near the glaciers on foot, we had to admire them from afar. That's goat's beard in the foreground, a lovely and very prolific plant in bloom right now.

Lupine

We saw plenty of lupine, one of my favorite summertime flowers, on the side road. That's a lone Indian paintbrush looking very red, too. By the time we were snapping these pictures, it had grown very hot indeed.

Tiger lilies

We also saw lots of these pretty tiger lilies, which were everywhere along the side of the road. Although there were plenty more flowers, I was getting very hot and wished we could get back into the car where there was air conditioning. By the time we made it down to the town of Glacier, the temperature had reached 95°F (35°C), way too hot in my opinion. We also hadn't hiked very far, having been turned back from the trail, only having gone maybe four or five miles, before calling it a day.

But still. It was the first trip into the Mt. Baker wilderness this year, so I am happy that we managed to make it before the end of July. Next week we will try again, and hopefully it won't be so hot.
:-)