Near our campground is a road extending\nnorth that took us into the Mount Baker National Forest. We elected\nto follow it today, all the way to the point where we ran out of\npaving or about 22 miles. At the northern end of our drive, we were\nsituated with Baker Lake to the south and way north we could see\nMount Baker, another one of the stratovolcanos that make up the Ring\nof Fire or at least the portion in the U.S. It is a land of very\nlofty mountains, dense conifer forests, gurgling streams and rushing\nrivers and abundant waterfalls. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tAbout halfway back down the road, we\ncame to Baker Dam. There is a regular and an RV campground near the\ndam but, strangely, there are no electrical hookups for RVs. There\nare sewer and water but no electrical connections in a campground\nassociated with a hydroelectric dam. It seems like getting power to a\ncampground a quarter mile from the turbines should not be difficult\nbut, apparently, it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWe had taken the drive up to Baker\nLake during previous visits so our excursion today was pretty short.\nThat allowed time for us to take on a longer excursion up the Skagit\nRiver to a non-town called Marblemount where we turned away from the\nSkagit and headed up a tributary river called the Cascade. We only\nknew about the Cascade River because we spoke with a docent when we\nwent to Diablo Reservoir a few days back. She told us tourists about\nthis place \u2013 a place with few that know of its existence. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not surprisingly, we wandered into another stunning wilderness. There are glaciers covering the sides of the mountains. There are abundant waterfalls, some right next to the road and all of them feeding the Cascade which ultimately dumps into the Skagit. Far below us we could see the Cascade River running in a steep-sided gorge. It is an amazing shade of turquoise, like all the rivers here that get their snowmelt from the glacial snowfields above. There are huge clumps of colorful wildflowers. We were so delighted with the scenery that we pulled up hard to the railing in a roadside turnout and had lunch. Today there was almost no traffic; we might have seen ten cars during our entire afternoon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On our way back from this visual wonderland, we stopped at Skagit Trust’s wayside again so we could check out the eagles. They seemed to be fine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We took a few snapshots. To see ’em, click the link.https:\/\/photos.app.goo.gl\/s1Jno4UxXFP3kiZS6<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Near our campground is a road extending north that took us into the Mount Baker National Forest. We elected to follow it today, all the way to the point where we ran out of paving or about 22 miles. At … Continue reading