Park Butte

Park Butte is another hike that I've had on my list for awhile. Yesterday I decided that if I was going to get this one done before school started that I'd better do it today, despite the rain forecast. I woke up early and left the house by 7:00am for the two hour drive up to the Baker Lake area. Once I turned off highway 20 onto Baker Lake Road I was slowed down because they were oiling and graveling the road and had changed the speed limit to 25 mph. And then, I saw a hiker coming down the road towards me. I noted the hiker poles on his pack, turned the truck around, went back, stopped beside him, and asked if he was a PNT thru hiker. He said that he was. It was Stefan, and I've actually been following his PNT blog on Postholer. I gave him one of my fresh Yakima peaches, and he told me that Dan and Beth, two other PNT hikers, were a bit further up the road. They'd all camped at Swift Creek Campground the previous night, and were heading into Concrete to get a hotel room so they could get a shower and dry out all their wet gear. I continued up the road until I found them and introduced myself to them as well. It is pretty fun to follow hiker blogs and then have a chance to meet them when they get to your neck of the woods.

Between the road work and meeting the PNT hikers, I didn't end up getting to the trail head until about 10:00am. The sky was overcast, but not raining and I hung my NW forest pass from the mirror before getting Sadie and my backpack out of the truck. This was the first time I'd ever seen wag bags at a trail head.

We started up the trail, crossed a wooden bridge and I noticed that we were walking through either blueberry or huckleberry bushes. I couldn't resist popping a few in my mouth. Up ahead I could see a beautiful rocky crag.

These trails are used as snowmobile trails in the winter, and I could see trail signs 20 feet up in the trees.

I knew that I had a potential ford of Rocky Creek coming up and I realized that I'd forgotten my river shoes.

And then I saw this.

Someone had installed a metal temporary type bridge. Yipee, I didn't have to worry about fording the creek!
Once past the creek, the trail began to climb steeply up a series of switchbacks.

The low clouds blocked some of the views, but I kept taking pictures as I climbed higher. And then I got to this. I could see the glaciers of Mount Baker, but the clouds obscured most of the mountain.

Wildflowers burst out in abundance in this beautiful meadow area.

I continued up the trail, and new views greeted me at every turn. Then I saw this sign.

Curious, I followed the trail up the hill and found this.

And here is the view you have as you use the thing.

That is definitely one of the most interesting toilets I've ever seen! And I wasn't expecting to find it, because the sign at the trailhead said that there were no toilets on the trail. By now, I expected the 1933 Park Butte Fire Lookout to be around the corner. I continued on and came to another beautiful meadow.

 It is hard to see in the picture below, but Park Butte Outlook is on the top of the rocky ridge in the center of the photo.

I realized I still had a ways to go! I climbed another ridge and had to simply stop in awe at the views and beauty.

I could see the glaciers of Mount Baker, small water filled tarns, distant mountains, and down below a lake that is probably Baker Lake.

 The lookout was getting steadily closer.

I finally made it all the way up, sweat stinging my eyes. It was a little scary climbing up the final stairs to the outlook. I went inside and signed the journal, and then went back out to see the views.

 Below: View of the Nooksack Valley

 Far below I could see several tents. This is probably Mazama Park.

After enjoying the views for awhile, I started back down the mountain.

I 

I stopped for lunch at the rocks and I kept hearing some kind of animal. It sounded a little like a bird, but I suspect a marmot was in the rocks, raising an alarm.

The trail was in great shape, and it was obvious a lot of loving care had gone in to it. A considerate hiker left the following note on the trail to warn of a bee hive.

Over all, this hike has to be one of the best ones I've done in Washington. The views compared to Jefferson Park in Oregon. As I came down I passed a couple of horseback riders, a few other hikers, a group that looked like they were hiking up to Mount Baker, and a gaggle of girls busily picking and eating blueberries as they hiked up to camp in the Fire Lookout. I will definitely be back next year, hopefully on a clear day.