" Dream. Commit. Succeed. "
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Table Mountain and Artist Point, Mt. Baker, WA, USA
Distance from Vancouver: 2h45 plus border time
From Artist Point to Table Moutain round-trip: 2hrs, 3.2km round-trip
Elevation gain: roughly 200m
On our fourth day, we finally started to see the sun clearing out of the heavy clouds. Mt. Shuksan and Baker were just teasing us slowly by revealing the views of the glaciers, the peaks and the valleys we have been walking in for a few days without really catching a glimpse of.
With a few hours of sunlight left, we decided to hike up to Table Mountain first. The trail is mainly flat at first, and then goes up in zig-zags all the way to the top of the mountain. Take your time and enjoy the view.
We really took our time to explore and walk around on the top of the mountain. It is worth going around and try to see from both sides of the mountain, as the views vary greatly. You will also see the Chain Lakes Loop trail at the bottom, both on the long ridge heading to Ptarmigan Ridge trail intersection, but in the valley heading up to Herman Saddle too.
The trail is really well marked up to the top, however after you have many small trails going around to different rock areas to explore. We also had our lunch with nice hot chocolate at the top to relax and enjoy the views.
From the top you can also see the parking lot at Artist Point, as well as the shorter and flatter trail heading to Artist Point itself. You come back the same way you went up and reach back the parking lot quite quickly.
Artist Point Trail:
From Artist Point parking lot round-trip: 30min, 2.0km round-trip
Elevation loss: roughly 60m
We went back down and followed the Artist Point trail, to have a chance to look back on Table Mountain, one of the most iconic in the area for me. It has such a different and special landscape to it…
This is the only (and first) view of Mt. Baker we had that day! Work your imagination!
This is heading towards Mt. Shusksan:
At the end of our exploration day from the parking lot, we headed back down to sleep at the first car camping spot we could find. We stopped at Silver Fir on the main road (16$ US for one night) and had a nice little private spot with our own beach near the river. It was a perfect little area to relax before our last big day hike the morning after.
About me
" Dream. Commit. Succeed. " 