Baker Lake

Looking at the weather reports I noticed the weather was coming up from the south this morning.  The FJR was once again ready to go and so was I after the aborted trip to Oregon on Friday.  While eating heart happy Quaker oatmeal for breakfast I looked at the temps around Western Washington.  North seemed like a good direction to go.  But where?

Years ago I spent a weekend camping at on Baker Lake likely named Mt. Baker one of the Cascade Volcanoes.  I remember it was very scenic, with views of Mt. Baker and I had never road a motorcycle on the Baker Lake Road.  It was past time to put this  milestone behind me.

For sake of conversation this ride starts and ends in Arlington, Washington for this is where good motorcycling starts, well north of the Seattle to Everett cosmopolis shuffle.


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Riding from Arlington to Darrington is mostly is a non-event.  On Hwy 530 the pavement is smooth and easy with few turns.  Whitehorse Mountain demands your attention just before entering Darrington.

This is a very challenging mountain to photograph as the sun is usually behind the mountain.  Today the sky was slightly overcast with high contrast conditions as you can see in the photo above.

There is a Shell station in Darrington where the road t-bones.  To the right is the Mountain Loop Hwy leading to Granite Falls on a gravel road.  Great for dual sports, all though my buddy on a K1300GT road it once, only to find snow nearly at point where pavement resumes, forcing a retrace of his route.  Bummer.

Hwy 530 continues to Rockport the gateway of the North Cascades Hwy.  Along the way there are views of the Sauk River.  My favorite is the canopy of trees along Illabot Creek creating a visual treat in a park like setting in season.

At Rockport you cross the Skagit River with a grand view of the North Cascade Mountains to the east. To the left is the Howard Miller Stealhead Park where I stop for a brief break.

Howard Miller Stealhead Park along the Skagit River in the summer.

Today the North Cascades Hwy will have to wait for the passes are closed.  One can ride to the Ross Dam in winter, thus catching some great twisties on the pre-1972 section of the road where the turns are tighter than the grand sweepers east of Colonial Creek.

I find my way to the Baker Lake road via the Burpee Hill road, a twisty road, hanging on a cliff, as it climbs upward with less than ideal pavement, and today it also has lots of sand and gravel for good measure.  Soon I am on the Baker Lake Road where the mountain views are simple spectacular.

Typical view along the Baker Lake Road on a more photographic friendly day.

Below Mount Baker on the day of the ride

And Mt. Baker on a different day.

The Baker Lake Road itself was not remarkable at all until I hit the Watcom County line where the speed limit dropped inexplicably from 50mph to 35mph.  Arg!

This miserable speed limit reminds me of riding in Colorado.

The paved road ends a Park Creek. On this day there was snow along side the road at 1100' elevation.  I turned around at paved roads end and headed to Sedro Woolley via Highway 20 on the north side of the Skagit River.  Often I ride on the South Skagit River road, but today I wanted to enjoy the smoother pavement and sunny sky instead of the tree lined rough pavement on the other side of the river.

Reaching Hwy 9 I turned south to return to Arlington on a road traveled too often.  It is much more interesting than the freeway with views of lake, valley and interesting turns.  An example of the pavement is below.

It was a wonderful day for a ride with temps in the '60s.  Balmy by Washington standards.

The End.