What a gorgeous hike!
I didn’t find the road to the trailhead difficult at all. There were quite a few cars in the lot without high clearance, so it's definitely doable. There are a few potholes on the way up, but if you take it slow, you should be fine.

Most people seemed to be heading up to the lookout, but we started on the Scott Paul Trail going counterclockwise. We weren’t sure if that direction would give us the best views, but it ended up being great—we hardly saw anyone on that stretch. The views were phenomenal: wide-open meadows and endless visibility out into the Cascades.

At the junction, we continued up to Railroad Grade—wow! You really get close to Mount Baker there. The trail along the ridge is narrow with a drop on one side, but most people seemed comfortable with it. The glacial erosion along that section was amazing to see up close.

The fall colors were popping! We encountered the crowds on the way back down. The ladder over the river was solid in the afternoon, but there was another section of river crossing that wasn’t as clearly marked. I made it across without getting my feet wet, but I don’t think I was on the intended route.

I definitely plan to come back!

The forest service road with has plenty of pot holes but easily passable for all cars.

Weekend trip spending two nights on the base of Mt Baker. First night along Railroad Grade campsite. Standard PNW fall weather or fog, wind, clouds. It's fall berry season so millions of tasty ripe blueberries. Ate them by the handful, added them to my granola, took some home.

Second night at Mazama Shelter campsite. Clouds moved away overnight and turned cold but rewards with fantastic views. Stopped at Park Butter lookout on hike out.

We hiked up Railroad grade to Sandy Camp on a warm, sunny Thursday.  As others have noted, FR 13 is in poor shape with many deep potholes and car-shuddering washboard.  The density of the potholes precludes steering around them, so be prepared for a rough ride.  High clearance and 4WD were helpful.  I wouldn’t advise trying the drive in a low clearance vehicle. 

The parking lot was half empty when we arrived at around 10:30 a.m.  I have never seen so few cars in the lot.  We also saw only a handful of people on the trail.  There were 7 tents at Sandy Camp, and we saw a large party of climbers making their way slowly down the glacier in the afternoon, but we left before they got back to camp. 

People may have been deterred by the poor condition of the access road or by trip reports about the difficulty of the first crossing of Rocky Creek, which is unbridged.  We were forewarned and had prepared for this by bringing hiking poles and shoes for walking in water.  We found the tumbling, brown water spread out broadly across the rocky wash.  Most of the rivulets were easy to rock-hope across.  However, the main cascade was more of a challenge.  On the way in we were able to find a log bridge across the deepest part and rock-hop the remaining distance without getting our feet wet.  Our leashed dog had no difficulty following us.  As expected, the stream volume was much greater when we hiked back in the late afternoon.  I changed into water shoes but my partner kept his water-resistant hiking boots on.  His turned out to be the better strategy, as the water is numbingly cold.  We made it across without having to wade in water more than ankle deep.  His feet stayed dry and warm, while I ended up with wet, freezing feet!   The take-away is that you can find a way across without wading more than ankle deep if you look carefully, but you will get wet, cold feet if you don’t have water-resistant footwear. 

The bridge over the second crossing is in place, so that crossing was no problem and rest of the trail is in great shape.  There are the usual eroded, rocky stretches, but no mud.   The full autumn color palette has not yet arrived, but the mountain ash, fireweed and blueberries are turning color, so the views in the meadows are lovely.  This has clearly been a great season for blueberries and the bushes are loaded with the biggest berries I can recall ever seeing. Those lower down are over-ripe, but the higher you get, the better the berries taste.  

Overall, it was a great hiking day in the beautiful North Cascades.  The smokey haze stayed well to the south and east, and the morning marine fog and low cloud stayed down in the valleys.  Mount Baker was almost cloud-free under a blue sky all afternoon. What a wonderful gift for a mid-September afternoon.

As others have reported, the water crossing is a bit rough and would be challenging today even in the morning without poles. In the afternoon it was high enough to splash the bridge and the logs we crossed in the morning were underwater. 

The tarns on lower Railroad Grade are all dry and the stream is barley a trickle. Upper has plenty of tarns by base camp.

Park Butte will be getting painted 9/6-9/7 and will not be available for overnight visitors. 

This is a trip report for an Alpine Ascent expedition to summit of Mt. Baker /Koma Kulshan via the Easton glacier.

Day 1: Beginning at the Park Butte trailhead - which was very crowded on an early Saturday morning - the trail had a pair of river crossings, the first of which was tricky and made easier by using hiking poles, before beginning to climb up the Easton moraine. Ripe huckleberry and blueberry were present on the way to Sandy Camp. Tarn at camp temperature - 62 ˚F

Day 2: From Sandy Camp the route to the summit follows the Easton glacier, which was in good condition with a visible route up to the summit. Started at 6AM and reached the summit around noon, having met a team of scientists looking for evidence of microbial activity in the Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulfide and Sulfur Dioxide coming from the crater. Windy but mild on the summit, with temperatures well above freezing. Plenty of melt on the way down the glacier. Tarn at camp temperature - 63 ˚F

Day 3: From Sandy Camp returned to the Park Butte trailhead via the Railroad Grade. River levels had risen making crossing more difficult, with several others on the trail ending up with wet shoes. 

#Hikeathon