Scott Paul Trail — Sunday, Aug. 19, 2001

North Cascades > Mount Baker Area

Mother nature played nasty today, but I still had a great trek. I've never been to the Mount Baker area before and headed up there barely awake from yesterday's getting up early adventure. I arrived at the trailhead at Schreiber's Meadow and my it was COLD! No frost, but very close to it. There is a pretty new looking bridge over the creek immediately at the trailhead, and once across it I noticed that the entire vast area of Scheiber's Meadow was one monster huckleberry patch! There was a blue tint to the meadows the berries were so thick. I was actually surprised that I didn't see any bears...it was very quiet and peaceful in there at 6:30am and no humans were in before me this morning (just some cars from climbers up on the mountain it looked). The little suspension bridge to cross the creek from the Easton Glacier was a lot of fun to go across. The water is low enough that crossing without the bridge is easy now, but take the bridge for a fun ride inches above the water! The trail up through the forest is under construction now through the rest of the season, and boy they are really getting after it---even a log retaining wall four feet high 50+ feet long in one area! Suddenly, I saw how they can do so much: a small Kubota backhoe was up there on the trail! It was fun to see the three guys doing the work when I hiked out. That little rig was very quiet, and he just worked his way backwards up the trail as the guys behind built the turnpikes and stuff. Way different methods than within wilderness boundaries, that is for certain. Here is where nature played a rude joke on me today. Down in Schreiber's Meadow, Mount Baker was clear and pristine with not a cloud in sight. By the time I got to where the views started out of the forest, near the Railroad Grade trail, bang, she wore a cloud cap. By the time I was nearing Park Butte, it was virtually gone except for the bottom. My plans for massive stunning photography with the clear sky forecasted was, well, ""tweeked"" a bit! It will give me a great reason to return though, which I will! The Park Butte lookout was wonderful, and has a fresh coat of white paint. I ate lunch alone up there as no one came along until well later in the morning when I was coming down. Views were stunning in all directions, and Mount Baker looked different every minute as the clouds that formed around the area changed so much...but alwayw kept it 50% hidden or more, and never showing the summit. I only had one skeeter flyby, and no bugs other than that. About eight Pika were busy in the boulder fields below Park Butte. Flowers were still rather nice in a couple cold areas by creeks, and the protected areas on the upper slopes of Park Butte below the lookout sported some huge carpets of partridgefoot which was beautiful! The hike out was VERY slow as I ate huckleberries---ahhhhh!