Mt. Baker Wilderness: Heliotrope Ridge

Hiked: 29 September 2019
Distance: 5.3 miles
Elevation: 1,800 ft
Difficulty: Moderate

The Heliotrope Ridge trail leads you the base of one of Mt. Baker's giant glaciers

After a failed attempt at hiking the Skyline Divide Trail (the forest service road was to rough for my little Mini), Chris, Erica, and I started looking around for another hike to make our 2 hour road trip worth it. This led us to a much shorter forest service road and the Heliotrope Ridge trailhead. The parking lot was full of prospective hikers and a few backcountry skiers.

While the Mini looks great in the woods, she doesn't handle massive potholes too well

We had no idea what to expect from this hike, but 5 miles didn't sound like too much of a commitment, so we went for it. Right away we encounter small, trickling waterfalls, towering evergreens, and a sprinkling of snow. The trail climbed steadily, but never got too steep. While the parking lot was buzzing, we only encountered a few other hikers on the trail.

The short trail was still mostly snow free

There is a small river crossing towards the end of the ascent required some decision making between unstable and frozen stepping stones. I ended up with my right foot completely submerged in the cold river at one point (I had better luck with the second crossing.) It's at this point that the trees began to clear and we were treated to magnificent views of Mt. Baker and the snowcapped peaks around it.

The river my foot fell victim to and the distant ridgeline

The final stretch is a somewhat steep climb up loose volcanic rock, but then, seemingly out of nowhere, a massive and deeply crevassed glacier appears in front of you. This is Coleman's Glacier and the U.S. Forest Service website says that climbers often use this glacier to practice their climbing skills, but we weren't lucky enough to see any. The trail looked to continue up to the ridge above us, maybe to more skiable terrain, but we chose to turn back here and follow the trail back to the parking lot.

It didn't look like anyone was skiing these crevasses anytime soon

Overall, this hike far exceeded our expectations for a last minute backup. The trail was beautiful and luscious and the glacier felt other-worldly. I have a feeling Chris may be back in this neck of the woods to search for backcountry skiing routes. We ended this trip with the short drive up to Mt. Baker Vista for panoramic views of the mountain.

Mt. Baker looms between passing clouds