REVIVING BAY TO BAKER TRAIL
CYCLING THE FRENCH ALPS
KAYAK CAMPING ON VANCOUVER
ISLAND
FALL RACES AND EVENTS
Blaine's Oyster & Harbor Harvest Festival
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12
shell-ebration at the 3rd Annual
Hosted by Drayton this year’s festival
promises to be the most exciting yet. Head to H Street Plaza in downtown Blaine for a day brimming with flavor, fun, and festivity. The day include:
Sizzling Grilled Oysters • Live Music
• Family-Fun • Beer-Wine-Cider
• Other mouth-watering menu items & MORE!
SAVORING THE SALISH SEA’S BOUNTY
This isn’t just any festival. It’s a journey for all your senses! This festival is bursting with colors, sounds, and flavors from the Salish Sea, there will be something for everyone in the family:
• Street Fair
• Live Music
• Kids’ Activities • All-Age Beer Garden
• Grilling Tent with Seafood & Landlubber Food Items & MORE!
Mark your calendars for these other Fall Events!
CATOBER fest September 14 BLAINE MARINE PARK • BLAINE • NOON-7PM
CATOBERfest, an electrifying fall celebration sponsored by Beachcat Brewing Company & Blaine Chamber of Commerce as a fund raiser for Blaine Food Bank. Taking place in scenic Blaine Marine Park on the US/Canada border this all-day 21+ ticketed event will be serving the finest craft beers & ciders in the bier garden, top-notch food trucks, & a Free Cornhole Tournament. Get into the groove with live music performances by Dad Company, PaperHeart and Michael Dayvid. Immerse yourself in the excitement by participating in a fun-filled costume contest with a grand prize of a 2-night stay at Semiahmoo Resort! Every sip, bite and smile you share contributes to a greater cause, as all proceeds proudly support the Blaine Food Bank. Secure your tickets now and be ready to toast to good times for a great cause.
September 21 GATEWAY 1890 TAPHOUSE • 429 PEACE PORTAL DR. • 3-9PM
Unleash your inner Bavarian spirit at the Gateway 1890 Taphouse’s 3rd Annual OktoberFest in downtown Blaine! Feel the thrill as you cheer on competitors in exhilarating events like Keg Rolling, Stein Relays, and the ultimate Keg Throwing challenge. There’s something for everyone—kids activities and more. Whether you’re a participant, spectator, or out for the day in Blaine by the Sea, the excitement will be contagious!
Come as you are & make it a
Semiahmoo Resort - Golf - Spa
by Pat Grubb
s we enjoy autumn, our thoughts begin to turn to the ski season. Will it be a good one or will it be bad? We can’t know for sure but the climate folks at NOAA and the National Weather Service are willing to lay percentage odds on what to expect and it looks like it could be a good one.
According to NOAA, “El Niño and La Niña are the warm and cool phases of a recurring climate pattern across the tropical Pacific–the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ‘ENSO’ for short. The pattern shifts back and forth irregularly every two to seven years, bringing predictable shifts in ocean surface temperature and disrupting the wind and rainfall patterns across the tropics.”
Right now, the experts are saying there is a 66 percent chance of La Niña emerging in the September –November time period, increasing to 74 percent in November –January. In the Pacific Northwest we can expect to have below average temperatures from December through May coupled with above average precipitation in the same stretch of time. If all goes well, we can expect some good to great conditions up in the mountains. Keep your fingers crossed!
In this issue, cyclist Dale Peter Nottingham takes us from Vietnam to the French Alps with a tale of lung-busting mountain races. Not to be outdone, Jason Hummel does the hard work of circumnavigating Mount Buckner eating up the pain, so we don’t have to, check out the gallery. Meg Olson reviews some bird guides while Mallorie Estenson gives the lowdown on mountain guide certification, what it means and how one gets it. Paddle after Jay and Charlene as they kayak Vancouver Island in the ocean and the lakes. And, of course, this issue is packed with striking photography from the region’s best outdoors photographers.
Enjoy fall and start conditioning for winter!
meditation and guide on the iconic fall tree
Tony Moceri is on the road with a pair of camper vans, and cousins.
MOUNT BAKER EXPERIENCE
Since 1986
Special publication of The Northern Light and All Point Bulletin
PUBLISHERS
Patrick Grubb and Louise Mugar
EDITOR
Nolan Baker
PUBLICATION DESIGN
Doug De Visser
COPY EDITOR
Grace McCarthy
ADVERTISING DESIGN
Ruth Lauman • Doug De Visser
ADVERTISING SALES
Gary Lee • Molly Ernst
CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE:
Radka Chapin, Eldad Efendi, Frankie Estep, Mallorie Estenson, Ethan Fritzberg, Grant Gunderson, Jason Hummel, Aaron Knapp, Joshua Kornfeld, Louis Legon, Jasmine Long, Eric Lucas, Tony Moceri, Jay Nolan, Mike Nolan, Dale Peter Nottingham, Meg Olson, Matthew Tangeman
EMAIL: info@mountbakerexperience.com
WEB: www.mountbakerexperience.com
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/mtbakerexperience
TWITTER: twitter.com/MB_Experience
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/mtbakerexp
If you can see Mt. Baker, you’re part of the experience. Mount Baker Experience is an outdoor recreation guide for and about the Mt. Baker region, distributed from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. and published by Point Roberts Press, Inc. Locally owned, the company also publishes TheNorthernLight, All Point Bulletin, Pacific Coast Weddings, Waterside and area maps.
Vol. XXXIX, No. 3. Printed in Canada. ©2024 POINT ROBERTS PRESS
225 Marine Drive, Blaine, WA 98230 TEL: 360/332-1777
NEXT ISSUE
Winter 2024/25 Ads due: Nov. 1
ON THE COVER KC Deane biking in Bellingham, Washington.
by Grant Gunderson.
MBE fall 2024
CONTRIBUTORS
RADKA
CHAPIN
Radka is a mental health therapist during the week, an avid climber, skier, backpacker and photographer on weekends, and a full-time human servant to a Border Terrier named Mossy. Radkaandchris.smugmug.com
ETHANFRITZBERG
Originally from Seattle and now based in Bellingham, Ethan is a lifelong photographer and avid watersports enthusiast. When he’s not out wing foiling in Bellingham Bay, you can find him around the harbor with his dog, Ranger.
GRANTGUNDERSON
One of the ski industry’s preeminent photographers, Grant has shot for every major snow sports and outdoor publication worldwide. Grantgunderson.com
JASONHUMMEL
Jason is an outdoor photographer from Washington who has documented numerous first descents in the North Cascades.
JOSHUAKORNFELD
Joshua is a recent WWU journalism graduate and just completed his summer internship with Point Roberts Press. He enjoys investigative reporting, with a focus on covering unrepresented communities and public health. When not reporting, Kornfeld enjoys photography, live music and exploring new coffee shops.
JASMINELONG
Jasmine is a Bellingham-born creative with Olympic Peninsula roots. Owner of Mildcat, a modern art, photography and design collective, lover of Mt. Baker and avid snow sport enthusiast, find her online @mildcatcreative and mildcat.org
ERICLUCAS
Lifelong journalist Eric Lucas lives on a small farm on San Juan Island. He is the author of numerous travel guidebooks, and is a regular correspondent for Alaska Airlines Beyond magazine.
TONYMOCERI
Tony is an author and freelance writer who loves to get out and explore the world with his family. He shares his writing and adventures @tonymoceri and www.tonymoceri.com
MIKENOLAN
Mike Nolan is a freelance writer who lives in Port Angeles, where the mountains greet the sea.
DALE PETERNOTTINGHAM
Dale is a serial wanderer with an entertaining but unemployable resumé. His early life choices were informed by reading The Dice Man at college and it all went downhill from there. Professionally, Dale spent most of his life working in publishing and media. Most recently, he was the Managing Director of Forbes Vietnam. Dale is currently embroiled in the never-ending process of setting up his own company, “Afflatus Media.”
MEGOLSON
Meg is the co-owner of Kingfisher Bookstore in Coupeville, which has a bit of everything but specializes in the natural and human history of the Pacific Northwest. She like to explore, in person or on pages.
MATTHEWTANGEMAN
Matthew is an adventure photographer with a passion for deep powder, alpine granite and not making it back to the trailhead until way after dark. Mtangeman.com
Photo
Newsroom
Wildfire, mudslide force closure on North Cascades highway
Serious wildfires throughout the North Cascades forced multiple closures of Highway 20, better known as North Cascades Highway, throughout the summer. The most notable closure lasted 20 days due to a massive mudslide that blanketed the highway until roads were cleared
on August 22.
The Easy Fire, which began in the Okanagan Wenatchee National Forest, roughly 17 miles west of Mazama, was sparked by lightning on the evening of July 17, according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The fire burned 2,130 acres over the course of six weeks, and was 36 percent contained by 115 fire personnel according to the most recent DNR update on August 21.
Significant rainfall, combined with weakened vegetation due to weeks of fire, led to a massive mudslide on August 11 that covered approximately 100 feet of both lanes of the highway between milepost 152 and 153, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). WSDOT closed the highway from Granite Creek (milepost 148) to Rainy Pass (milepost 157) as crews were already fighting the encroaching Easy Fire that was feet from the highway. It took days for work crews to remove what WSDOT said was 7,000 tons of mud from the highway, piling ten feet deep at certain points. On Monday, August 26, traffic resumed with flagger-controlled points at milepost 150 and 154, and flagger cars to keep traffic flowing while work continues on the road, according to WSDOT.
Continued on page 10
TASTINGS & TOURS
BAR & RESTAURANT
WEDDINGS & EVENTS
TripAdvisor's #1 for Tours and Food & Drink Activities in Bellingham, WA
Newsroom
Continued from page 8
Even with heavy rain throughout the region, the U.S. Forest Service announced on August 8 that the Easy Fire, along with several other regional forest fires, are expected to continue to burn until the region experiences significant rain or snow in the fall.
For up to date travel information, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/travel. For wildfire updates, visit www.inciweb.wildfire.gov.
First “Day on the Bay” celebrates Bellingham’s working waterfront
Bellingham’s picturesque waterfront will come alive on Saturday, September 28 for the first annual “Day on the Bay,” a free, self-guided tour of more than a dozen maritime locations and businesses along Bellingham Bay.
Organized by Bellingham SeaFeast in conjunction with Sustainable Connections and the Working Waterfront Coalition of Whatcom County, the event hopes to show off the vibrant maritime community that thrives in Bellingham, and allow the community to meet the very people who make the maritime industry move.
“Our local seafood industry plays a major role in the food economy of our region. As we celebrate September Eat Local Month and the folks behind the food we eat, we are excited to collaborate with SeaFeast and Working Waterfront Coalition to share the stories of local fishermen and the businesses that support their work. Day on the Bay is a chance to learn more about our waterfront community and highlight Bellingham’s unique location on the Salish Sea,” shares Jessica Gillis, Food and Farming Program Manager at Sustainable Connections.
Attendees will meet local fishing families, tour working fishing boats, explore the Salish Sea’s incredible biodiversity, learn to tie knots, and so much more. Partnering businesses and organizations include Dragonfly Kayak Tours, LFS Marine, U.S. Coast Guard, Bellingham Youth Sailing, Village Books, Community Boating Center, among others.
The event is free and open to all, but some specific events require a ticket. Day on the Bay will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at various locations around Bellingham Bay, clustered around Fairhaven and Squalicum Harbor. For more information, visit www.dayonthebay.org.
Historic El Niño over, La Niña likely, says NOAA
After last year’s warm El Niño winter weather pattern, ski and snowboarders can celebrate an encouraging prediction from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Weather experts at the National Weather Service and NOAA cited a 66 percent chance of La Niña emerging in the September-November window, and that chance increasing to 74 percent from November-January.
NOAA predicts, from December to May, below average temperatures combined with above average precipitation caused by La Niña. If all goes according to the predictions, that could mean great conditions in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest all winter long.
El Niño and La Niña are the warm and cool phases of a recurring climate pattern across the Pacific Ocean dubbed the “El Niño-Southern Oscillation” or ENSO, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The pattern can exist in its two namesake phases, or a neutral phase, and stay there for two to seven years.
The most recent La Niña event lasted three years from September 2020 to early 2023, the first “triple dip” as the scientific community puts it, of the 21st century.
The dire effects of a warm El Niño event are well known in the winter sports community. In 2024, the Legendary Banked Slalom at Mt. Baker Ski Area was abandoned when 14 inches of snow base was eroded by just three days of unseasonably warm precipitation.
All told, these weather fluctuations can drastically impact the world economy. According to the WMO, an El Niño pattern from 1997 to 1998 caused an estimated $32 billion in global economic losses.
In the near-term, get your boots ready for the ski season, because the experts at NOAA, NWS and WMO all agree, it will likely be a cold winter in the Pacific Northwest.
Mt. Baker Hill Climb officially sold out
In what is now a late-summer tradition, Whatcom Events announced the 2024 Mt. Baker Hill Climb is sold out. 450 riders (with over 50 filling the waitlist) will attempt the grueling 4,462-foot climb up Mt. Baker Highway from Glacier to Artist Point on Sunday, September 15.
All of them (though some will merely attempt to survive) will be attempting to break last year’s KOM set by two-time World Hill Climb Champion Phil Gaimon, who completed the 22-mile course with an astounding time of 1:14:42.
“Mt. Baker Hill Climb was well-run, safe, scenic, and challenging but with a positive atmosphere,” Gaimon told Whatcom Events. “I had tons of fun racing and meeting all of the riders, and I’ll keep my eye out for more reasons to return to Bellingham. This was a perfect way to check Mt. Baker off of my list.”
Mt. Baker Highway is known as one of the most scenic roads in the country, and the hill climb was named one of North America’s top-10 rides by pro cycling magazine Gran Fondo Guides.
Even without a spot on the list, people can view the beginning of the race at Chair 9 restaurant in Glacier on the day of the event, but the highway will be closed to traffic to keep cyclists safe. The 50-person waitlist is full, according to Whatcom Events. For more information, visit www.bakerhillclimb.com.
Greater Bellingham Running Club nears its 50th
The Greater Bellingham Running Club came in to existence shortly after the concept of running on sidewalks and trails for fun became popular. By 1976, the first year of GBRC’s existence, running was being done not just by training boxers, but by anyone who wanted to get fit and experience the great outdoors.
For nearly 50 years since, GBRC has run -pun intended- on a mission of connecting runners in order to foster a community that ultimately wants to give back. As a fully volunteer-driven, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, GBRC gives back to the Bellingham community through local groups like Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition, Bellingham Food Bank, and the Whatcom County YMCA.
But this running club does more than just organizing charity races and events. In partnership with Haggen grocers in the annual Haggen to Haggen 5k, GBRC also funds a scholarship for local, college-bound student athletes and raises money to purchase running
Vacation homes in Glacier, WA near Mt. Baker
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shoes for underprivileged high school runners through its “shoe vouchers” program.
Started in 2011, the shoe voucher program has outfitted countless student athletes at Bellingham, Sehome, Blaine, Ferndale, Lynden Christian, Meridian, Lynden, Nooksack, Mt. Baker and Squalicum high schools.
GBRC gets in contact with track and crosscountry coaches at each school to gauge the community’s need, with each school able to request one voucher each.
Besides being a crucial charitable organizations for young runners across Whatcom County, GBRC also facilitates dozens of races and events throughout the year, and is always looking for new members and volunteers to keep Bellingham’s vibrant running culture going strong.
GBRC hosts weekly runs, with groups for teens, trail runners, or group runs. After a busy Lake Padden relay on August 24, GBRC has plenty planned for the chilly months of the year, with the 10-mile Blanchard Beast Trail Race on Saturday, October 19, the Turkey Trot on Saturday, November 23, and the Fairhaven Frosty on Saturday, December 7.
For more information, or to join, visit www.gbrc.net.
Driver rescued on Mt. Baker Highway after 50-foot fall
A 49-year-old female driver was rescued after she drove off Mt. Baker Highway, on August 21, careening 50 feet down before stopping.
The driver was reportedly trapped in the overturned vehicle, conscious, while first responders attempted the rescue. Using rope gear, crews from Whatcom County Fire Districts 14 and 19 were able to carry the driver
up a steep embankment to safety. The driver was taken via ambulance to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham as a precaution, but appeared to have minor, non-life threatening injuries according to a press release from Whatcom County Fire District 14.
When first responders arrived on scene just before 8 p.m. on August 21, they found the vehicle had exited the roadway on a tight corner and rolled 50 feet down a steep embankment before resting on its passenger side, according to the fire district press release.
The incident happened near milepost 51, close to Mt. Baker Ski Area.
“Fortunately, this was not right at MP 51,” the fire district press release stated, “as that spot is far worse to roll a vehicle off, especially when there isn’t any snow yet.”
Washington State Patrol also arrived on scene, and was investigating the cause of the crash, according to Whatcom County Fire District 14.
National Park Service finds likely remains of missing hiker in North Cascades National Park
After issuing an initial missing person report for 42-year-old Daniel Gabriel who went missing while climbing Mt. Shuksan between August 19 and 24, the National Park Service has officially called off the search after discovering human remains near Gabriel’s tent.
Bellingham Mountain Rescue volunteers had searched the area where Gabriel was last seen preparing to climb the Fisher Chimneys route of Mt. Shuksan on August 26 when remains were discovered.
“Park officials have suspended search efforts and will work in the coming days on recovery and identification of the remains,” NPS wrote in an August 26 social media post.
A Guide to fall larches
BY ERIC LUCAS PHOTOS BY RADKA CHAPIN
They look ever so much like candles at dusk, the larches that decorate the high country of the Pacific Northwest in autumn. And, as candles do, they light up and burn out in finite periods, making their season just a couple months at most. Luckily, it’s mid-September to early November, perhaps the finest six weeks in the high country.
That’s where I most memorably encountered these magnificent trees, in a remote wilderness timberline lake basin in British Columbia just above the U.S. border. We were at about 7,000 feet, camped beneath 9,000-foot pinnacles, my wilderness buddy David and me. Aside from scraggly alpine firs, the only trees were larches — and what amazing trees they were in this rocky, rugged environment.
Lean, shapely spires that seemed like dancers ready to twirl, they evinced grace and elegance in every way. It was late September, winter lurked behind the ridgelines above, and the larches had just donned the butterscotch hue their needles adopt before dropping in October or November. They are the only deciduous conifer that sport a color change in autumn – thus comprising almost the entire fall finery fling in the Northwest high country, save random blueberry patches.
Larches are good for other things than visual admiration, too. One had come down years ago in a winter storm about 20 yards from camp, and it proved to be the best timberline wood ever for the evening fire over which we grilled the golden trout we’d caught that day.
I mentioned this to David as dusk dropped and we were mesmerized by the clear topaz flames.
“Maybe you should pack some up to take home,” he suggested.
Well, no. Our journey here had been nine miles of hell up and down steep sawback ridges with huge, mind-twisting exposure, and some experiences are best left to savor right where you find them. Thus, my fond regard for larches, which are neither numerous nor as conspicuously flamboyant as the famous autumn-color trees of the East Coast.
Drive the Maine shore in early October and your eyes may literally wince at the shocking vermilion and tangerine colors of the maples and other deciduous trees standing almost everywhere, like on township streets just down the road from Walmart. No such ubiquity attends to western larches, our trees, but their relative rarity helps make them all the more memorable. Of our two species, Western and alpine, more people are familiar with the first, which is found from about 2,000 feet up past 5,000. Alpine larches, the kind we admired in B.C., take over above their larger and more common cousins up to timberline.
Both trees sport a marvelous palette for months.
In spring they seem almost painterly in soft emerald foliage as their needles emerge and lengthen. Through summer, larches are a brighter viridescent green than the pines and firs they share the mountains with, and in autumn the saffron glow of their dying, soon-shed needles stands out distinctly within the surrounding forests. A mid-elevation pine/fir forest with larches sprinkled throughout is one of America’s most distinctive autumn landscape sights, tall butterscotch beacons shining out like lighthouse beams.
They are shapely trees, too; tall and narrow like obelisks in the woods. Inveterate tree-gawk-
ers such as me can often pick them out from a near distance simply by their statuesque form. They are the Audrey Hepburns of intermountain woodlands, except for a few grandfather trees in favorable sites that reach 200 feet in height and may be 5 feet in diameter. Larch wood is denser and stronger than most other Northwest mountain trees, and makes superb lumber and firewood. The trees are more fire-resistant than their neighboring lodgepole pines and subalpine firs.
All the above virtues describe alpine larch, at reduced scale, with the added bonus that some older trees are multi-trunked, high mountain kings whose crowns have spread out a bit into sprays of feathery foliage.
Both types are among the very few conifers that shed their needles each fall, and in winter their leafless forms may look dead until you carefully study the lively, thin bark whose amber hue signifies years—decades—ahead and behind. Some Montana larches are a half-millennium old.
They are thus exceptional trees all around, and their character marks them as our own special autumn treasure. Yes, vine maples, black cottonwoods, rainforest dogwoods and dryland aspens all color up too. But only larches stand out amid the coniferous woodlands that occupy so much of the Northwest’s mountains. And in the high country, it’s just larches, period.
“Those who have come to know it [alpine larch] will long remember how its golden color highlights the high country at the close of summer,” wrote Stephen F. Arno in his definitive Northwest Trees guide, “how old lumpy larch limbs crackle in a mountain campfire, and how a soft breeze stirs the wispy boughs overhead, setting them in motion across a background of starlight.”
I’ve never been back to that awesome timberline lake in B.C., but I have ever since kept my eyes open for
larches wherever I go in the Northwest, a geographic term that almost exactly matches the distribution of alpine larches.
In times like these, to borrow a phrase from Dave Grohl, “exclusive” is a word so digitally deflated that it’s almost nonsense. It’s a vast universe; few things are actually exclusive.
But if you want to trek to a high-country basin and make camp amid the most wonderful alpine trees of all, you cannot do that east of the Mississippi, nor even east of the Continental Divide. You can’t even do it south of the Snake River. Western larches are more numerous, but still mostly trees of the coastal and inland Northwest. These are our trees, in other words. I spent the first 20 years of my outdoor life in the West traipsing the Colorado and New Mexico high country in the September time I favor — marvelous landscapes, but no shining butterscotch larches.
Almost any hike near timberline in the high country of the North Cascades, Selkirks and mountains of extreme southern B.C. will bring you to alpine larch territory. Cathedral Provincial Park, the Pasayten Wilderness and Glacier Peak Wilderness all hold these awesome trees, mostly on the east side of the Cascade divide. Cascade Pass is one such hike.
But you need not throw pack on back to spy Western larches, which are easy to see on many highway passes through the Cascade Range, including the North Cascades Highway, Stevens Pass, Satus Pass and Blewett Pass. Look for golden candles in the dark autumn woods, and treasure this unique, exclusive homegrown marvel of Northwest nature. x
Eric Lucas lives on a small farm on San Juan Island, where he grows organic hay, beans, corn, squash and apples.
By Mallorie Estenson
Photo by Matthew Tangeman
Not all guides are created equal. This fact becomes abundantly obvious when you have the pleasure of climbing, skiing or otherwise learning from someone who has invested the time and energy to hone their craft and obtain the credentials that reflect their commitment to professionalism.
The craft of mountain guiding has three main disciplines practiced around the world: skiing, rock climbing and alpine climbing. Alpine climbing requires the highest diversity of skillsets: glacier travel, ice climbing, rock climbing, navigation, interpretation of mountain weather and more.
The United States is a member country of the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) that ensures that credentialed guides of participating countries have sufficient skills and training to operate in mountainous terrain all over the world.
The organization training and representing American mountain guides is the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA). When an American mountain guide is certified as a rock, ski and alpine guide, they’re commonly referred to as an IFMGA guide, or an American Mountain Guide. However, it is possible for a guide to be singleor dual-discipline certified as well. If a guide wishes to work in an IFMGA member country, they must be IFMGA-certified.
Unlike attending school, learning skills and then taking a job, in order to take the AMGA courses that culminate into guiding credentials, guides must have significant discipline specific experience. For example, the introducto-
ry 10-day Rock Guide Course requires that guides have five years’ of climbing experience, have climbed 50 multipitch climbing routes, 10 traditional climbs requiring most of a day to complete, 10 routes rated 5.10a or harder, and more. To become a Certified Rock Guide, guides will have completed 26 days of training and exams, with a minimum number of days spent working in the field, guiding rock terrain and simultaneously having climbed a mix of aid, traditional and sport routes in time away from work. Credentials can be used as a lens into the experience of the person you might choose to hire.
Credentials aren’t everything because some guides have significant background and experience without the commensurate credentials. However, credentials lend themselves to making guides more marketable by communicating their skills and background. Similarly, members of the AMGA abide by a scope of practice that requires guides have commensurate training to work in specific types of terrain. More complex work assignments require more training, which ultimately helps guides to have more skills, more tools in their toolbox, and ideally an overall safer experience for both the client and the guide. If you’re seeking to build mountaineering and climbing skills with a mountain guide, inquire about your prospective guide’s credentials. If they’ve decided to pursue training through the AMGA, they’ll likely be glad you asked. The credentials aren’t cheap, nor do they come easy, but they’re a reflection of your guide’s commitment to providing the highest quality mountain experience possible.
BY NOLAN BAKER
While ski patrol has been present on Mt. Baker for nearly a century, it is only now been organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit for the first time in its storied history. Under its new moniker, the Mt. Baker Volunteer Association (MBVA) will hold its first fundraiser at Boundary Bay Brewery on Thursday, October 17, open to the public for $10.
MBVA director Krister Fast said that the organization’s large network of volunteers hopes to continue to provide top-notch care at Washington’s premiere ski area but needs the community’s help as costs continue to soar for training, supplies and equipment.
MBVA comprises roughly 285 volunteers making up ski patrol, aid room staff, Mountain Education Center staff, mountain hosts and community event hosts.
Ski patrol is the safety backbone on the mountain. Members respond to accidents, provide first aid and ensure the slopes are safe for the thousands of skiers and snowboards that flock to Mt. Baker Ski Area every winter.
Aid room staff are the first point of contact for those injured. Aid room staff provide medical assistance, assess injuries and coordinate with Whatcom County EMS for further care and transport.
The Mountain Education Center staff teach visitors about crucial mountain safety, proper equipment use, and the fragile environment of Mt. Baker and the North
Cascades. These staff are deeply passionate about educating others on the world of Mt. Baker Ski Area and can answer questions about the local environment, travel and safety on the mountain.
Mountain hosts are the face of Mt. Baker Ski Area, providing assistance and information to visitors. Community event staff help organize and execute the various events at the ski area that happen throughout the season, like the Legendary Banked Slalom.
All told, MBVA does anything from search and rescue and EMS to training and volunteer programs. As a nonprofit, MBVA relies on donations to provide top-notch training, vital supplies, and modern equipment to their team in order to foster a safe experience at Mt. Baker Ski Area.
The volunteer force ranges from age 20 to 80, with oldest MBVA member Bruce Rustad going on patrol for nearly six decades, Fast said.
What keeps somebody coming back to help out year after year? Fast said it’s the bonds shared between ski patrol members, and the impact that helping out can make. Fast knows of multiple ski patrol members who joined after being helped out on the mountain in previous seasons, inspired to give back through service.
“You can chalk it up to camaraderie and family,” Fast said.
Younger ski volunteers have gone on to careers in the medical and first responder fields, Fast said, and many continue to vol-
unteer to keep their skills sharp – even those who have moved on to desk jobs.
“A lot of people say they want to give back to the ski community,” Fast said. “You could be a woofer (wilderness first responder) or an EMT while you have a regular desk job back home and you just want to utilize the medical training you might have.”
No matter your reasons for joining – and yes, a season pass is often the main reason for many – Fast said having a registered nonprofit to organize under makes fundraising much more streamlined, and makes it easier for the public to support.
Rescue toboggans, which fetch for thousands of dollars, extensive training for dozens of search and rescue, EMS and other staff, and other equipment upgrades can stack up, Fast said.
“It takes a lot to be able to keep ski patrol and other parts of the volunteer association running at a top notch level,” Fast said.“With the proper training that we give to everybody, that keeps us all at the top of our game and I think that’s critical to keep ski patrol aiming for the highest standards.”
Proper training is crucial for a popular ski resort like Mt. Baker Ski Area, Fast said. The expectation of world class skiing should also come with an assurance of world class treatment if something goes wrong.
“When people are in trouble and need to get off the hill, or control bleeding or stabilize a broken bone of whatever the case may be, I think it’s in everybody’s interest to have a well-trained volunteer organization,” Fast said.
In preparation for the 2024/25 ski season, the fundraiser will be held on Thursday, October 17 at 5 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at mtbkaervolunteers.org, and the event will feature raffle items like a signature Mt. Baker-branded surfboard, a mountain bike frame from Transition, mountain guiding courses and much more.
Local staple Spaceband will perform live throughout the night, with brews, burgers, brats and more ready at Boundary Bay Brewery. Come on down for a night of music, fun, prizes, all going towards the cause of keeping people safe on our favorite mountain. x
RESCUE OPERATION SUPPORTED BY A VOLUNTEER GROUP
BY JOSHUA KORNFELD
Shortly after 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 3, Burien resident Lindsay Foster found herself in need of help after she broke her leg hiking with friends.
Foster is an avid hiker and has been backpacking for over six years. Before the incident, she was hiking with her friends on the Watson Anderson Lake Trail in the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. According to the Washington Trail Association, the trail is six miles with an elevation gain of 1,100 feet, the highest point being 4,900 feet.
“I heard a snap that I sort of thought was a tree branch, and then later I realized that there were no tree branches near me,” she said. “I didn’t even know that I’d done anything significant until I tried to stand up, and then I could feel it in my ankle, in addition to the pain, I could feel something very wrong.”
Foster’s friends decided to go and get help. She said she felt that one of the benefits of hiking on a relatively busy trail was that other people were around.
“It’s amazing, just one little misstep for me, a regular trail can snap your leg in half one day,” she said.
Foster said that she felt immense gratitude for the good Samaritans and Bellingham Mountain Rescue (BMR) personnel who took time out of their day to help her.
“My mind was very at ease the whole time that they knew what they were doing and that they were being super collaborative with each other, making sure everyone got to say kind of what they thought and make sure they weren’t overlooking anyone’s perspective,” she said.
Foster said she hadn’t heard of BMR before the August 3 incident and was impressed by their professionalism and dedication.
“If you’re going to hike in Washington, at all, you need to donate to search and rescue teams in the areas where you’ll be hiking. Every year, I’ve already made donations to the teams that helped me, and I’ll be doing very generous donations every year now,” Foster said. “For me, it’s insurance, maybe you never need them to come to get you, but they need the resources to go get other people.”
BELLINGHAM MOUNTAIN RESCUE
Justin Mitchell is a mission coordinator with Bellingham Mountain Rescue, a volunteer organization that organizes community members to respond to search and rescue missions. BMR was first on scene for Foster.
Mitchell has been a volunteer with both BMR and Mt. Baker Ski Patrol for 22 years. He began his search and rescue work when he encountered a hiker needing assistance. Without any formal training, he used his mountaineering experience to help the injured hiker. Afterward, he joined Mt. Baker Ski Patrol to get better training and experience.
Mitchell said that BMR typically responds to 15 to 25 rescues every year. The summer months are often their busiest, with roughly three to four rescues a month.
Mitchell said they recruit “outdoorsy” people with a wide range of backgrounds but a unified calling to help those in need. They look for members with basic mountaineering and climbing experience who can manage
three to four miles and not end up being part of the rescue.
During the August 3 operation, Mitchell developed a plan on how to respond with his fellow BMR team members to the mission.
“I liked the idea of sending a trail runner ahead with light medical stuff and a radio, so they can get eyes on the patient, do an assessment, and then be able to report back what’s going on,” he said.
For hikers exploring the backcountry, Mitchell recommends carrying a satellite emergency locator device which can provide rescuers with coordinates and make finding patients easier. He also recommends leaving a detailed map of where hikers intend to go and when they plan to return. That way, on the off chance they don’t return, others can notify 911.
Mitchell discussed the importance of outdoors enthusiasts and rookie hikers alike to spend time planning before an emergency occurs.
“They need to be prepared because it takes us time to mobilize. So we need them to carry the 10 essentials and be ready to be there for a few hours while we mobilize and we get to their location,” he said.
Mitchell said that he feels it’s important for people to get outside and enjoy the outdoors.
“We are in tumultuous, polarized times, and that’s what I like about rescue because when you’re out there and people are outdoors, you’re not thinking about all the stresses of work and politics and global economic issues,” He said. “You are just one with nature. And I want to be able to support people doing that. ”
ROLE OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE
When members of the public in Whatcom County call 911 and need emergency search and rescue assistance, callers are connected with the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO).
WCSO has three deputies who serve as incident commanders for local search and rescue operations throughout the county, Deb Slater, public information officer with Whatcom County Sheriff Office wrote in an email to Mount Baker Experience.
“WCSO begins the investigation and determines the needed resources. The SAR coordinator then requests those resources from the volunteers from the appropriate SAR unit,” Slater wrote.
For Foster, Bellingham Mountain Rescue and Skagit Mountain Rescue both responded to the incident, Slater said.
“In all SAR missions, WCSO is the lead agency overseeing the incident, with the help and expertise of the Whatcom County Search and Rescue (WCSAR) leaders, who are all volunteers,” Slater wrote.
Slater said that WCSO received 45 SAR calls from January to August 10. However, not all calls result in a SAR operation.
“You can be as careful as possible, and there’s still a possibility that one day you’re just going to step wrong and you’re going to need some help,” Foster said.
To learn more about Bellingham Mountain Rescue or to make donations, visit their website https://rb.gy/7z1ssk x
Lindsay Foster, (far right) takes a picture with her friends at Anderson Watson Lake trail // August 2 roughly 24 hours before injuring her leg.
Bellingham Mountain Rescue volunteers rescued and transported Foster down the trailhead on August 3 // Photo courtesy of Frankie Estep.
Bellingham Mountain Rescue members stabilized Foster’s leg on August 3, // Photo courtesy of Frankie Estep.
Clockwise from top: Climbing the southeast face of Mt. Buckner, North Cascades. Photo by Jason Hummel. | Sunset on Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park.
Photo by Nolan Baker. | Darren Berrecloth and KC Deane riding at Brundage Mountain in McCall, Idaho. Photo by Grant Gunderson.
Page 22: Clockwise from top left: KC Deane, Scott Laughland biking through rice paddies in Tokamachi, Japan. Photo by Grant Gunderson. | Ashton Richie ascends Boston Glacier in the North Cascades. Ashton Richie walks his bike before his ascent. Photos by Jason Hummel. | A summer gathering near Artist Point. Photo by Jasmine Long
Page 23: Clockwise from left: Approaching the southeast face of Mt. Booker, North Cascades. Twilight behind Mt. Buckner, North Cascades. Photos by Jason Hummel. | Aleah Bucknum and Matthew Tangeman bouldering in Icicle Canyon, Washington. Photos by Matthew Tangeman.
Page 24: From left: Wing foiling at Clayton Beach, Bellingham. Photo by Aaron Knapp. | KC Deane and Jon Hansen biking in Bellingham, WA. Photo by Grant Gunderson. | Ashton Richie and Carl Simpson walk their bikes towards Johannesburg Mountain, North Cascades. Photo by Jason Hummel.
Page 25: Aleah Bucknum boulders near Leavenworth, Washington. Photo by Matthew Tangeman. | Preparing for descent. Photo by Jason Hummel. | Sophia Rouches biking Martin Lakes and Foggy Dew trails, Washington. Photo by Grant Gunderson.
Page 26: Clockwise from top: KC Deane riding at Brundage Mountain in McCall, Idaho. Photo by Grant Gunderson. | Ashton Richie descends Peak 8080, North Cascades. Photo by Jason Hummel. | Photo by Matthew Tangeman. Page 27: Photos by Jason Hummel.
Page 28: Clockwise from top left: North Cascades from Leavenworth, Washington. Late night bouldering. Photos by Matthew Tangeman. | Fall colors in the North Cascades. Photo by Radka Chapin. | A wing foil powwow near Clayton Beach. Photo by Ethan Fritzberg.
BENEFIT FUNDRAISER WINTER START OF WINTER
and the Mt Baker Volunteer Association (includes Volunteer Ski Patrol, Mountain Hosts, Aid Room and Event Volunteers) for a fun evening to support efforts ensuring the safety and enjoyment of all visitors to the Mt Baker Ski Area.
Great food, beer, and lots of chances for adventure gear and other incredible raffle and silent auction prizes benefitting the Mt Baker Volunteer Association.
Thursday, October 17 l 5-9 PM WHEN
Mount Baker Experience caught up with Western Washington University business student and music industry promoter Forrest Templin to discuss Bellingham Exit, a “multi-day, multi-stage, multi-sensory” music festival running October 10-13 all across downtown Bellingham. Venues include Mount Baker Theatre, Wild Buffalo, The Shakedown, The Blue Room, and nearly a dozen more.
This year’s lineup features music, comedy, drag, visual artists and more, including the inimitable PNW-native Reggie Watts, Australian psych-rockers Babe Rainbow, and drag/musical duo Boulet Brothers. Full festival passes and individual show tickets are on sale now at bellinghamexit.com.
Q: What brought you to Bellingham?
A: The industry of outdoor sports and physical community spaces. Working at the Transition outpost right when they started and Backcountry Essentials and just being able to meet people and find opportunities to serve new friends in Bellingham was a blast.
A year after I moved here I enrolled at Western [Washington University], that was another eye-opening experience that let me know I should be here.
What did you do at Transition?
At Transition I was working on bikes and selling really nice mountain bikes, which isn’t the dream, but making it an approachable space was important to me because it was so freshly built, and almost too nice for a mountain bike company. We made videos and highlighted
Forrest Templin Q&A
by Nolan Baker
the staff and basically just did grassroots promotion and events at the outpost. That established it as a community space for beers and bikes, and then there was some music, which was probably my first space doing live music.
How did you get involved with Northwest Tune-Up and the local music scene?
It was fun [at Transition], it was cool to bring people together over bikes and shared connections and passions. But after coming back to school and leaving Transition, I got an opportunity to run the Instagram for Northwest Tune-Up the second year of that signature event. They pretty much gave me the keys to the castle, let me run wild, and it was a very creative challenge.
The bike industry in Bellingham wasn’t really sure who was behind it, but I was running around town putting up posters, making silly videos and riding my bike around town – trying to find ways to create the experience ahead of time and really set the tone for how the whole festival was going to go.
With that bike, music, beer festival and connecting all those different communities and seeing it happen, it really opened my perspective of how we can do entertainment here in Bellingham.
Right after that, we started Noisey Waters Mural Festival, launched the first lineup for Bellingham Exit, then started the promotion for that, which was very rogue and grassroots and scrappy. Our goal was 6,500 people and we reached almost 8,000 and broke even our first year.
Why are physical spaces, and bringing people together in those spaces, so important to you?
I think we all came from that initial childhood of playing with our friends, outside, without phones, right? Then as we age, we get addicted to social media. It was really frustrating to see that take over our lives at such a young age. I like Instagram, the purpose of it is to build relationships that are real. So, I think having an opportunity to promote festivals was like a large-scale relationship building experience that works. Festivals are also a place-making opportunity. At Trackside [Brewing] we had the ability to claim that space for the community. Having people there listening
to music and enjoying themselves.
But for Bellingham Exit, its’ multiple spaces, right? Exit doesn’t really have a central structure. I’m a fan of the decentralized … cultural experience. It’s like a themed weekend where we’re inspiring businesses to eventually host their own shows. The most exciting point about this year is that these are established physical community spaces already, and we’re just pushing the limit of what they think they typically do.
“Exit the Ordinary” is really just that opportunity.
Did you have to convince any businesses that this is a good idea for them?
Not really, there wasn’t any convincing, which is great because I’m not the best persuader. I’m just excited.
I was watching a show at Wild Buffalo and I walked outside and saw, at Mod Tattoo, a handmade Bellingham Exit, French Riviera-style, sign with our brand colors and everything. We didn’t have a show there, so I ran down there and it’s a beautiful jazz band from Europe that just happened to be in town.
I asked who made the sign, because it wasn’t me, and they said a friend made it that day, just for them to put outside the venue. They asked, “Isn’t that cool?” and I thought to myself, this is more than cool, this is the goal.
Being sandwiched between two major cities, is there anything uniquely challenging about booking artists to play in Bellingham?
I try to stay out of the booking as much as I can, because if I had it my way, everybody would be booked, and that can’t happen.
I think that it’s most definitely a hustle and it’s difficult to balance booking local artists, focusing and prioritizing local artist needs, and bringing an expanded scope and scale of headline bills for Exit. But the cool blend between that with all ages venues and non-traditional venues - let’s say Mallards Ice Cream - that’s an opportunity for our local artists to get really creative in the spaces that they play. Exit is really unique and an opportunity for a different type of exposure and I think that’s really meaningful.
In Seattle they had the Busker Festival, That’s some-
thing I draw a lot of inspiration from. It’s a beautiful idea for a do-it-yourself, rogue festival like that, allowing the audience to find back doors and side entries. Not necessarily skirting any type of system, but making it your own and producing your own event in the way that you want.
Speaking of the production aspect, you mentioned in previous years you’ve been running around town making signs and doing guerilla and traditional marketing, how has it been going so far this year?
We’ve expanded and dialed in the way that we communicate and the roles that we get to play. We’re at about 15 staff this year, and that’s music industry and stage veterans. Mark and his art installation and stage production team is what I’m most excited to see. Mark and our team have a warehouse in Ferndale where they work for about a month, full-time, leading up to the event, handcrafting all the stages.
Everything we do here is handcrafted. Handcrafted signs, DIY graffiti art, guerilla marketing, and of course we have traditional advertising and stages, but I think that’s more the foundation.
It can be challenging to unify a decentralized festival like Exit, but at the same time, opening the door for so many different artists and bands to make a space their
own is really fun to see.
Our booking team, led by Hunter Motto who works with the Crocodile in Seattle, they’ve been really keyed in with finding something for everybody, and they’re doubling down on what we have from last year in terms of diversity of genres, comedy, drag, rock and hip hop.
This year we have significantly more volunteers - I’d say upwards of 250 to 300 - to help our street team of 20.
Doing a festival that way sounds, frankly, hard. Is it worth doing it so differently?
It’s definitely worth it.
Most of my work is all before the event, and the journey to get to opening night - and the harder that I work and push leading up to it - makes the event that much more meaningful.
For a festival like Northwest Tune-Up, the target demographic is clearly the mountain biker, the beer aficionado, the music lover. Is there a target demo for Bellingham Exit?
No, this is more open, more interpretive. The target demo is music fanatics that are interested in a week’s worth of shows.
For individual shows, it’s either fans of that artist or
fans of that venue specifically. And, it’s people looking for a new experience. To try something untraditional that also draws elements from established venues and established artists, but combining things in a new way.
Which artists are you most excited for?
Reggie Watts, and Boulet Brothers. That will be huge. I’m super excited for the Babe Rainbow show, personally. I just think they’re such a unique band that suits The Shakedown venue - and Bellingham - perfectly.
Last year we had Yumi Zouma from New Zealand, and I gave them some commuter bikes so they could go ride bikes down at the waterfront. That’s awesome because they got to go downtown and ride the pump track for a little while. They were like, “We want to move here.” I told them they should because we would love to hear them play more.
I’m excited for Laura Orso, she’s a really unique digital creator and punchline comic on Instagram who’s now transitioned onto the big stage. I think that’s a really unique opportunity for her specifically.
What else should people know before going to Bellingham Exit?
Just get ready to “Exit the Ordinary.” x
A Kayak Journey
By Mike Nolan
Photos by Jay Nolan
Jay and Charlene planned to get away for a kayak adventure. They had a week off in July and their kids would be staying with grandparents. One of the joys of kayaking for the couple was the complete separation from work and their busy list of daily responsibilities – now they just needed a place to get away to.
“Where should we go?” Charlene asked.
“Somewhere on Vancouver Island,” Jay suggested. Charlene pulled out her phone and started searching. “Tofino comes up a lot. Looks beautiful … and popular.”
“That’s funny,” Jay said. “When I told someone we wanted to get away for a kayak trip, they asked me, ‘Have you been to Tofino?’ They were very enthusiastic about it. However,” Jay continued, “if we go to a destination, I’ll have a checklist in my mind of where to go and what to see. For me, this trip needs a different mindset. It needs to be about slowing down and not having a checklist. I want scenery in a destination that doesn’t involve hustle or bustle.”
“You’re right. Let’s do our own thing.” Charlene pulled up a map of Vancouver Island, which they started poring over.
“Lots of jagged, interesting-looking coastline,” Jay said. “Lakes on the island too.”
“We can make it a multi-day trip,” Charlene suggested, “since we’ve got a week.”
They narrowed it down to two locations, one freshwater and one saltwater, and decided to spend a couple of nights at each spot. The first was Buttle
Lake, roughly in the center of Vancouver Island, in Strathcona Provincial Park. The second was Telegraph Cove, in the northern portion of Vancouver Island along the Johnstone Strait. Both offered “aquatic campsites” accessible only by water; Jay and Charlene would drive, then kayak to camp.
Getting an early morning start, the couple drove to Strathcona Provincial Park, and found a place to launch on the southeast side of the lake. They got in their kayaks; the lake was calm, the sky partially overcast. “Perfect weather,” Jay said.
Buttle Lake is a lengthy waterway: fourteen miles long and about a mile wide.
They spent the morning exploring the lakeshore, eventual-
ly settling on a campsite with an appealing beach. Jay strung up a tarp as rain slowly began to fall, then got their burner stove going and made coffee.
As experienced backpackers, Jay and Charlene were accustomed to traveling light. The extra room in the kayaks however, allowed them to camp with far more creature comforts, enjoying gear like collapsible camp chairs.
Snug under the tarp, they sipped coffee and watched the rain gently pepper the water. The remote sandbar they camped on provided the perfect view.
“This is the pace I was looking for,” Jay said, watching the clouds move across the mountains.
They didn’t see another person for two days.
On the next leg of the trip, Jay and Charlene drove to Port McNeill. After stocking up on provisions, they parked close to Telegraph Cove (a community of about 20 inhabitants), where they launched. They were comfortable with their kayaks, but their previous experience had all been freshwater, so they approached this new leg respectfully.
“Do we have the skills to handle this?” Charlene asked. “I mean, we’re basically advanced beginners, right?”
“We can test ourselves,” Jay answered, “but we need to be ready to ditch out and go get a hotel if conditions aren’t right.”
“As long as we don’t push beyond what we’re capable of …
Prior to launching, they took time to go over the weather forecast – especially checking the wind
– and looked over the tide table. Jay and Charlene started off from Telegraph Cove in morning fog, which tended to burn off by late afternoon. Around here it’s called ‘sea smoke,’ because it can be seen moving up hillsides, like smoke from a brush fire, dissipating as it travels.
They launched in still, flat water with almost no visibility. “It’s like paddling over glass,” Charlene said, as two curious harbor seals glided beneath them.
They paddled into Cormorant Channel Marine Provincial Park, cruising through the Pearse Islands. Small islands greeted them with beaches that were pretty rough – mostly sharp basalt or granite among scattered logs. They paddled around the islands until they found a beach that had space for a tent, settling on one in a relatively protected bay.
After stowing their gear, Jay and Charlene explored the shoreline. Again, they felt as if they had the island to themselves; they wouldn’t see anyone else until a fishing boat passed by the next day.
When they got in their kayaks again, they stayed close together, paddling side by side and listening for a boat’s motor or a ship’s bell. “I’m impressed with the strong tidal current,” Charlene said.
“Knowing about the current is one thing,” Jay called out, “but experiencing it is another.”
They plotted their course to go with the tide, riding it out in one direction, then crossing back to camp on the slack tide. Timing was crucial – a point reinforced later in the day on another, more random paddle. The fog cleared. The water remained crystal clear.
“Let’s go visit over there.” Charlene pointed across the water to some nearby islands. They could see salmon jumping and, if they looked beneath the surface, bullwhip kelp all the way down to its roots; however, try as they may, they were unable to paddle against the strong current.
“We can’t leave the island!” Jay said in disbelief.
They didn’t mind staying put. They saw seals, sea otters, and whales. From camp they watched ravens wheeling overhead, as bald eagles squawked in their peculiar language. Once again, they shifted gears and focused on enjoying their surroundings.
Jay and Charlene spent the rest of the day exploring the island on foot. Wind ruffled the water as the sun danced in and out of the clouds. They got comfortable and agreed that by slowing down, they were meeting their needs.
After two very relaxed days, Jay and Charlene kayaked back through Cormorant Channel to Port McNeill. On the drive home, Charlene said, “Buttle Lake and the Pearse Islands offered just the right balance – remote, but not totally isolated.”
Jay smiled. “We’ll do Tofino another time.” This trip had been more about slowing down.
“My biggest takeaway,” Charlene said, “is don’t worry, take your time, nothing is improved by hurrying.”
We all know the phrase it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. This time, Jay and Charlene successfully embodied that. x
Camping Cousins
STORY BY TONY MOCERI
PHOTOS BY ELDAD EFENDI
The relationship between cousins is special. Cousins have the bond of family without the pressure or baggage. They are friends with a little something extra that makes age, distance, and time irrelevant. This interaction can regularly be seen at family reunions and holiday dinners, but the connection between cousins grows even deeper when dropped in the woods.
The author’s and photographer’s camping adventures are the story of two sets of cousins. There is one set of cousins by blood, who laugh and play together. They don’t see each other daily, but new worlds are created when they are brought together. Imaginations soar, and there are giggles galore. It’s always as though no time has passed as they head off to have their fun.
The second set of cousins are made of oil and steel. It’s a connection of quirks that bonds them together. There are sure to be creaks and groans at their age, but they always rise to the occasion when asked to go camping. They are there for each other in the struggle as they navigate hills and potholes. What they lack in distance, they make up for in power. The connection of being together lets the other one know they will get their humans back safely.
The adventures between these two sets of cousins are special, forged in similarities and sealed with differences. The girls have a gap in age and personality. They attend separate schools and have different interests, but when together, it just works.
The vans – that second set of cousins – while close in age and on the surface look to be similar, do hide some differences. One is operating on the idea that slow and steady wins the race. She is rolling with her original parts, struggling up hills with the pop of her engine. The one wearing white hides a new engine below, so it roars up hills, having to wait for their cousin. The extra power is reassuring should the old, gold one need a tow, but distance is an issue with its ability to store fuel running low.
The two sets of cousins are always excited to set off on an adventure with their drivers, no matter the destination. They all know the journey is the experience since the destination is likely not set. Exploring roads
in an old Volkswagen Westfalia is what it’s all about. When traveling in a compact home on wheels, it’s all about seeing what there is to see along the way, knowing that wherever you stop will feel like home. The lack of speed by one and distance by the other means that straying too far from their home in the foothills of Mt. Baker is unlikely.
That is just fine for the girls who can get a little antsy while their dads explore the roads, looking for the perfect camping spot that has likely already been taken.
What’s for sure is that the journey will involve beautiful views, an abundance of trees, and rocking out with the windows down. With the music blaring from the half-blown speakers, we explore our area, hopefully finding what will be our new favorite spot. Fortunately for the dads, the pressure is off because it’s the cousins who guarantee that the time together will be a success.
When we finally find a spot, the doors slide open, and the girls rush out. The play begins with exploring the area, and then quickly, their own new world is created. The dads pop the tops and prepare for what they are most excited about, cooking outside. Fires are made, and cook stoves are set up in preparation for a night of eating and drinking while we reminisce about our own good times as we watch the cousins create their very own “good times.” While meant for breakfast, usually the box of donuts is the first thing broken
into, and with little restraint, we all devour the contents. We dig into the cooler with sticky fingers because now, as always, is the right time for a bacon snack. There is something special about bacon cooked outdoors. Grabbed straight out of the pan with the grease still popping, it’s worth the scalds on the arms and a burnt tongue. With bellies bursting, the unencumbered play continues. There are no screens to draw attention away from what’s most important. There are just sticks, rocks, and forts on wheels to inspire the play.
While excursions can end in less than impressive destinations, with the two sets of cousins fed up with their drivers exploring, other times we have found ourselves along flowing streams just asking to be played in. Since the girls are used to hanging with their dads, they know what this means. Out of the vans come the gold pans and fly rods. The gold pans offer the allure of riches as we search for nuggets while finding no more than flecks. The fly rods offer bursts of excitement when sparkling trout are pulled from a stream. While the dads could continue these activities for hours, the girls quickly tire and switch to splashing in the water and bounding from rock to rock.
Once the fun in the water has been had, it’s back to the fire to continue stuffing our faces. While I’m sure we remembered to give the girls some fruits and vegetables,
smores are next on the menu. Before smores can be made, the mission of having the perfect roasting stick must commence. This is a combination of finding a green branch that can withstand the heat of the fire, having it long enough to keep the hand from the flame, but short enough to have control. Once the perfect point is carved, we are ready to roast. When it was first said, “patience is a virtue,” they were most likely talking about the making of smores. From the careful roasting to the melting of the chocolate, it’s a delicate process that, on our campouts, more often than not, ends in a flaming marshmallow rather than the perfect golden brown.
With cousins and dads, now sufficiently full and covered in marshmallow drippings, we sit around the fire telling jokes and laughing the night away. When the sun goes down and stars and mosquitos come out, we know it’s time to retreat to our vans. There are few places cozier than a VW Westfalia. With night lights, we read ourselves to sleep, drifting off to the sounds of the nearby creek. This setting is the perfect recipe for a good night’s sleep.
In the morning, if we haven’t eaten it all, there will be more bacon and donuts before the real adventure of the trip begins: seeing if the vans will start. They usually do, and we dance our way back to reality, dreaming of the next time all the cousins go camping. x
La Marmotte race
BY DALE NOTTINGHAM
The Plan
Once a year, I set out on a sacred pilgrimage. Not to the Hajj – walking in circles makes me dizzy – but further west, to France and the imposing amphitheater of the French Alps, where I pit my fast-waning physical attributes against some of Europe’s most dedicated and socially maladjusted amateur cyclists. Every summer, this awe-inspiring alpine arena plays host to the formidable cycling challenge known as La Marmotte; a 175-km race over some of cycling’s most iconic mountains, including the Col du Galibier and Alpe d’Huez, both of which hold mythical status in the history of the Tour de France, cycling’s premier race for the world’s most dedicated and socially maladjusted professional cyclists.
This year, in an effort to exact a greater return on my prodigious travel investment, I decide to double up and further submit myself to the debilitating discomfort afforded by the fearsome Tour du Mont Blanc, which as the name subtly hints at, involves a tour around, well, Mont Blanc. But this is no ordinary tour – there are no cheery guides holding up an umbrella, forcing everyone to hold hands and wear a sticker with their first name on it. On the contrary, the Tour du Mont Blanc serves up a grueling 330 km cycling odyssey, taking in a phone directory of fearsome mountains, totaling more than 8,000 meters of climbing. This is, by any measure, a proper test of your will to wear the Lycra.
The Journey
When you live in Vietnam, the most challenging aspect of international travel is invariably getting onto the plane. Navigating the check-in, passport control and security check requires a level of patience that would test a dead person. Simply booking an air ticket is apparently not a sufficient indicator of your desire to exit the country; you need to manifestly demonstrate that you’re prepared to suffer if you want to be let out. And so it was for me, as I inched my way towards my seat on the plane to freedom.
Long-haul flights are always difficult for me. Being financially compromised, I usually end up in a seat within alarming aromatic prox-
imity to the toilet, which, although unpleasant, does at least help to mask the smell of the food.
I also struggle to sleep on planes, suffering, as I do, from an irrational fear that someone will place a brown paper bag over my head and draw a happy face on it. I therefore typically spend much of the flight sifting through the inflight entertainment options, trying to find a film that hasn’t been “edited for content” down into a trailer. Eventually, I’ll give up, close my eyes and try to meditate, although in reality, I just sit there, wondering when someone is going to place a paper bag over my head and draw a happy face on it.
France
Despite the title, I arrive in Switzerland. But at least it’s the French speaking bit. As it happens, the location of La Marmotte is considerably closer to Switzerland than to most of France, which is fine as it means the baggage handlers are not on strike. A short transfer on a train and a bus sees me arrive in the picturesque little town of Bourg d’Oisans, the host of the great race. The plan was to arrive a couple of days before the race, to afford me sufficient time to shake off my jet lag and remember how to put my bike back together. Unfortunately for me, while I was busy pretending to meditate near the toilet on the plane, the organizers surreptitiously decided to bring the race forward by a day, owing to snap elections and an acceptance that the French struggle to multitask. With unseemly haste, I reassemble my bike to look more or less as it did before I took it all apart and set off for the pre-race registration. Tomorrow, we ride!
La Marmotte
This is the third year I have participated in this epic cycling endeavor. My first two attempts were most memorable for the astonishing summer heat and my own spectacular capitulation to bouts of cramp. I did manage to complete the race on both occasions, albeit in a state of such physical distress that, were I a horse, I would have been euthanized on the spot as an act of mercy. This year, in an effort to avoid the trauma of my previous indignities, I put myself through a grueling dietary and training regimen, which comprised mostly of eating large packets of peanuts and riding everywhere with the
photos courtesy of Louis Legon
brakes on. Time to race!
Unlike in previous years, the weather on the start line was decidedly chilly. True to form, I had somehow forgotten to pack anything for cold weather, so I stood on the grid shivering like a blancmange on a spin-dryer, jealously eying up the other riders, wrapped up nice and snug – and smug – in their gilets and wind jackets. But before I can finish cursing the lot of them, we are off!
The first half of the race passes off without incident, save for the sighting of a particularly distressed rider, a large gentleman, slumped at the side of the road, panting like a dog hanging out of a car window. Over the first climb we go and onto towards the mighty Col du Galibier. As we begin to ascend this beast of a mountain, I notice the weather turning colder and the wind picking up. At first, I barely notice the chill as I’m busting a gut just to turn the pedals up the steep incline and sweating like I’m stuck in a traffic jam on the way to my own wedding.
As we crest the summit of the mountain, however, everything changes. I immediately cool down, the wind turns gale force and little raindrops become large hailstones. I begin the 20-km descent off the Galibier, soaking wet, freezing cold, with no gilet or wind jacket to keep me warm. My whole body starts to shake violently, and I can barely feel my hands on the brakes. The blasting, icy wind is now almost blowing me off the road and the hailstones are stinging my eyes. As I creep precariously down the side of the mountain, one foot out of the pedals to stabilize myself, I spot stricken riders hunched on the roadside, sheltering behind rocks and bushes, waving their arms in extravagant circles, trying to get some circulation and feeling back into their fingers. It is at this moment I notice the front of my bike wobbling. At first, I think it is just from the violent shaking of my body but soon realize that I haven’t properly
assembled the front fork, which is now coming loose. Panic sets in, as I start to visualize some rather dramatic outcomes. But I figure that if I stop now, I will freeze to death on the side of this mountain. Better then, to edge my way slowly down the mountain, and reach lower, warmer climes, where I can regain the feeling in my hands and perhaps seek some technical assistance for my bicycle. And so, I continue on, meter by meter, numbed with cold, battered by the wind and petrified that my bike might spontaneously fall apart at any moment. The slowest, longest descent I will ever make.
Finally, I reach the bottom of the descent. By now my legs are cramping from the cold but my fingers have come back to life. As I reach flatter ground, I notice that the front of my bike isn’t wobbling as violently as on the downhill. I decide to ride on, easy enough to ride off the leg cramps but hard enough to get some warmth back into my body.
Only one climb to go. But it is no hill; it is Alpe d’Huez, the most famous climb in all of cycling. I settle into the effort: 21 hairpins, steep gradients, and a seemingly never-ending ascent into the sky. Battered, beaten riders litter the roadside; some resting, others walking, one lying prostrate on a wall. I know they will all somehow make it to the finish, however long it takes them, because they are cyclists, and this is La Marmotte and giving up is not an option.
I too eventually reach the top of the mountain and the finish line, where a compassionate volunteer places a medal around my neck and points me towards a pasta stand. I am exhausted but elated. I have dared and doubted. I have persevered and prevailed. It is my own little victory, of body and mind. And for every cyclist who crosses the line that day, it is exactly the same and yet also entirely different, for each and every one of them. I salute them all. x
Reviving Bay to Baker Trail
BY NOLAN BAKER
Bay to Baker Trail is a scenic recreational trail that – in theory – connects Bellingham Bay and the city to Mt. Baker and its foothill communities. The trail both highlights the natural beauty and diversity of the region, while also illustrating the local history of the area through its rails-to-trails conversions along the 74-mile route from the sea to the mountains.
There are, however, some major holes in this theory.
As it stands today, Bay to Baker trail is not complete. It never has been complete.
Segments of the promised trail do exist, with some existing for decades. But calling this trail “Bay to Baker” evokes a continuity that at the moment would be false, as any hiker or biker will have to take multiple detours avoiding busy highways, private property, and washed-out trails that once were.
Rebecca Boonstra has been executive director of the Mt. Baker Chamber of Commerce for 17 years, and walks the foothills trail system almost daily, but said the public is often confused because the trail that goes north from Maple Falls doesn’t link up with the trail that goes south from Glacier.
Both trails are part of the Bay to Baker Trail but serve only as local jaunts through the small foothill hamlets. A winter storm in 2015 washed out the trail near Warnick Bridge, and still the two trails remain isolated.
“It would be fantastic to have those two pieces link up,” Boonstra said. “I know there’s a lot of signage on the trail that says ‘To Glacier’ and people get a little bit confused because it doesn’t go to Glacier.”
Recreation opportunities in the foothills are plentiful, but often come with a very brief window of availability, Boonstra said. Summer comes and goes quickly in the Pacific Northwest, and the winter ski season can be shortened with little warning.
Having a year-round (or close to it, snowfall be damned) trail system for residents and guests of the foothills to use would be a massive boon to the community, Boonstra said.
“A lot of time we tell folks to hike Horseshoe Bend, our only year-round trail, and they go, ‘We already did that,’” Boonstra said. “People would be really excited for that connection, and we would love to put people on that trail.”
Whatcom County government has known about the popularity of Bay to Baker for years and has made efforts to get the community involved in the planning process. In 2004, the county released the Mt. Baker Foothills chain of trails concept plan, a sprawling, multi-agency roadmap to building a safe, accessible network of non-motorized trails connecting the foothills with the city of Bellingham.
The plan identified 38 “missing link” miles that were still needed to complete the 260mile network. In order to fully accomplish the goal of a nonstop Bay to Baker Trail, private land would need to be bought up by the right government agencies, and construction would need to begin. Behind that planning was the knowledge that this network would be built over decades. At the time, the Lynden Community Trail Connections Group
dubbed the project a “One Hundred Year Dream Trail.”
“I think most folks slid it to the back of the bookshelf and it didn’t grow legs,” Boonstra said of the concept plan.
Two decades later, after various land purchases, easement agreements and more community outreach, the vision is closer, but not yet complete.
Most recently, the city of Bellingham purchased 116 acres of land along Mt. Baker Highway from the state Department of Natural Resources for $2.19 million in June 2024 with funding from the Greenways Levy. That purchase will connect northeast Bellingham parks with the Bay to Baker Trail, meaning the portion of the trail that runs through the city is inching closer and closer to completion.
Bennett Knox, director for Whatcom County Parks and Recreation, said the trail will take new sources of funding and labor, and said it’s a priority for the county to both increase tourism and recreation dollars, while also building trails that help the everyday residents of the Mt. Baker foothills region.
Boonstra agrees.
“I think it would be so much fun to walk the dogs up to Glacier and then grab breakfast at Wake ‘N’ Bakery, right?” Boonstra wondered aloud. “If there’s pancakes at the end, I say, let’s do it.”
The Whatcom County comprehensive plan mentions building adequate trails, and growing access for existing trails throughout the region as a top priority for parks and recreation. Knox specifically mentioned the missing links between Glacier and Maple Falls as a priority for the county, with a new position opening in the department for a multi-modal trail planner, with a specific focus on east county, Knox said.
“We hope to be able to fill that position by the end of this year,” Knox said. The fact that the parks department is optimistic towards hiring a trail planner amid a county-wide hiring freeze speaks to the urgency of the Bay to Baker Trail, he said.
“Part of the reason we’re excited about this position is [because] we’re trying to be more intentional about our community outreach,”
Knox said. “We recognize that in order to implement Bay to Baker, it’s really going to take an effort to identify the needs, find additional sources of funding and tell the story of why this trail is important, not just as a recreational asset, but also as a multimodal asset to connect these communities.”
Knox said he hopes county parks can fulfill on the goals to better connect Bay to Baker, and then expand it so that more foothill communities can use the trail for safe, carbon-free transportation.
Bellingham’s Greenways Strategic Plan specifically recommends conducting property acquisitions like the June 2024 land purchase to continue to develop new parks and trails
“To do the entire chain of trails, Bay to Baker situation is huge,” Boonstra said. “It’s a project that will take decades if everything goes great. As time goes on, we’ll see how much dirt is actually going to move.”
Hopefully for the eager hikers and bikers of Whatcom County and beyond, there won’t be another two decades of waiting. x
Maps courtesy Whatcom County Parks and Recreation
Map courtesy Bellingham Parks and Recreation
Scenes from NORTHWEST TUNE-UP
Northwest Tune-Up brought throngs of beer lovers, bike riders, and eager dancers to Bellingham’s downtown waterfront for its third-ever weekend festival from July 12 to 14.
Dozens of local and internationally renowned artists played for massive crowds, including Cambodian rock band Dengue Fever, indie pop singer Indigo De Souza, rapper Lupe Fiasco and bluegrass aficionados Yonder Mountain String Band.
In addition to loads of gear demos, a shuttle taking hundreds of bikers from downtown to Galbraith Mountain for pristine shredding, and the solid lineup of artists, NWTU also involved other local venues to host after parties that lasted long into the night.
Check out these scenes from the 2024 festival, and clear your calendar for the upcoming Bellingham Exit music festival, October 10-13 at multiple venues around Bellingham. x
PHOTOS BY JASMINE LONG
Book Reviews by Meg Olson
Three books celebrating the enjoyment of birding and connecting to nature, no matter who or where we are.
The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Amy Tan
Alfred A. Knopf 2024
We start our fiveyear sojourn in Amy Tan’s backyard with an eyeball-to-eyeball encounter with a hummingbird who eats from a tiny feeder she holds in her hand. Tan is love struck.
Every entry is a miniature story with the strong characters we expect from Tan the novelist, mingled with drawings and notes from Tan the developing naturalist.
When she took up nature journaling in her mid-sixties it was at first limited to her “very birdy” backyard by Tan’s inability to drive and later by the COVID shutdown. This limited field of exploration combined with Tan’s mix of science, humor and strong emotion makes her stories alive and personal. There are the Windowsill Wars, initially dominated by a golden-crowned sparrow with a mean “jump-stomp” move who is eventually unseated by Family Quail. A murder of crows decamp when they suspect the murder of a crow (“It was Squawky, Jr.!”) after investigating a fake crow Tan hung upside down to discourage them from taking over the yard.
While most of the characters are the birds that visit her backyard, some of them are the people, most notably a “formerly annoying teenage girl,” Fiona Gillogly, who becomes Tan’s mentor and companion on explorations both in and beyond the backyard, and their nature journaling teacher John Muir “Jack” Laws.
A self-described obsessive, Tan includes in-depth informa-
tion about both nature-journaling and caring for wild birds in your yard: How to avoid window-strike fatalities, the best power food for hungry migrants (“just like the stuff Mom used to throw up for you!”), or what to do with an injured or ill bird.
Birding For Boomers
Sneed B. Collard III Mountaineers Books
2024
Sneed Collard dove into birding in his fifties, propelled by a young son with “serious avian interests” with whom he embarked on a Big Year adventure, seeing how many species they could identify in the U.S. and Canada in twelve months. A prolific author of science books for young readers, he had always figured it was something he’d do “later.” When he started suffering from hearing loss a year later, he had to choose between an activity he loved and loved sharing with his son, or hearing aids. The hearing aids won.
“Birding for Boomers” is a manifesto for birding despite barriers, and an exhortation to get out of your comfortable rut, no matter your age or ability, and reconnect with nature. It is also a compendium of all the odds and ends it’s helpful to know when getting started.
Beginning with basic gear and bird identification strategies, it takes you all the way to spotting scopes, bird photography, birding travel and conservation work. There are
sections for adaptations to help birders with hearing loss, vision loss, physical impairment, as well as social barriers to birding and the importance of making sure everyone is welcomed and supported in the birding community. From apps and podcasts to social media groups and advocacy associations, the book pulls together a wealth of information to make birding accessible to anyone, and give everyone their own way to enjoy the birds and protect their habitats.
The Kids’ Guide to Birds of Washington: Fun Facts, Activities and 88 Cool Birds
Stan Tekiela
AdventureKEEN
2024
Kids are natural observers and questioners, and this nifty and intuitive bird guide for young naturalists gives them answers to a whole lot of “what?” and “why?” questions about birds they’ll see on their explorations.
The meat of the guide is 88 birds, including ducks and raptors, organized by their “mostly” color. Each bird gets two pages, the first with a “look for…” clue and a picture and the second with information about where to find them, what they eat, how they nest and what sounds they make, as well as a “Stan’s Cool Stuff” section at the bottom.
The beginning of the guide also has basic information for a birder just starting out, and the book wraps up with family-friendly birding activities.
EATS & SLEEPS
EATS
BLAINE
PACKERS KITCHEN & BAR AT SEMIAHMOO RESORT
9565 Semiahmoo Parkway
360/318-2090
semiahmoo.com
Seaside dining with stunning views and a fresh menu of seafood, hand-crafted pizza, and local specialties.
BELLINGHAM
BELLINGHAM CIDER COMPANY
205 Prospect Street, Suite A105
360 /510-8494
bellinghamcider.com
A local craft cider producer and solar-powered restaurant with a full bar overlooking Bellingham Bay. Our food is prepped fresh and sourced from local farms and businesses.
BOUNDARY BAY BREWERY & BISTRO 1107 Railroad Ave
360/647-5593
bbaybrewery.com
A family-friendly community hub. Unwind in the taproom, bistro, deck or beer garden with handcrafted brews, fresh local food. Open every day at 11 a.m.
HOLLY’S MEAT PIES 4073 Hannegan Rd. 360/778-1111
hollysmeatpies.com
Washington’s original pasty company. Artisan hand pies made from scratch. Order online.
PENNY FARTHING BAR AND RESTAURANT AT CHUCKANUT
BAY DISTILLERY
1309 Cornwall Avenue
360/738-7179
chuckanutbaydistillery.com
Featuring a variety of delicious, shareable “small plate” dishes and creative craft cocktails. The perfect downtown Bellingham destination for any occasion.
BURLINGTON
SKAGIT’S OWN FISH MARKET
18042 Hwy 20
360/707-2722
skagitfish.com
Offering the highest quality in local seafood. Daily lunch specials freshly prepared. Local jams, jellies, salsas, honey and sauces.
CONCRETE
ANNIE’S PIZZA STATION
44568 State Route 20
360/853-7227
anniespizzastation.com
Family-owned pizza restaurant focusing on fresh, homemade quality Italian fare. Friendly service, helpful information and great food combine for an unforgettable experience.
DEMING
THE NORTH FORK BREWERY
6186 Mt. Baker Highway 360/599-2337
northforkbrewery.com
Handcrafted beer and hand tossed pizza. Order online for to-go orders. New covered beer garden. Weekday Happy Hour Mon-Fri 12-5 p.m.
FERNDALE
SILVER REEF CASINO RESORT 4876 Haxton Way
866/383-0777
silverreefcasino.com
Diverse dining options from woodstone pizza to award-winning fine dining at The Steak House.
GLACIER
GRAHAMS RESTAURANT & BAR
9989 Mt Baker Hwy
360/599-3302
grahamsglacier.com
NW Craft Brews on tap, NW Comfort
Food with a culinary twist. Live music. Open 7 days a week at noon.
GUNNERS TEX MEX BBQ
9990 Mt. Baker Hwy
360/599-0783
gunnersbbq.com
Succulent, fresh smoked meats, order by the pound or dish. Burgers, tacos and vegan option. Beer, wine, craft cocktails.
EATS
WAKE ‘N BAKERY
6903 Bourne Street
360/599-9378
getsconed.com
Open daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. serving breakfast burritos & sandwiches, quiche, soup, paninis, and freshly baked goods. Savory and sweet gluten-free and vegan options. Organic espresso and coffee.
MOUNT VERNON
SKAGIT VALLEY FOOD CO-OP
202 S. 1st Street
360/336-9777
skagitfoodcoop.com
Deli food from scratch using fresh, quality ingredients, sourced from local and organic suppliers whenever possible. Entrees, side dishes, soups, salads, sandwiches, and handmade, organic ice cream. Vegan, vegetarian, raw, gluten-free, and whole food choices for every meal.
SLEEPS
BLAINE
SEMIAHMOO RESORT
4565 Semiahmoo Parkway
360/318-2000
semiahmoo.com
A casual northwest beach resort surrounded by the Salish Sea. An authentic Pacific Northwest experience for everyone –from families looking for a fun getaway to couples and friends seeking an easy-going retreat.
FERNDALE
SILVER REEF CASINO RESORT
4876 Haxton Way
866/383-0777
silverreefcasino.com
Exit 260 off I-5. 206 luxurious rooms or suites to make yourself feel at home with beautiful Mt. Baker views, complimentary breakfast, free WiFi.
GLACIER
LUXURY GETAWAYS
10005 Mt. Baker Hwy.
360/398-9590 or 877-90-BAKER
luxurygetaways.com
Redefining the cabin in the woods. Vacation rentals in the heart of the Mt. Baker Recreational Area – perfect for hitting the slopes or relaxing.
SERENE MOUNTAIN ESCAPES
360/961-0123
serenemountainescapes.com
Quality vacation rentals that sleep from 1-12 guests. Choose from pools, hot tubs, dog friendly & more.
THE KNOTTY LODGE
360/303-2887
VRBO.com/563675
Premier Mt. Baker vacation rental. 3BR, 2BA luxury timber home with modern amenities,
hot tub, WiFi, gourmet kitchen, fireplace, fire pit. Your perfect getaway base camp!
LYNDEN
THE INN AT LYNDEN 100 5th Street
360/746-8597
innatlynden.com
Your closest full service hotel to the Mt. Baker Ski Area. 35 luxury rooms in a historic building, close to shopping and restaurants. Less than 5 miles from the Canadian border.
MAPLE FALLS
MT. BAKER LODGING 7425 Mt. Baker Hwy. 800/709-7669
mtbakerlodging.com
Find your perfect accommodations - from rustic to luxury getaways, from studio to 12+ bedrooms. Open 7 days a week.
RACES, RUNS AND EVENTS
GOAT RUN (GREAT OLYMPIC ADVENTURE TRAIL RUN):
September 7. Port Angeles. Point-to-point half marathon, full marathon and 50k trail race that traverses Kelly Ridge between the Olympic National Park and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. More info: peninsulaadventuresports.com
CHUCKANUT CLASSIC:
September 7. Bellingham.
Mount Baker Bicycle Club’s signature ride. Pick your distance from a ten-mile family trail ride to the full century of 100 miles. More info: chuckanutclassic.org
SKAGIT FLATS:
September 8. Burlington.
Full and half marathon, and 5k. This marathon is the flattest Boston qualifier in all of Washington state. More info: skagitflats.skagitrunners.org
MT. BAKER SKI AREA SEASON LAUNCH PARTY:
September 12. Bellingham. Celebrate the launch of another winter season at Mt. Baker Ski Area. Free entry to Kulshan Trackside Beer Garden (all ages welcome) live music, games, prizes. More info: mtbaker.us
RUN WITH THE CHUMS:
September 14. Birch Bay. 12th annual 5k fun run & Smolt Sprint obstacle course celebrating healthy water, healthy habitat and healthy people. Free event with beautiful views of Birch Bay beaches and shoreline. More info: whatcomcd.org/run-with-the-chums
WHATCOM COUNTY FARM TOUR:
September 14. Bellingham. Meet the folks who grow and raise our food. Self-guided event to 16 participating farms. More info: sustainableconnections.org
MT. BAKER HILL CLIMB:
September 15. Glacier. Ascend 4,462 feet from Chair 9 in Glacier to Artist Point (5,140’ elevation) in 22 miles along the Mt. Baker Highway, one of the most scenic paved roads in the country. Steep elevation, but the views are stunning. Experience the agony and the ecstasy. More info: bakerhillclimb.com
SNOWBASH:
September 20. Seattle. Kick off the winter season and raise funds for the Northwest Avalanche Center. Evo Seattle. More info: nwac.us
BELLINGHAM BAY MARATHON:
September 22. Bellingham. Full and half marathon, 10k and 5k. Designed by runners for runners and walkers. Beautiful views of Bellingham Bay, San Juan Islands and North Cascade mountains. More info: bellinghambaymarathon.org
BIG HURT:
September 28. Port Angeles. A premier multi-sport race on the Olympic Peninsula. A four-leg test of endurance, strength and tenacity intertwined with the beauty of the North Olympic Peninsula. More info: bighurtpa.com
SKAGIT BIGFOOT FEST:
September 27-29. Mount Vernon. Believers, local beer, music, flannel, bigfoots, and good vibes only. And a 5k. More info: skagitbigfootfest.com
WHISTLER 50 RELAY & ULTRA:
October 5.
Something for runners of all abilites! From 10k to 50k, from first-time relay participants and beginner ultra-marathoners through to competitive athletes. More info: bcathletics.org/whistler50relayultra
BELLINGHAM SEAFEAST: October 5 & 6.
Festival highlights the local bounty harvested from the waters of the Pacific Northwest and celebrates the art, culture and history that has shaped our coastal community.
More info: Bellinghamseafeast.org
LUMMI ISLAND LOOP: October 6.
11k and 5k Run/Walk to benefit Lummi Island Foundation. Enjoy a Sunday morning loop of beautiful Lummi Island. More info: lummiislandfoundationforeducation.org
BELLINGHAM EXIT:
October 10-13.
Multi-stage, multi-sensory music , comedy and arts festival. A momentary exit from the ordinary.
More info: bellinghamexit.com
DRAYTON HARBOR OYSTER AND BLAINE HARBOR HARVEST FESTIVALS:
October 12. Blaine.
A day filled with local food and bounties from the sea. Live music, beer garden, and street fair.
More info: blainebythesea.com
MT BAKER VOLUNTEER ASSOCIATION BENEFIT:
October 17. Bellingham.
The Bellingham winter community comes together for super fun event and fundraiser for Mt Baker Volunteer Ski Patrol in the Beer Garden at Boundary Bay Brewery. Silent auction and raffles for outdoor gear and experiences. Space Band performing. More info: mtbakervolunteers.org
BLANCHARD BEAST TRAIL RACE:
October 19. Bellingham. Run the trails of Blanchard State Forest.
Approximately 10 miles, an exciting wooded run with over 2,000’ of elevation gain. Offers something in-between a 10k and half marathon for those interested in pushing their max distances or as a training run for something bigger. More info: gbrc.net
TRAILS TO TAPS RELAY:
October 20. Bellingham. Team up with friends and run from brewery to brewery with an after party at Boundary Bay Beer Garden. 8 stops at breweries over a 35 mile course. Teams of 4-8 runners. More info: trailstotapsrelay.com
25TH ANNUAL MT. BAKER FILM FEST:
October 24. Mount Baker Theatre Bellingham.
WARREN MILLER’S SEVENTY-FIVE:
November 8 in Bellingham. November 9 in Everett.
75th anniversary of the Warren Miller film legacy. The film showcases a diverse mix of snowsports icons, Olympic hopefuls, and emerging talent. More info: Bellingham, mountbakertheatre.com and Everett, theeveretttheatre.org
LUMMI ISLAND ARTISTS’ STUDIO TOUR:
November 9 & 10.
Self-guided tour to Lummi Island‘s artist studios showcasing paintings, jewelry, sculpture, photography, woodwork, quilts and much more. FB/Lummi Island Studio Tour
TURKEY TROT:
November 23. Bellingham. A 5k fun run/walk that all net proceeds benefit the Bellingham Food Bank. More info: gbrc.net
Showcasing some of the best films to recently come out of the Mt. Baker Ski Area and the greater independent ski and snowboard industry. For info: mtbakertheatre.com
SALT CREEK 24:
October 26-27. Port Angeles. The first of its kind on the Olympic Peninsula, this all-day, all-night event circles the 1.3-mile route around Salt Creek Recreation Area. Walking or running, solo or as a relay team, test your endurance and see how many laps you can make in 24 hours. More info: peninsulaadventuresports.com
x PARTING SHOT
KC Deane biking in Bellingham, Washington.
Photo by Grant Gunderson
