On February 17th, Keiran, Natalie and I set forth to tour part of the lower Skagit Valley and Baker Lake. We headed first to Darrington for lunch, then on towards Concrete and thence Baker Lake.
Whitehorse Mountain and Ridge, as seen from SR530, a few miles before reaching Darrington.
We then stopped in Darrington for a "country lunch" - one that is quite large, but very enjoyable.
Keir and Nat in the diner's parking lot, with Whitehorse Mountain in the background.
From here we travelled along one of my favourite roads, that between Darrington and Rockport, then onto Concrete.
Part of the way up the hill from Concrete towards Baker Lake is a place to pull off the road and enjoy the view.
Keiran peering into the water at the Upper Baker Dam, which holds back Baker Lake. This is a hydro-electric dam. An overexposed Mt. Baker is in the background.
Looking back along Baker Lake, with the moon and aircraft vapour trail.
A very calm day, with reflections on the lake, and ice/frost on the shore.
Even though it was mid afternoon, these are icicles on the cliff at the shady (southern) end of the dam wall.
A close up view of some icicles.
Mt. Baker as seen from the boat launching area on Baker Lake. The wall at the bottom is another dam wall, to stop the water bypassing the main wall. There's also a pumping station on the other side to pump water that runs into a catch basement into the lake.
Mt. Shuksan, reflected in a somewhat less still Baker Lake.
A close up view of the peak.
A look along Boulder Creek to Mt. Baker.