One last trip of the year to Artist Point sounds nice, right? Maybe not next week

Crisp morning air. Fall colors showing. Brilliant blue, sunny skies.

Sounds like next week would be the the perfect time to play a little hooky from work or school with a mental health day, pack up the car, grab your hiking boots and camera and head up the Mount Baker Highway to Mt. Baker Ski Area and enjoy Artist Point one more time before the snow really starts to fall, right?

Sorry folks, but next week is not the time — the weather might be perfect and the colors might be spectacular, but the Mount Baker Highway won’t be open for sightseeing or hiking trips to the area.

The Washington State Department of Transportation announced in a press release Thursday that State Route 542 will be closed from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily Monday through Thursday, Oct. 1-4, at milepost 42 east of Glacier so that the Shuksan maintenance team can remove more than 70 hazard trees.

“We want to take them down before the snow starts and they fall unexpectedly,” the release said.

But to do so, WSDOT is telling people to plan to go a different day or before or after the work starts.

Crews also will continue fish passage work near milepost 32, west of Glacier, the release said, and some daytime single-lane closures and alternating traffic should be expected in the area.