It was one of the longest summers ever for hiking in the Mount Baker wilderness
Weekend snowfall closed the the final 2.7 miles of Mount Baker Highway on Sunday, isolating the popular Artist Point lookout for the winter season.
State Department of Transportation crews have locked a seasonal gate on the Mount Baker Highway near the Bagley Lakes trailhead at Heather Meadows, WSDOT spokeswoman Andrea Petrich said in a statement Sunday.
“Travelers can still access the area on foot, with snowshoes or fat-tire bicycles from the closure point,” Petrich said. “Anyone traveling into this area during the fall, winter and spring should be aware of quickly changing conditions and can check-in with the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Ranger District before heading out..”
Several inches of snow fell the higher elevations of the Mount Baker wilderness, according to video and photos posted at the Whatcom County Weather page on Facebook.
More snow was forecast for Monday and Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
With a comparatively warm and dry October, the first snows came late to the North Cascades high country, giving those who enjoy the summer hiking season a total of 130 days of vehicle access to the trails around Artist Point, according to a WSDOT statement.
An average of 660 cars per day travel to the 5,220-foot vista when the road is passable , The Bellingham Herald reported earlier this year.
When the road opened for the summer hiking season on June 21 this year, it was only the second time since records started being kept in 2002 that the road opened before the start of summer.
Petrich said that 130 days is the second-longest summer hiking season ever.
She said the road was open was 171 days in the summer of 2015, during a three-year El Niño weather pattern.
Only 303 inches of snow fell during the winter of 2014-2015, according to Mt. Baker Ski Area records.
An average of 669 inches of snow has fallen annually since the 2000-2001 season, the ski area reports.
Last year, 844 inches of snow fell, making it one of the ski area’s top 10 snowfall seasons.
Mt. Baker Ski Area holds the world record for seasonal snowfall, with 1,140 inches in the winter of 1998-1999.
That’s 95 feet, 6 feet shorter than the Herald Building and 5 feet shorter than Mount Baker Theater.
Mount Baker Highway — which is state Highway 542 — is plowed through the winter to just above the Mt. Baker Ski Area.
Seasonal snow and ice make the road unsafe, according to an Oct. 18 statement from WSDOT.