Hiking near Artist Point just got a whole lot easier with this road now open
Backcountry hikers have easier access to several trails in the Mount Baker wilderness and sightseers will be able to watch alpenglow across the North Cascades at sunset, now that the road to Artist Point is open.
State Department of Transportation crews finished repairs on a crumbling section of road above Heather Meadows and opened the last 1.8 miles of Mount Baker Highway that leads to the popular scenic vista on Tuesday, Aug. 17.
Mount Baker Highway has been closed near Heather Meadows since Oct. 12, 2020, because a rock wall collapsed below the road.
Repairs weren’t made in the fall because the damage occurred so close to the likely seasonal road closure.
“Erosion below and behind the wall — built in the 1930s — requires extensive rehabilitation, but there is no current funding available for the long-term repairs,” WSDOT said in a statement Tuesday. “This summer contractor crews working for WSDOT worked to temporarily stabilize the slope and wall until funding becomes available for permanent repair work.”
Artist Point, at an altitude of some 5,000 feet, offers a 360-degree view that includes Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan and the high Cascades peaks.
It’s also the starting point for several summer hiking trails and a popular tourist destination.
Mount Baker Highway is closed annually near the ski area’s Heather Meadows base after the first significant snowfall in autumn.
Clearing efforts — which require skip loaders and dump trucks — usually take six to eight weeks.
But Mother Nature did most of the work this year, thanks to a pair of heatwaves in late June and early August that drove temperatures into the 90s and warmer.
“WSDOT crews say the heat certainly caused a significant amount of snowmelt and they are confident we will be able to have the road back open not long after the hillside stabilization is complete,” WSDOT spokesman Jordan Longacre told The Bellingham Herald in early July.
“There is 2 to 8 feet of snow still on the highway, but the maintenance crew report it to be melting at a good pace,” he said in an email.
This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 4:47 PM.
