Mt. Baker on the US/Canadian Border

I drove towards the beautiful, glacier-covered Mt. Baker, which was not visible from Sumas but magically appeared once I left town. The road wound around through the lush countryside of Eastern Washington and into the Mt. Baker foothills.

I pulled over at the first small town to check directions. A small car like mine with two 40-something guys pulled up next to me. I put down the passenger window because they looked like they wanted to say something.

“Hi m’am!” the driver exclaimed, grinning widely

Hey there, I answered.

“We pulled up because we wanted to get a closer look at your license plate. We didn’t recognize it. And, we noticed your car is completely loaded!”

I explained about the award-winning New Mexico license plate and my (almost) 3 months of travel. Turns out the guys are brothers. The driver had lived in Fairbanks and drove back and forth from Washington 3 times. So we chatted for quite a while. They were happy to hear that I was headed towards Mt. Baker and will be camping for a while in the area. They said that Mt. Baker Highway is open the whole way. Near the top, I would be driving through a wall/tunnel of snow. Sounds thrilling. I had no idea how interesting this area would be. Anyway, the guys had infectious smiles and were enthusiastic about my travels.

I pulled over at the second little town, mile marker 14 from Sumas, to scope out the library I had read about. It was closed on Sunday but I could tell it is a sweet place, set back under the trees. I also stopped by the Cafe/Grocery store and asked about Wi-Fi. Yes!!

“Can I come by for coffee and use your Wi-Fi. I have to get online every day this week.  I am camping nearby,” I asked politely.

“No problem, either here or in the store,” was the gracious reply.  

I am both relieved and overjoyed. My own hot spot did pick up a signal in the area, but with Wi-Fi I can do my course without any worry now about getting online. The library will work great too, but they have more limited hours than the cafe.

Back in the car and heading out towards the NFS campground, I passed two more small towns with stores and cafes. I didn’t stop this time but will the first time I need to post something.

I pulled into the campground, which is on the roaring Nooksack River. I can tell that it is glacier-fed by the color – a crystalline turquoise like I saw up in Alaska. I already knew that half the sites are first- come first-served and, as I expected, campers were leaving on a Sunday evening. I picked a nice, sunny spot away from the river. I don’t trust Tango around the fast-moving water so I set up just across from it. It has been a week (Hope, AK) since I set up the screen house, and I love having the time and space to spread out. For the first time, I did not have to use tent stakes and guy lines to keep the screen house secure. This deep forest is wind-free and the sky is quiet.

Tango seems to appreciate being out of the car again. He does not wander far but I know he loves his freedom. At the moment he is napping in the tent, an odd choice since the sun is shining and the tent must be warm.

The camping gods are smiling on us. In Alaska, usually I did not have access to running water, so I traveled with bottles and jugs of water. Here, I have a water faucet at one end of the campground and a solar-powered drinking fountain at the other. I love Washington State and it’s commitment to clean energy!

Life is good. Up next: work on my writing assignments each day and explore Mt. Baker.