Mt. Baker Highway: History – Ancient Volcano

Whatcom County’s most spectacular natural attraction is the glacier-covered volcano called Mount Baker. The mountain rises 10,778 feet above sea level in the center of the Mt. Baker Wilderness area. It is part of the North Cascades Mountain Range, which was formed when the Strait of Juan de Fuca tectonic plate pushed up underneath the North American plate eons ago.

Mount Baker was created from layers of mud, cinder and lava that hardened and were carved into jagged cliffs by giant glaciers during the Ice Age. Though perpetually covered in snow and ice, it is the second most active volcano in the Cascade Range, the U.S. Forest Service reports (Mount St. Helens is the first).

Temperatures in the Mt. Baker area range from 70s with clear skies in the summer to upper 20s with rain and snow through the winter. Annual rainfall in the lowlands is 30 to 50 inches. At higher elevations, precipitation ranges from 70 to 140 inches.

In 1999, Mt.Baker set the new world’s record for the most snowfall ever measured in a single season– 1,140 inches (2,895.6 centimeters)!

Mt. Baker has worn several appellations in its 400,000 years. Long before white settlers came, Nooksack Indians called it quck-sman-ik, meaning “white mountain”. The Lummi Indians near Bellingham Bay called it kulshan, meaning “broken off.” Presumably, they were referring to the frequent volcanic activity.

English explorer Captain George Vancouver rededicated the mountain while charting the region in 1792. He named it for Lt. Joseph Baker, a young officer in his command who spotted the peak while their sloop “Discovery” was sailing off the coast of Washington, near Dungeness Bay.

The last 28 miles of the 58-mile long Mt. Baker Highway lie within the Mt. Baker-Snoqualamie National Forest. Set aside as part of the Washington Forest Reserve in 1897, its name was changed to Mt. Baker National Forest in 1924. In 1974, Mt. Baker National Forest and a northern section of the Snoqualmie National Forest were combined. These lands fall under the jurisdiction of the Mount Baker Ranger District.

The 534,334 acres in the ranger district allow for a variety of year-round recreational opportunities. Visitors can hike, camp, ride horses, fish, kayak and raft the Nooksack River, climb glaciers and ski. In summer, 65,000 people come to hike the trails. In the winter, the Mt. Baker Ski Area lures visitors with an annual average snowfall of 595 inches.

Congress designated another 117,900 acres adjacent to the national forest lands as Mount Baker Wilderness in 1984. The Wilderness areas surround the volcanic dome of Mt. Baker and are accessible by more than 50 miles of trails, but no roads. Development is prohibited here, and regulations apply to use. The U.S. Forest Service’s motto for recreational users is ‘Walk softly, take only photographs and leave only footprints.”