I have resided in Washington State for almost a year and I've always wanted to check out Picture Lake along the Mt. Baker Highway. But, for some reason or another, I've never ended up making the 3-hour trip there from Seattle. When I did make the plan to have a trip the weather would become sour.
Picture Lake and Mount Shuksan at the peak of at this day's sunset
Finally, on one weekend the forecast looked decent enough for Picture Lake with a slight chance of showers later in the evening. The weather in the Pacific Northwest is conducive to creating the most colorful sunsets in the world. It also is one of the most unpredictable in the world. It was early in the fall and I figured, bad weather or not permitting, it was as good a time as any to finally make my way to the lake.
As you can imagine, the lake gets its moniker from the serendipitous way it reflects Mount Shuksan. Mt. Baker Highway also happens to be one of the most picturesque mountainous landscapes in North America.
Lucky the Corgi in Picture Lake
The lake's location, relative to Mt. Shuksan, is probably more ideal for sunrise if you wanted a more dramatic composition. To be honest, I rarely get up that early unless I was car or tent camping. Maybe another day, I'll do an overnighter and shoot the Milky Way and a sunrise over Picture Lake.
For this day, however, I will be shooting strictly for fall foliage and sunset.
Heading out towards the lake from Seattle, you will eventually see the majestic glacier-covered peak, Mt. Shuksan. Right under it is the world-renowned Mt. Baker Ski resort. I hope to snowboard here on the upcoming winter season and get a feel for the famed powder for myself. The highway climbs and then winds itself slowly around the bend and eventually loops around a parking lot with across a chalet.
Mount Baker Ski Area
Once you find a parking spot, you can meander over towards an ADA-accessible loop trail that has various platforms for viewing Mt. Shuksan and Picture Lake. At the time I was there, you couldn't wander off the trail because the fragile meadows are currently under repair.
Mt. Shuksan and Mt. Baker Ski Resort
While on this loop, keep an eye out for wild mountain blueberries, it was all over the place when I was there and still ripe (October). It's quite tasty - A caveat, Washington State Law requires that you have a permit when harvesting wild fruits.
Once you are done with the loop trail you can continue across the road and end up on another lake, called Highwood Lake. It's a much smaller lake, more like a pond than Picture Lake but equally, photo worthy. This lake also reflects Mt. Shuskan like a mirror. If Picture Lake is crowded with photographers, head down to this spot. You can probably get better and more unique photos than the more popular Picture Lake.
Mirror mirror on the wall. Who's the prettiest of them all? It's you Highwood Lake!
It took me about 3 hours to get to Picture Lake from Bellevue, Washington so I didn't have an entire day to devote to the area. However, Picture Lake and Highwood Lake are very small and the interpretive trail looping the two is barely even half a mile. I had a little over an hour before sunset so I took drove a little further up to see where the Mount Baker highway would go.
I got far up to a roadside stop and took several more photos along the ridge. If I followed this road all the way up, it would eventually take me to the Artist Point trail which would have been a cool adventure. But, I decided I'll save this hike for another day so I went back down the Picture Lake parking lot and decided to wait for the sunset.
You can get an awesome view of Heather Meadows if you continue to drive up the Mt. Bake
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