別了:炎熱和乾旱;歡迎:冰川和水溪 - July 4 Heliotrope Ridge Trail行

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Intimate ice is what this hike is all about. Follow a well-trodden path to the scoured world of the Coleman Glacier, the largest of Baker's dozen-plus glaciers. From along a steep heap of lateral moraine, stare down into a cavernous abyss of ice and compacted snow. Locate blue grottos in the crevasses of Baker's frozen icing. Come in July for the lilies, September for the berries, October for the quiet, but don't try this hike early in the season. The creeks are unbridged and are difficult enough to negotiate in dry periods.

After your initial shock at the size of the parking lot (this trail is the beginning of a popular climbing route too), enter cool hemlock forest and immediately drop to cross Grouse Creek, on a bridge thankfully. Now in the Mount Baker Wilderness (how many party-size violations can you spot?), the well-beaten path steadily climbs a bit before easing off.

Encounter the first of three cascading creeks that must be crossed, all sans pont. The second one is the most difficult. Trekking poles come in handy. The trail picks up the pace, once more steeply climbing, now alongside Kulshan Creek. The forest thins, revealing teaser views. At 2 miles pass a backcountry campsite (elev. 4700 ft), the former site of the Kulshan Cabin, a structure built in 1925 by the Mount Baker Club and used until the 1980s. Soon afterward, come to a junction.

Take the trail left; the trail right is a climbers route. As you travel through stunted evergreens, the incredible hulking Baker makes its presence known. Soon encounter the first of two challenging (potentially dangerous) crossings of braided Heliotrope Creek. Plan on getting your feet wet in icy-cold, rapidly moving waters. Be aware, too, that if it's a hot day your return will be even more difficult because of melting snows from above.

Once safely across, proceed through marmot-enhanced meadows to the hemlock-lined edge of Coleman's lateral moraine. Wow! Right below you, snaked out like an oversized ice-cream cone on its side, a massive glacier! Continue on scant path, climbing alongside the glacier up the moraine-using care and staying away from the edge-to a 5550-foot ledgy knoll.

Sit here in awe, gazing at the icy intricacies of the glacier. Rippled crevasses. Blue pools. Frozen portals. Be sure to look out at the alpine world around you too: Bastile Ridge just across the glacier, Golden Ears Mountain just across the border. And if you're wondering just what the heck a heliotrope is-it's a flower, one not native to the area. But early surveyors thought the native valerians looked awfully close.