Day 5: Stillaguamish river to Baker hot spring

August 20, 2011

I left the free campsite at 8:15. The weather was sunny and warm, but I had a slight headwind going up the Stillaguamish river, east towards Darrington.

After only 5 miles I took a long stop for breakfast #2 at the Oso general store. 31 months later, on March 22, 2014, the store and surrounding community were destroyed by a 7 million cubic yard mudslide that killed 43 people.

AP aerial photo of the aftermath of the March 22, 2014 landslide that buried highway 530 and destroyed Oso, Washington.

Stillaguamish river near Darrington. The mountains are starting to look glaciated.

Highway 530 has excellent views, a few gravel trucks, and moderate tourist traffic. But the shoulder varies - sometimes wide and sometimes nonexistent.

The Stillaguamish river valley has steep glaciated mountains on both sides.

Darrington is a logging town that is now reinventing itself as a tourist town and event destination. On the edge of town is the large festival grounds used for the Darrington Bluegrass Festival.

Indian canoes at the ranger station in Darrington.

At Darrington, highway 530 turns north and begins following the Sauk river downstream towards the Skagit river. Along the Sauk river I had my first glimpses of the brilliant white glacier-covered summit of 10,785-foot Mount Baker.

A few miles north of Darrington I turned left onto Concrete-Sauk Valley road, a no-traffic back road that goes to Concrete on the opposite side of the Skagit river from the state highways. I was elated to once again relax and enjoy the scenery with no concern for traffic. The road has much more shade than the state highway, plus views of the Skagit river and Mount Baker.

Skagit river and 10,785-foot Mount Baker. View from Concrete-Sauk Valley road.

Concrete-Sauk Valley road crosses the Skagit river and connects to highway 20 on the west side of Concrete. I went east a couple blocks, stocked up on groceries at the store across from the giant concrete grain elevators, then turned north onto Burpee Hill road which connects to Baker Lake road.

Burpee Hill road climbs 900 feet in 2 miles, then descends 200 feet to connect with Baker Lake road. I turned right, continuing north towards Baker Lake, Mount Baker, and Baker hot spring.

Baker Lake road goes along the west side of Baker Lake, so I expected to have some views of the lake. But the road was mostly 200 feet above the lake and the forest was so dense that I had no lake views at all. After several miles of monotonous forested hills I turned left onto gravel Forest Road 1130. The gravel road climbs steeply but is smooth enough that I didn't need to reduce tire pressure.

After 4 miles I turned right onto Forest Road 1144 and went downhill for half a mile to the Baker hot spring parking lot. I quickly set up a free campsite nearby, with mosquitoes swarming all around. The weather was unusually warm and humid. About 80F in the evening shade. I was almost out of water and the area is far above Swift Creek. I learned that a small cold spring is adjacent to Baker hot spring. So I walked the half mile trail to Baker for a soak and to filter water for drinking.

Baker hot spring has a relatively small flow, but the mudpot is big enough for at least 15 people to soak. It's 2 feet deep in the middle, with a silt-covered gravel bottom. Moving around in the pool stirs up the silt, which then settles on your body. After being in the sun all day the water temperature was about 104F. I soaked until it was dark and had to use my headnet to protect my head from the mosquitoes. As natural hot springs go, it's a below-average soak. The surrounding scenery isn't very inspiring and the weather was so warm and humid that hot water didn't have much appeal. It was a "new" hot spring for me, so I guess it was worth the 30 mile detour.

Today was unusually warm and humid with a high of 85F. I would have enjoyed the cycling and the hot spring much more if the weather was closer to normal.

I didn't originally plan to pedal all the way to Baker hot spring today. But I decided that free camping near Baker hot spring would solve the problem of all the campgrounds being full on a Saturday night. And camping at Baker hot spring will allow me to have both an evening soak and a morning soak.

After two very long days, tomorrow needs to be an easy rest day. And with such humid weather, a shower would be nice.

Distance: 74 mi. (118 km)
Climbing: 3626 ft. (1099 m)
Average Speed: 9.9 mph (15.8 km/h)
Hiking: 1 mi. (1.6 km)

Today's ride: 74 miles (119 km)
Total: 251 miles (404 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0