Ptarmigan Ridge in the Fog

I love a good alpine start. Getting up at an ungodly hour and driving out to a hike in the dark is a little rough, but the payoff is always worth it, regardless of the conditions. Even if the weather is terrible, I always feel like I accomplished something, even if the only thing I accomplished was getting an early start on the rest of my day.

In late August, I saw an interesting weather window in the forecast for a hike up to the Artist Point area near Mt. Baker. I like hiking on cooler days when I can, both because it’s more comfortable, but also because cooler days mean clouds, and clouds mean more interesting landscape photographs. I’ve been to Artist Point a million times, but on this day I decided to give the Ptarmigan Ridge trail a try for a hike, and start my day on some lakes in the vicinity for sunrise. So, a 1:30am wakeup it was, and after what seemed like an eternity I arrived at the parking lot to find it completely fogged in. The fog was thick too, which didn’t bode well for sunrise.

With the fog, it was time to activate plan B. Just below Artist Point is Picture Lake, aptly named as many visitors stop here during the day to take a picture of Mt. Shuksan over the lake. It’s a bit of a cliche picture spot, but on this morning, there was nobody, so I parked and walked out to a spot with a view of the lake. Only one other group arrived while I was there, but otherwise it was a peaceful morning watching the sun rise. Unfortunately the color never fully materialized, but I was determined to make the most of it, and so shot a series of long exposures with the clouds swirling around Mt. Shuksan. I really like how they turned out, and I like that I got something different than the average photo from here.

I shot some color images too, but I think black and white works a lot better for these. It focuses the viewer’s eye on the shape and texture of the clouds, which was what that morning was all about. It was fun watching the clouds change position on the summit and the ridges around the mountain, often from minute to minute. At one point, I thought I was done and packed up, but then the conditions changed again, so I hastily unpacked and shot some more. The lesson of course there is to never give up on a sunrise, which you’d think I’d have fully learned by now!

After the sun came up, I drove back up to the parking lot at Artist Point, hoping the fog had lifted, but no such luck. I actually think it got thicker. I’m not one to give up so easily, so I loaded my gear up and started my hike out towards Ptarmigan Ridge. The fog seemed to lift in a narrow elevation above and below the trail, and I was able to get some cool pictures of the trees in the fog below the trail.

After about a mile, the trail splits. The right fork heads towards the rest of the Chain Lakes Loop, a popular hike and a classic. The left fork heads towards Ptarmigan Ridge. At this point, I hadn’t seen a soul, and I enjoyed my foggy hike alone! Somehow, I had never been on this trail in all the years I’ve been coming here, so it was an exercise in discovery and route finding in the fog. There are parts of the trail that are in open dirt due to the volcanic nature of the rock, and although routefinding was tricky at times, I was able to stay on the trail. The landscape here was full of layers, accentuated by the fog. It felt like walking on the moon or the surface of Mars. Really unique and moody!

Eventually, I ran into the first groups of people leaving Camp Kaiser and Goat Lake, about 3-4 miles up from the parking lot. They all told me that the sunset and stars were great the night before, and the fog had come in this morning, so I guess the weather forecast had been partially right! As I climbed, the fog stayed thick, but occasionally broke out and gave me some fleeting views before closing in again. People hike Ptarmigan Ridge for the views, but on this day, I didn’t mind so much that I was in the fog. I even managed to find a couple of scenes that lended themselves to color photos, as up to this point I had been mostly shooting for black and white. The trail picture you see below isn’t tilted - the landscape really is that steep!

After a few miles of hiking, I reached the turnoff for Goat Lake, and decided to call it a day. I had pulled an updated weather forecast from my InReach which called for more of the same fog, and I had other obligations back in town. As I turned and headed down, I ran into maybe 3 or 4 other parties up until the junction with the Chain Lakes Trail, at which point the trail became a freeway. It always surprises me that so many people are willing to get out on a trail like that on a foggy day, but I guess everyone was out enjoying the fog too.

On my way back to the car, I took a detour to one of my secret lakes in the area. This is the lake where I shot the picture of the aurora with the tent that you can see in my portfolio. I’ve shot here many times over the years, in all kinds of conditions, but never in the fog, so I thought it would be cool to add a fog shot to my collection.

Despite the weather conditions, this was a great day in the mountains. You don’t always have to have blue skies and sun to have a nice day out. I’m happy I made the most of what I was given with the weather. And hey, even if I hadn’t made any pictures, it was still great to get out!