Sunset on the High Divide

The High Divide is a fantastic trail along the north side of SR 542 in Whatcom County, just south of the Canadian border. The trail goes for miles along a ridgeline with expansive views of Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, and the Nooksack River Valley. It’s a great place to spot bears and other wildlife too.

This year, I was joined by friends Jon and Brian for an afternoon trip up to see if we could find a bear. A few years back, I camped here and had a bear friend in the meadow just below my tent, so I was eager to see if we would find more bears up there. We didn’t find any bears, unfortunately, but we did find about 3 million crickets in the meadows. Crickets were literally everywhere, and every time you took a step, thousands of them would jump in front of you. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s a good thing I’m not bothered by bugs!

Despite no bears and an obscene number of crickets, we did manage to catch a really lovely sunset. We even were able to see all the way down to Puget Sound from our vantage point, something I had never realized before! The late summer evening attracted a few other hikers to Excelsior Peak to our west, but other than that, we didn’t see anyone else!