November 19, 2004, Mt Baker - Railroad Grade

Drove to the trailhead and pushed snow in the Xterra all the way to the trailhead and arrived around 9am. WInd crusted snow in the meadows and skinned across the creeks with the one major crossing providing little problems.

Continued up the switchbacks into the upper meadows and towards high camp. The snow began to get heavier and crustier, making trail breaking a good workout. We were then followed by another group of 3 skiers and 2 dogs. The weather started to move in as up until that time it had been blue skies.



Decided to make a run down from the top of railroad grade and make our way down. My watch had show 200pm so I thought it would be best to head back (Not knowing that I had never reset my Suunto since "Fall Back"). The snow was bad skiing, but we managed to get some turns in with some flat light.

The ttack down throught the meadows and down the trail was fast and probably the most enjoyable part of the day. Back ot the car at 3pm (Actually 2pm)

We had originally thought about going to crag view and ski the squak glacier, but I had only beenb up that trail once before so I thought it might be difficult to follow in places and opted for the RR Grade. Unless you go higher, I don't advise it for a good day trip for turns.