Mount Baker
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Mount Baker rises to 3,287 m in Washington. Lahar Lookout stands 3,069 m to the south, 0.3 miles off. JCT SR 5 VIC BELLINGHAM TO AUSTIN PASS VIC MT BAKER passes 7.4 miles off.
The story
Mount Baker, also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan, is a 10,781-foot (3,286 m) active glacier-covered andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States. Mount Baker has the second-most thermally active crater in the Cascade Range after Mount St. Helens. About 30 miles (48 km) due east of the city of Bellingham, Whatcom County, Mount Baker is the youngest volcano in the Mount Baker volcanic field. While volcanism has persisted here for some 1.5 million years, the current volcanic cone is likely no more than 140,000 years old, and possibly no older than 80–90,000 years. Older volcanic edifices have mostly eroded away due to glaciation. After Mount Rainier, Mount Baker has the heaviest glacier cover of the Cascade Range volcanoes; the volume of snow and ice on Mount Baker, 0.43 cu mi (1.79 km3) is greater than that of all the other Cascades volcanoes (except Rainier) combined. It is also one of the snowiest places in the world; in 1999, Mount Baker Ski Area, located 9 mi (14.5 km) to the northeast, set the world record for recorded snowfall in a single season—1,140 in (29 m; 95 ft). Mount Baker is the third-highest mountain in Washington and the fifth-highest in the Cascade Range, if Little Tahoma Peak, a subpeak of Mount Rainier, and Shastina, a subpeak of Mount Shasta, are not counted. Located in the Mount Baker Wilderness, it is visible from much of Greater Victoria, Nanaimo, and Greater Vancouver in British Columbia, and to the south, from Seattle (and on clear days Tacoma) in Washington. Indigenous peoples have known the mountain for thousands of years, but the first written record of the mountain is from Spanish explorer Gonzalo Lopez de Haro, who mapped it in 1790 as Gran Montaña del Carmelo. The explorer George Vancouver later named the mountain for 3rd Lieutenant Joseph Baker of HMS Discovery, who saw it on April 30, 1792.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q594387, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Elevation
- 3287 m
How to reach it
- 7.4 mi off the JCT SR 5 VIC BELLINGHAM TO AUSTIN PASS VIC MT BAKER
- 16.1 mi off the JCT KEYSTONE FERRY ZONE WHIDBEY ISLAND TO JCT SR 153 VIC TWISP
- 17.1 mi off the JCT SR 530 VIC ARLINGTON TO CANADIAN BORDER
- 17.5 mi off the JCT SR 542 VIC KENDALL TO JCT SR 9 AT CANADIAN BORDER
Overlooks nearby
- Artist Point · 7 mi
- Nooksack Falls Viewpoint · 9 mi
- Viewpoint Dam · 17 mi
Named places within 25 miles
- Lahar Lookout: 0.3 mi
- Sherman Peak: 0.6 mi
- Colfax Peak: 1.4 mi
- Crag View: 1.8 mi
- Lincoln Peak: 2.1 mi
- Maple Creek Park: 15.7 mi
- Pressentin Ranch Conservation Area: 16.5 mi
- Liumchen Ecological Reserve: 16.7 mi
- Birdsview Elysium Conservation Easement: 17.1 mi
- Silver Lake Park: 17.8 mi
- Vogler Lake Public Access: 14.2 mi
- Lake Shannon Recreation Area: 15.8 mi
- Garden Club Park: 16.6 mi
- Veterans Memorial Park: 16.7 mi
- Upper Skagit Garden Park: 16.7 mi
- Mazama Falls: 6.1 mi
- Upper Morovitz Falls: 6.1 mi
- Rainbow Falls: 6.3 mi
- Lower Morovitz Falls: 6.4 mi
- Nooksack Falls: 8.9 mi
- Historic Galbraith Barn Ruins: 17.5 mi
- American Legion Tribute Memorial to Saxon cemetery veterans: 17.8 mi
- Cascade Trail: 19.1 mi
- Cascade Trail: 19.2 mi
- Cascade Trail: 19.4 mi
- Roman Wall: 0.4 mi
- Park Cliffs: 1.6 mi
- Lee Promontory: 2.5 mi
- The Palisades: 5.2 mi
- Winnies Slide: 9.8 mi
- Homespun Kinetic Art: 14.3 mi
- Lumberjack Mural: 16.7 mi
- Nooksack Totem Pole: 18.8 mi
- The Creation of Life Story Pole: 23.9 mi
- Mount Baker Vista: 4.7 mi
- Austin Pass Picnic Area: 8.0 mi
- Shuksan Picnic Area: 10.5 mi
- Skagit Aero Education Museum: 17.2 mi
- Black Mountain Forestry Center: 17.9 mi
- Lake Whatcom Steam Railway: 20.2 mi
- Baker Hot Springs: 6.5 mi
- Shadow of the Sentinels: 8.7 mi
- Angele Cupples Community Garden: 16.7 mi
Other summits around it
The highest named summits within 12.4 miles of Mount Baker. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lahar Lookout | S 171° | 3,069 m | 0.3 mi |
| Sherman Peak | S 178° | 3,020 m | 0.6 mi |
| Colfax Peak | WSW 255° | 2,851 m | 1.4 mi |
| Mount Shuksan | ENE 69° | 2,784 m | 10.4 mi |
| Lincoln Peak | WSW 254° | 2,695 m | 2.1 mi |
| Nooksack Tower | ENE 68° | 2,530 m | 11.2 mi |
| The Hourglass | ENE 71° | 2,419 m | 9.8 mi |
| Seward Peak | WSW 238° | 2,385 m | 2.4 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:11 | 18:39 | 19:20 |
| June solstice | 05:05 | 20:25 | 21:15 |
| September equinox | 06:55 | 18:25 | 19:07 |
| December solstice | 08:59 | 16:19 | 17:14 |
Local time (America/Vancouver).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: May–Sep.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 33 | 36 | 40 | 46 | 53 | 57 | 63 | 63 | 58 | 48 | 39 | 34 |
| Precip in | 15.3 | 8.8 | 10.4 | 6.7 | 4.5 | 3.3 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 4.8 | 10.5 | 16.0 | 14.1 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Upper Baker DAM, 10 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikipediaWikidataOpenStreetMap element node/268503104
Day trips start here
- Mount Baker · 0 mi
- Northwest Washington · 21 mi
- Sumas · 26 mi
- Sedro-Woolley · 27 mi
Take the scenic way to Mount Baker.
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