Hike the Fire and Ice Trail

Set within the Mount Baker hiking wonderland, the Fire & Ice Trail may be the easiest and most family friendly hike set within the park. About ½ mile beyond the Heather Meadows Ski Area and about a mile before Artists Point, you’ll encounter the sign for the Austin Pass Picnic Area. It’s a rather larger turnoff with a sizable parking lot just prior to a number of switchbacks, so it’s pretty tough to miss. The parking lot leads down to the Mt Baker Visitor Centre. Park as close to here as possible. As you exit your car and onto the trails, you’ll encounter options to enter the Bagley Lakes trailhead on your right and the Fire & Ice trailhead on your left. Go left.

The hike is a minuscule 0.5 miles and 100 feet of elevation. Yet don’t let the distance and elevation fool you. The landscape which you’ll walk through and the views you’ll have are nothing short of spectacular. As you progress down the trail, views of Table Mountain dominate the background . The first section of this trail is paved and will lead to a lookout point above Bagley Lakes. There will also be some interpretive information on the area. This includes the evolution of Table Mountain and other various fun facts. Cool info if you’re into that sort of thing.

As you progress further, you’ll encounter more views of Table Mountain along with wildflowers, meadows, & streams, before turning the corning and heading back towards the Visitor Centre. As you turn the corner, you’ll follow a small creek before going over a bridge and walking back to your starting point.  

As stated before, this is a simple, family friendly hike but it’s also wheelchair accessible for 0.2 miles of the trail. While it certainly pales in comparison to the high mileage, multi-day backpacking trails in this area, if you are looking for a simple and straightforward hike which won’t take much time and has spectacular views to boot, the Fire & Ice trail is a great option within Mount Baker.