Mileage: 3.4+ miles RT (longer if you go to Artist Point first)
Elevation Gain/Highest: 1140ft/5240ft
Map: Green Trails No 14 Mount Shuksan
Favorite Eats After Hike: North Fork Brewery, Chair 9, Boundary Bay, Fiamma Burger, La Fiamma Wood Fire Pizza, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
Snowshoe Details:
Huntoon Point is a Kulshan Ridge extension of the iconic Artist Point, offering views further to the south and closer up to Shuksan and neighboring peaks. From Artist Point, the route continues along the ridge to the south, ending at a summit of about 5240ft with 360 degrees views of Mount Baker, Shuksan, Table Mountain, Baker Lake and even as far as Three Fingers and Mount Rainier.
My Hike:
4/6/2021, my GAIA
As I wrote on my Artist Point page, I finally had a blue sky day on Kulshan ridge! Camping in the Heather Meadows parking lot and rising with the sun, I was up to Artist Point by 7:30 with views galore.
From here I walked the undulating ridge half a mile towards the southeast, keeping away from the edge on my left and possible cornices that could drop with weight. There had not been significant snowfall recently so there were plenty of tracks to follow.
Approaching Huntoon Point, it appeared like a wall of snow to conquer (much better for glissading). But the trick was to circumnavigate it on the left and come out to a much more gradual slope for my ascent.
As I made my way up, I could tell someone had camped out at the summit so I did not pause long to take in the panoramic scene but found the perfect viewing point on the southern side with a direct view at Mount Baker for a snack.
From here I dropped down and made a loop that included the end of the ridge where I could gaze south at Baker Lake and the peaks beyond like Three Fingers and Mount Rainier. I reminisced on my hike on the other side of Mount Ann and Annette, Shannon Ridge, and realized it has been too long since I have been there.
Heading back, I looped around the edge of Huntoon Point and retraced my steps back down the ridge. Instead of going all the way back to where I had sharply ascended Kulshan Ridge, for my return trip I dropped down just a bit southeast of the Artist Point viewpoint to intersect and cross the hairpin turn of the road. The route then continued back on the level road below the ridge with slides creating a steep angle to traverse on (this is a risky area during higher avalanche conditions).
I eventually met up with where I had cut up for the ridge and I turned down towards the parking lot. When I reached the front country boundary again, I cut back down towards the Austin Pass picnic area and strolled back to the parking lot closer to Bagley Lakes for a 4 mile and 3.3 hour trip. The parking lot was just beginning to gather skiers and snowshoers for the day.
4/23/2017, my GAIA
We were up at the Mountaineers lodge for the weekend practicing our snow travel skills and today we got to do a short scramble up to Huntoon Point. We didn’t have our snowshoes because of the nature of the class but this is most definitely a snowshoe worthy trip.
The weather was less than ideal when we set up from the end of the parking lot but this is only way I have seen it up here and this is my 3rd attempt at views on this hike. There is still SO MUCH SNOW! Conditions made for plenty of postholing so we tried to stick to the road and established path as much as possible because the snow was much firmer there. Step off and you will be thigh deep without snowshoes. And it is that heavy, wet, sloppy kind of snow that will refreeze around your foot and stick you to your step in knee wrenching fashion. Fun times.
There are several paths to follow up from the road to Austin Pass at 4800ft, cutting that long switchback to the parking lot at Artist Point at 5100ft, depending on how steep you want to head up. The drifts of snow are high and it is easy to sink in if you venture off on your own.
We made it up to Kulshan ridge and headed east .7 miles towards Huntoon Point, careful to stay well clear of the cornices built up on the left side (we wanted to practice ice arrest on the way DOWN, not up). We did this gingerly since the edges of the snow were hard to see with the cloud and snow we were walking through.
We spent about 30 minutes at the top of Huntoon, imagining what the views would look like and preparing to glissade off the top. We had fun rolling snowballs down to slough off the loose snow on top, a kind of avalanche control.
On our way back, we were treated to a slight clearing and peeks at the surrounding mountains while we had fun finding slopes to glissade down, including the final stretch of road back to the parking lot as it offered the firmest snow and fastest speeds. So beautiful! And, we only saw a handful of other people today, it felt like we had the place to ourselves.
Directions: Take exit 255 off I-5 in Bellingham and head east on Mt. Baker Highway (SR 542) for 55 miles to the Artist Point parking lot at Heather Meadows. The trail begins at the southern end of the parking area near the restrooms (upper area).
For more snowshoes in the Pacific Northwest, click HERE.
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