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Will be on Mt Baker 8/18-20. I have the 21 and 22 to explore. Thought about going to Goat Rocks. Any other ideas for places to go explore?

Not Goat Rocks. It's ok, but a long drive from Mt. Baker, like maybe 8 or more hours, and really not that spectacular.

I would say there is a lot to see in the North Cascades in the near vicinity of Mt. Baker. Here are a few suggestions with lots of latitude for technical difficulty, effort, and commitment ranging from easy snow/glacier climbs, easy rock scrambles, moderate alpine routes, hard alpine routes, and technical alpine big wall climbing as difficult as you want:

- Washington Pass area (Liberty Bell, North and South Early Winter Spires, Silver Star Peak, Wine Spires, Kangaroo Ridge area)

- Cascade Pass (Eldorado Peak, Sahale Peak, Forbidden Peak, Snow King Mt.)

- Other peaks on the Mt Baker Hwy. (Ruth Mountain, Mount Shuksan)

- The Central Cascades/Stuart Range would not be too far a drive, maybe 3 hours from Mt. Baker (Whitehorse, Three Fingers, Mt Stuart, Colchuck Peak, Dragontail Peak, Little Annapurna)

All of these would be much more accessible from Mt. Baker than Goat Rocks, super scenic and lots of options for fun climbing.

Goat Rocks are an old eroded volcano. Very pretty, and the "highest" portion of the PCT in Washington, but fairly tame in comparison to the North Cascades. Also a long, long way from there. It will take you almost the whole day on 8/21 to get there, so you'll really only have one day to explore. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "explore." If you want easy and spectacular hiking after a climb, then Cascade Pass/Sahale Arm is hard to beat. Boston Basin in the same area would be a very pretty to camp. If you wanted to fit in another climb, Mt. Shuksan, which is right next door to Baker, is a great 2-day objective. By way of the Sulphide Glacier, it is a very moderate glacier climb to the summit pyramid, which is steeper.

I have an enormous amount of respect for glaciers and generally do not ever recommend to anyone to solo or climb unroped on glaciers, but I have climbed unroped on Eldorado (East Ridge, past that I roped up), Ruth Glacier on Mt. Ruth, Sahale Peak via Sahale Arm, Mt Shuksan via Sulphide Glacier, and Colchuck Glacier.

This is not to say that I endorse this practice, just that I PERSONALLY felt good and wholesome soloing these routes that are all relatively non technical. That said, people have fallen into crevasses on Mt Ruth and had to be rescued and fallen to their deaths on Colchuck Glacier.

+1 for Washington Pass. I went there after taking an AAI Alpine Ice Climbing class on Mt. Baker (climbed S. Early Winter Spire). It's a spectacular area and just the drive and scenery are worthwhile, even if you don't climb anything.

Don't forget, you will be dealing with bad traffic once you get south of Burlington, close to Everett and will fight traffic all the way through Tacoma. What might be an 8+ hour drive from Mt. Baker to Goat Rocks in light traffic, could easily end up being a 12+ hour, traffic choked waste of your precious time.

I wouid say Colchuck peak (Alpine Lakes area) or Sahale Pk (North Cascades). Both can be done in a day, although Colchuck is a pretty long day (almost 6k of gain). I think any crevasses on these glaciers are small and/or completely visible. Very reasonable solos.

Thanks for all the suggestions. My daughter is flying in from Central America for a visit and I've changed my ticket to return on the 20th so I can see her a few days. I have climbed Colchuck Peak right after the road opened. I will keep these ideas for my next PNW trip and explore the North cascades.