Just about the prettiest place I've seen (so far) in Washington State is Heather Meadows, a subalpine setting between Mount Baker and Mt. Shuksan. . The fabulous peaks of Mount Shuksan are reflected in Picture Lake and in Highwood Lake. In Autumn, the colors are astounding and a road from Heather Meadows will lead you up to Artist Point, with amazing views of Mount Shuksan, Mount Baker and assorted panoramas.

I thought I'd keep track of our visits there by choosing one picture for this page each time. The photos are absolutely unretouched with no postprocessing.


1.
So far, I think this is my favorite picture. It was taken on my first trip to Heather Meadows and Artist Point, on October 7, 2000.

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2.
The next trip was on July 14, 2001. We were able to go right to the end of the road, but clouds blew in and out very quickly. I was lucky to get this picture.

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3.
We returned on October 6, 2001 - the colors were absolutely spectacular, however the sky was heavily clouded and we were unable to see the mountains.

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4.
We knew we wouldn't be able to reach Artist Point on April 20, 2002 but we wanted to have a look at the winter scenery at Heather Meadows. Because of the huge snowbanks, we were unable to take many pictures.

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5.
July 20, 2002 was a lovely day but amazingly, the road to the summit was still closed because of snow! Mount Shuksan was visible in all its glory.

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6.
On September 14, 2002 the skies were clear and blue, perfect for a visit to Artist Point. We were a week or two too early for the lovely colors, but the views of the mountains were well worth the trip.

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7.
A week later, on September 21, 2002 we returned to Artist Point to hike another of the trails there. The fall colors were not in evidence yet, but the day was glorious and we enjoyed our day.

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8.
And two weeks after that, on October 5, 2002 we return again, under heavy, gray skies and constant mist and drizzle. No mountains were visible but the Autumn colors were lovely.

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