Glacier, Washington, is more a crossroads than a town: a handful of buildings, a general store, a ranger station and a bridge, in a damp green valley where the pavement turns decisively toward the mountains. It is the last place of any kind on the Mount Baker Highway, which is why riders pause here. After this the road climbs for about twenty kilometres through old forest to the foot of a volcano, and nothing along the way is going to sell you a sandwich.
The highway follows the North Fork of the Nooksack River, which is a milky, glacier-fed colour for much of the year, and the first miles are a gentle ride through second-growth forest with the river in view. Nooksack Falls, a short way east, drops into a gorge beside the road, and you can look down from a fenced viewpoint. Beyond that the forest gets bigger, the moss gets thicker and the road starts to climb with a sequence of rolling bends that suit a relaxed pace. This is some of the wettest country in the lower forty-eight, so rain gear is not optional, and mist and cloud can erase the volcano completely.
The name belongs to the mountain's ice. Glacier is the old gateway to Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan, and the hamlet grew up to serve miners and loggers before it served hikers and skiers. The Mount Baker ski area up the road holds the world record for snowfall in a single season, 1,140 inches in 1998 and 1999, which is a fact that comes up quickly when you ask the locals about winter. In practice the upper part of the road is closed with snow for many months, and the final stretch to Artist Point usually opens only in July.
Plan to fill the tank at Bellingham or at the small towns of the Nooksack valley before you start east. The ride back down is easy enough for a tired rider, and the evening light along the river is excellent, with mist rising off the trees and the smell of wet cedar everywhere.