Vesper Peak on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. (National Forest Foundation)
The Mountain Loop Highway has been a popular recreation area since the 1930s. This week, the Forest Service and the National Forest Foundation announced the launch of a multi-year initiative to make some big improvements to trails, campgrounds, and other destinations along the route.
Mountain Loop Highway is the official name of a road between Granite Falls and Barlow Pass, and the unofficial collective name for a series of connected roads in Snohomish County that follow the south fork and the north fork of the Stillaguamish River, and part of the Sauk River, through the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The name “Mountain Loop Highway” first came into wide use in the 1950s, but advocates for its construction were calling it that as early as 1931.