Conditions change by the hour at elevation — always check the agency's own status page before you drive.
PassOpenings
Artist Point
Elev 5,160 ft

Artist Point

SR 542 End of the Mount Baker Highway, Washington

The road simply stops here, in a parking lot with Mount Shuksan on one side and Mount Baker on the other. Every summer WSDOT crews dig out the last 2.7 miles above Heather Meadows, and the day they break through has landed anywhere from mid-May to mid-August. In 1999, the winter Mount Baker set the world snowfall record, they never got through at all.

This year

Live plow-season reports load here. For today's conditions, go straight to WSDOT's status page.

Conditions change by the hour at 5,160 feet — check WSDOT's status page before you drive.

Usually open by
July 1
median of 22 years
Earliest ever
May 14
2015
Latest ever
August 17
2021
Usually closes
October 14
median of 21 years
The opening record, 2002–2026 One gate per year at the date the road fully opened — taller gates are dates that repeated. The orange gate is the median: July 1.
May Jun Jul Aug Opened May 14 — 2015 Opened June 9 — 2019 Opened June 10 — 2026 Opened June 21 — 2018, 2024 Opened June 23 — 2016 Opened June 27 — 2025 Opened June 29 — 2005, 2017 Opened June 30 — 2004 Opened July 1 — 2013, 2014 Opened July 14 — 2009 Opened July 15 — 2003 Opened July 18 — 2008 Opened July 24 — 2012 Opened July 27 — 2006 Opened July 28 — 2007 Opened July 30 — 2010 Opened August 9 — 2002 Opened August 13 — 2020 Opened August 17 — 2021 Median opening: July 1 across 22 years Median · July 1 Earliest · May 14, 2015 Latest · August 17, 2021

Usually opens around the start of July, though the last few years have come in June. Closes with the first real snowfall, usually the middle of October; three falls in the record it came in September. The winter closure covers the last 2.7 miles of SR 542 above Heather Meadows, from milepost 54.55 up to the Artist Point parking lot.

Will it be open for your trip?

If your dates start…The road was already open inThat's
June 153 of 22 years 14%
July 112 of 22 years 55%
July 1514 of 22 years 64%
August 119 of 22 years 86%
August 1521 of 22 years 95%
September 122 of 22 years 100%

Odds come from the full record below — past springs, not a promise about this one.

Every year on record

Year Opened Closed Notes
2026 June 10 —
2025 June 27 October 15
2024 June 21 October 16
2021 August 17 October 7 Repairs to a crumbling 1930s wall above Heather Meadows held the road shut until mid-August, and only the last 1.8 miles reopened.
2020 August 13 October 12 Closed early, before any snow, so crews could take down part of the failing wall above Heather Meadows.
2019 June 9 October 7
2018 June 21 October 28
2017 June 29 October 9
2016 June 23 October 14
2015 May 14 November 1 Earliest opening in WSDOT's record.
2014 July 1 October 23
2013 July 1 September 30
2012 July 24 October 16
2011 — October 26 Crews reached only the Heather Meadows visitor center, about a mile up, on Aug. 5; the road never opened all the way to Artist Point that summer.
2010 July 30 October 25
2009 July 14 September 29
2008 July 18 October 6
2007 July 28 September 27 Earliest closing in WSDOT's record.
2006 July 27 October 24
2005 June 29 October 3
2004 June 30 October 18
2003 July 15 October 10
2002 August 9 — WSDOT lists no closing date for that fall.
1999 — — Never opened. Mount Baker set the world snowfall record that winter.

Record drawn from WSDOT: Artist Point — history of opening and closing dates (archived October 2021; page since retired) · WSDOT news release: Road to Artist Point opens June 21, 2024 (archived) · WSDOT news release: Road to Artist Point closed for the season Oct. 16, 2024 (archived) · WSDOT news release: Road to Artist Point closes Oct. 15, 2025 (archived) · WSDOT news release: Road to Artist Point reopens June 10, 2026 . Last checked August 14, 2026.