Baring is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 255 at the 2020 census, up from 220 at the 2010 census. It is located on U.S. Highway 2 about 23 miles (37 km) west of Stevens Pass, along a very flat and straight three-mile section of highway that has been dubbed the "Baring Straight", since US-2 is otherwise hilly and curvy through the mountains.
The settlement was first known as "Salmon", but by 1909 it was known as Baring.
Baring in 1912
U.S. Route 2 in Washington
U.S. Route 2 (US 2) is a component of the United States Numbered Highway System that connects the city of Everett in the U.S. state of Washington to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, with a separate segment that runs from Rouses Point, New York, to Houlton, Maine. Within Washington, the highway travels on a 326-mile-long (525 km) route that connects the western and eastern regions of the state as a part of the state highway system and the National Highway System. US 2 forms parts of two National Scenic Byways, the Stevens Pass Greenway from Monroe to Cashmere and the Coulee Corridor Scenic Byway near Coulee City, and an All-American Road named the International Selkirk Loop within Newport.
A reassurance shield on the Hewitt Avenue Trestle, carrying US 2 over the Snohomish River between Everett and Ebey Island.
Truck traffic on the Pine Canyon section of US 2 west of Waterville in rural Douglas County.
I-90, concurrent with US 2 and US 395, traveling east into Downtown Spokane