Fred Beavon Member
Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 48 | TRs | Pics Location: Edmonds, WA |
Stewart Mountain, 3040'+, USGS Lawrence, was my objective for yesterday, but I hesitated going here having little information to go on. The book Hiking Whatcom County suggests parking at the North Lake Whatcom Park trailhead and using a gated logging road to access the crest of Stewart, so that's what I did, mostly pushing my bike uphill. One soon comes to what I would guess are the most outstanding views of Lake Whatcom available anywhere and where I'm sure most people turn around.
Continuing on, one eventually comes to a junction with two roads on the left. The first left heads up to a dead end where active logging was taking place. It was interesting watching how quickly they can take down the trees. Taking the second left, I soon passed a gate and shortly thereafter took a left fork uphill to 3087', USGS Lake Whatcom. It's about five miles and two hours to 3087'. Hoping it had 400 feet of prominence, I took about a hundred foot detour to its top. From here, it's about 4 more miles along the main road north along the ridge to Stewart. There were just a few inconsequential icy and/or snowy spots en route. The few side roads I took by mistake quickly deadended. Along the way, there are good views down into the valley east and across to the Twin Sisters to take your mind away from the rocky road. At one signed intersection take the logical left turn onto 4400, rather than go downhill east on 4000. Soon after winding the bend around Smith Creek, I ditched the bike just under 2700' and went north up a steep embankment to what appeared to be a little open area above and continued on to the summit. The brush was not near as bad as it appeared it might be. Surprisingly, I passed a cat track and then an overgrown road in the few hundred feet to the summit. Even more surprisingly, while walking east along the overgrown road to find the best route to continue on up, I came across what could've been an old trail sign on a solid post beside what seemed to be a barely discernable route to the summit. Whatever had been stapled to it is now long since gone, though there are still some old ribbons attached to it.
Back at home, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that 3087' is Haner Mountain, otherwise known as Whacme Mountain at Northwest Peakbaggers Asylum. 3/23/05
|