[yew]

This TR is a quick copy & paste from my outdoors blog so some of the wording may sound a little weird... Last few years we could've been skiing near Mt Baker this time of the year. This autumn's weather has been mild so far. The only time it has been a little cold is when it's dry. The snowline in the Cascades goes up to over 5000 feet elevation much of the time when it rains. There's only less than a foot of snow at Mt Baker Ski Area as of yesterday 12/06/08. When it's like this, it's good conditions for a dayhike on a beach, in town or in the foothills. Last Sunday, on 11/30/08, we hiked up the gated powerline corridor road from the North Shore Lake Whatcom trailhead outside of Bellingham. Elvis did this hike last spring, methinks and did a TR on it. There was a brief break in the rain this afternoon so we had to get to the woods for atleast a few hours. This hike is Hike 47, Stewart Mountain, in the "Lowlands & Foothills" chapter of Ken Wilcox's Hiking Whatcom County (5th edition). There's a short stretch of county park land near the gate but beyond that it's state DNR and probably some private timber company land too. It's a typical Pacific Northwest logging road that passes through second growth forests of varying ages.

young forest in western Washington is good ruffed grouse habitat esp. if it has an edge like an old or gated gravel logging road

gated logging road hiking in the woods above Lake Whatcom Washington

My GWP bird dog got birdy about 3/4 mile in. A ruffed grouse flushed up from the side of the road into a tree far away. There's a clearcut about a year old (?) about 1.5 miles in from the yellow County gate. There are burnt slash piles and leave tree signs in the unit. The smell of wet slash piles brought me back to my 'ole firefighting days.

mist lifting from a recent logging operation on Washington state DNR land in western Washington

burnt slash pile on Washington DNR land in recent logged area east of Lake Whatcom. Looks bad now but it'll grow back soon and it's a lot better than houses and driveways.

There was a flowering lupine on the side of the road!! Sorry no pictures. A wildflower blooming in late November? Amazing! Why?! Have you ever seen this? The powerline corridor road re-enters forest, then comes out under the open under the powerlines, We hiked left on a new road to a new berm. The South Branch of Smith Creek raged below. The road then switchbacks right/west and ends under the powerlines. This is almost at a highpoint in the ridge. There is a good view here. You can see the Olympic Mountains, much of Bellingham and Lake Whatcom partially shrouded with foggy clouds, Lookout Mtn, the Anacortes refinery and the lowlands around Burlington.

Olympic Mtns, lowlands near Burlington and Lookout Mtn from powerlines on Stewart Mtn

Lake Whatcom and Bellingham from Stewart Mtn powerline corridor

To the northeast is Stewart Mtn's highest knob at 3050' which is more timbered land covered with second growth forest. I want to get up here really bad, possibly with the mountain bike to cover more ground. I don't know the shortest way to access this area. I have ridden my mountain bike in from the horse trail area on the Y Road but didn't come close to Stewart.

Stewart Mtn 3050' from the powerline corridor road above Lake Whatcom, Washington

From here we could also hear dirtbikes and small arms fire off in the distance. On the hike down 2 mountain bikers and their dog were heading up. They looked like they were getting quite a workout on this steep logging road. I tried riding my mountain bike up this road in the past but gave up a short way in and ended up pushing it uphill. The mountain bike was only good for zipping downhill but I had to ride the brakes much of the way down. My wife took a different route. She took the new south-bound trail about 1/2 mile in from the gate. It's not marked and easy to miss. I've hiked it last spring when it traversed the hillside through forest and stopped. It's complete now. She said it now goes to the new clearcut. She then walked a fresh logging road back over to the powerline corridor road for a loop. This is not a hike for the wilderness or old growth snob. But, it's still good exercise in open space about 7 miles round trip and 2000 foot elevation gain/loss. It's close to home, it's much better than staying home or in town and the views are decent.

[Elvis]

Howdy Y.B.! Glad you recall the earlier trip report - there were actually three of them as that's how many times it took before I finally reached the high point. Third attempt Trip Report (with some summertime, sunny pictures). My trip out there started out based on your suggestions from a prior B'ham NWHikers social, if you didn't know. Somewhere along the way someone referred to this peak as Whacme Peak (a combination of Whatcom (the lake) and Acme (the little "town" on hwy 9)). I don't see either of those names in my Topo! maps. Also, FWIW, in Ken Wilcox's Hiking Whatcom County 3rd edition he only mentions Stewart Mtn briefly in the 'other trails' section. I'd be interested in reading what he has to add about it in the 5th (or newer) editions. Finally, I agree it's not wilderness but it is a dang good workout! ~E

[Eric]

[yew]

[Eric]

Whacme does sound like a bushwhack but there are good roads to within a couple hundred feet of the top. The summit is a flattish recently logged area that is full of stumps when I did it 02/2007. I'm sure the top will be an ugly brushbash in a decade but for now it is open. The summit logging does allow for good views over to Baker and Twin Sisters.

[yew]

Update 6/16/09 As mentioned on Elvis's trip report, there's a new trail that runs from the new clearcut down below to MP 0.6 on the powerline corridor road. There was a mountain biker on this road. We encountered him again on another brand spanking new trail above the new clearcut, just west of the road. He said he and a few friends built this trail recently without the permission of DNR. It's quite a well done trail, dug into the hillside in spots. It looks official and done professionally although a bit too steep in short sections. I don't think DNR will do anything will do anything about this illegally constructed trail. They don't really have any control over their lands or what people do to them. The new, unauthorized trail above the clearcut is maybe 1 mile long (??) and the new unauthorized trail below maybe 1.25 miles (??) long. Also, the gate to the powerline corridor road above the North Shore Whatcom Lake trailhead was open. There was a kid in a car and 2 kids on dirtbikes driving on this road. I don't know if the road is now open to public motor vehicle travel now or if the gate is closed seasonally (??). ---------------------------- Also... We bagged Whacme Peak back in May. The route is just like what Elvis and Eric describes. Great view of Twin Sisters and the geography of the South Fork Nooksack and the valley around Kendall.