Cub/Smith creek Stewart mtn. Trailblazer hike

Rain was predicted and it's been rainy for a couple day so I didn't expect a large group, and I was right. Only 9 of us showed up for the
Cub/Smith creek/Stewart mtn. Senior Trailblazer hike.

We drove to the North Shore Lake Whatcom trail parking lot, and continued on to the upper parking lot for the Cub creek trailhead.
The trail starts out with a pretty good incline.

We were all decked out in our rain gear, ready for a chilly wet day.

Marijke, Jean and Cookie among the sea of ferns along the trail.

After we'd hiked along for about a mile, we saw this wrecked car in the forest 

and wondered just how it had gotten there.

Just when we were getting ready to hike into the open near the power lines the rain began to fall. The trail zigzagged through the forest and crossed a gravel road here and there.
Frank, Marjan, Pat, Cookie and Marijke taking a rest stop before heading up the road.

I love this picture of Pat and Frank walking towards the fog, along the trail beside the cascading ferns.

We hiked just a bit beyond two miles and our fearless leader Pat stopped and had a chat with us about turning around and eating lunch at the Senior center in town as we'd already had rain, sleet, and a bit of snow falling around us. I have to admit that when the breeze came up it was chilly. He explained that we were near the last section of the way up but there would be limited sheltered areas for us to stop and eat our lunches. The low clouds kept us from seeing any views anyway.

So we all turned around and did a quick walk back to the cars and
with all of the uphill hiking so we weren't too disappointed in our days hike. 

Our late lunch at the Senior Center was just right, thanks Pat!

Endomondo stats:
4.44 total miles hiked
401 Min. altitude
1710 Max. altitude
1294 Total ascent
1282 Total descent