This week we chose to hike Stewart mtn. by way of the Smith Creek/Cub Creek/Chanterelle trail. The trailhead is known by many names but the official start of the trail is now know as the Chanterelle trail.
Last year my husband and I hiked this trail and went a bit further than the Chanterelle trail overlook and had a nice hot bowl of chili for lunch, we went 9.6 miles. You can read about that days hike and look at the photos HERE.
The route we took today went much farther than we went even on this day's 11 mile hike in 2015. You can read about that day's hike and look at the photos HERE.
The route we took today took us 7 1/2 miles - one way, for a total of 15 miles on Stewart mountain. The location we decided on for lunch had a wonderful view of the Twin Sisters. We could see the small town of Acme, Hwy 9 and the Nooksack river below us in the valley. Mount Baker never completely came out of the clouds. There was a breeze most of the day but it never was too cold.
Lots of baby ferns were unfurling their fronds to the sky.
The sun cast a glow on the green vegetation❤
The early flowers were in abundance along the trail.
We passed this tree with "hips".
Spring in all it's glory, a profusion of green.
We stopped at the Chanterelle overlook for a break.
The view of Lake Whatcom from the viewpoint
My husband fixed us a nice log seat where we could lean against the rock wall while we ate and enjoyed the view. The breeze was blowing enough that his seat cushion blew away and he had to chase it before he could sit down.
Mount Baker, the Twin Sisters, Hwy 9, the Nooksack river and Acme all before us as we ate.
I thought the tree in the photo below was interesting as it's completely twisted in a spiral all the way to the top.
We saw this little guy on the trail, he was a bit chilly and wasn't interested in slithering away. He was alive and his tongue was going in and out but he didn't move much
Another stop at the viewpoint before we stopped for the day. As you can see in this photo compared to the one at the overlook earlier in the day the weather had improved throughout the day.
15 miles, our farthest hike this year. We hiked about 7 miles of this distance on trails and the other 8 were on old logging roads. Next time we'll hike from the trailhead to the Acme Diner for a meal and then return for a 20+ mile day. Doesn't that sound fun!?
Relive video of our route:
Garmin stats:
total miles - 15
total ascent - 2487 feet
total descent - 2500 feet
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