Hi, folks. This is Melanie writng from Noahs computer at the PNTA office. Meeting with Jon, Lewis and Noah. Ive finished my section for this year (oroville to Alger) and have some important town updates and trail updates. dont know who has gotten to Ross Lake yet, but they have mail for Ignacio. Very nice people there. If you do decide you need to get to town from Rte 20 - Newhalen is about a 12 mile hitch and they have a store, which you can re-supply at. No motels/stores, but campgrounds nearby (paid ones). Marblemount is a bit further (West) and has lodging and restaurants. Two lodging: Buffalo Run Inn in town (need reservation) 360-873-2461 or 873-2103. Or the Skagit River Resort (2 mi west of town) has rooms, cabins, RV, tent sites. They have a breakfast/lunch place there. Great cinnamon roles. The best food I had in Marblemount was at this small Cue Car (an old rail car next to the Shell Sta.) great BBQ sandwiches and fixings. The Buffalo Inn has a restaurant across the St - sort of mediocre. There is also a diner and Mondos restaurant (didnt try these). Two mini-marts with good supplies and the Shell has camping supplies. Its an easy hitch from the parking lot on Rte 20 to these two towns (go west). Trails around Ross Lake very good. Little Beaver Trail is overgrown terribly after the Twin Rocks campsite....it slows you down before the big climb up Whatcom Pass. At one point it stops at the creek and you wonder if you have to cross. Look right for the surveyors tape and follow that to find a small log bridge where the trail continues. As you climb, conditions improve...The Swift Creek crossing was a bit scary, but not too terrible. I crossed about 100 or 200 feet downstream of where the old cable car structure sits. Found trail easily up the bank. I did the East Side of Baker lake, very pleasant. MAny campgrounds (official) and places to stealth camp if necessary. I found a ride into Concrete to the motel Cascade Mountian lodge on Hwy 20 outside of town. Other stuff there is the Big Apple Grocery, Annies Pizza and nice Deli/Espresso place for breakfast. Contrary to most hikers opinions of Concrete, I really like the Downtown - very interesting architecture but sad that so many storefronts are closed. There is a terrific new eatery in town near the P.O. called 5b Bakery - worth going into town for: old fashioned ice cream soda fountain, shakes, and good food. Its on Main Street nearer where Burpee Hill Rd. joins N. Superior Avenue. Also the laundry is on Main St. and they have an active movie theater. Only lack in town is that the hotel there closed. So the Cascade Mt. Lodge is the best option. I decided to do the offical route (not the Rail Trail). The firest day gives you great up close views of Mt. Baker...after that I have to say the trail is not terribly distinctive, has navigation issues (trail running out here and there) and overgrown. I wanted to experience it, though I wonder now if the Rail Trail is not the way to go. The South Fork Nooksack has some terrible sections. I walked the road at one point re-joining the route at Rd. 20 (hard to find) and then got into bushwacking hell whent he trail ran out. Then you get to the non-maintained road with tank traps (oy!!) and overgrown vegetation. Its a bit confusing in the clear cut area, too, but I did find the Huckleberry trail and get back on the track... There is a mistake on the map near Mt. Josephine: Road 310 does not do what is appears to do on the map. I choose not to climb Mt. J. but do the road and went miles out of my way before I finally conceded I was way off and backtracked. I put on the GPS and low and behold found a track going around Josephine to meet up at the Josephine Truck Trail. The correct route for this is to follow Rd 310 initially when it meets 313, then go about a mile or so on 310, look for rd 320 on left - thats the right track. Another mistake in the map and guidebook involves the old 2009 Josephine Truck Tr. I wanted to do this too as its only 4.4 miles vs. the 7.2 or so of the new route. Map and guidebook imply that the last .4 of that is torn up road. This is incorrect. It was a fine route all the way. The road does not get iffy until after Rd 313 joins it. So, whether you do the 2009 route or the new one, you have to go over some tank traps. But, they are not so bad and not for very long. You do get some nice views of the Skagit Valley from Lyman hill. Anderson Mt. a mess!!!!! First of all dont do the so-called new offical route on private land. I got nabbed the minute I turned into the road by a woman driving down. She said theyd called the sherriff already once that day to report a tresspasser and had had some robberies recently so where very antsy. I did the Bloedel Gate route. Then I must had done something wrong because I proceeded to have a wacky experience (this was partly my own fault). I had hoped to do the short cut, but did nt really find it. I came upon the spot where I had to go up Anderson and it was being actively logged. There were trees piled high on the road. The worker told me he did nt think I could make it, but I did. I climbed over trees and found trail onthe other side! Then I was noticing that none of the guidebook directions seemed to be jivving with what I was seeing...but I found the Overlook and some PNT blazes and forged ahead. On the other side I got confused but again found blazes on a good gravel road and kept going. The upshot was I did Anderson the wrong way around!!! The further indignity was that I ended up at the exact spot where I started up the hill in the first place which happened to be the waypoint where the so-called short cut ends up. I could have skipped thewhole climb up Anderson in the first place if Id been paying closer attention to the waypoint numbers on my GPS and the map!!! From there to Alger, trail is quite followable. Some overgrown sections as you negotiate a clear cut area, but there are occasion white blazes and you can make out tread underfoot. Just go carefully. In Alger, Great Bar and Grille - just a bit further west of Cain Lake Rd. Whispering Fir Motel is opposite - a nice motel. There is a small deli store a bit further along old Hwy 99 - didnt stop there, so dont know how good it is. In Sedro Woolley now, Jon showed by the rail trail all the way to Burlington and beyond...lots of resources along this trail in terms of places to eat. Jon says the best restaurants in Sedro Woolley are Joys Bakery on Metcalf (kind of the main street of the old part of twon) - more options along Metcalf (mexican, thai, cafes...). The Iron Skillet on 8th St. and Rita. Happy Hiking. Kelley - hows it going?
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 19:30:33 +0000
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