After realizing I've hiked and biked hundreds of miles since the last time I reached any kind of peak, I decided today was the day to change that. I got a late start but I'd been wanting to visit the Chuckanuts, so I decided to cruise up north and see if I could get a few little peaks in. I drove up to the Cyrus Gates Overlook and arrived just below the summit of Chuckanut Mountain around 4 in the afternoon. You have a fantastic view of the San Juan Islands from the overlook. The view from the summit just a tenth of a mile above the parking lot is not as great. You can get some peeks to the east through the trees, but nothing nearly as spectacular as the view from the overlook.
Next I took the Rock Trail down to the Lost Lake Trail. The rock trail is a fairly new trail that had a ton of work put into it. Switch backing down the steep southeastern slope, well over a hundred stairs take you to the connecting point with Lost Lake Trail. On the way you travel between boulders and along massive sandstone walls with various indentations, caves, and holes that make the wall look like swiss cheese in places. Much praise to the WTA crew that constructed this trail for everyone to enjoy!
Once I hit the Lost Lake trail I took it SW and up onto the saddle between Chuckanut and South Chuckanut. Once I was on the saddle between the 2 peaks I found a trail heading toward South Chuckanut. Soon I came out of the woods into a clear cut with incredible views of the San Juan Islands to the west and Mount Baker to the east. Here the trail connected to a logging road up to the obvious summit in front of me, South Chuckanut aka Burnout Hill. I thoroughly enjoyed the views as I marched up the road to the summit. The high point was in the trees just on the edge of the clear cut. After tagging the top I spent some time relaxing on a large rock in the sun and took in the views. What a beautiful day!
After retracing my steps back to the trailhead I headed a tenth of a mile or so down the road to a parking area on a bend at the first switchback big enough for a couple cars. From here I took the Chuckanut Ridge trail to the high point in Chuckanut Ridge. This was a very pleasant stroll along the ridge with occasional viewpoints when the trees would open up. In places the sides of the ridge get pretty steep and the top of the ridge gets rockier which made the trail itself more aesthetically pleasing to me. The high point in the ridge doesn't have any incredible views to speak of though.
After retracing my route back to the car and heading into town for some grub, I decided to drive over to Samish Overlook. This was a bit mind blowing. I never imagined so much could have changed about this place in 10 years. When I was here last we drove up the road one evening to a wide spot where you could park a handful of cars and pitched a tent right at the overlook. The next day we relaxed and watched paragliders launch all day. Hardly anyone else came by, except a few people who knew this was the shortest route to the bat caves, which thankfully have been closed to the public to prevent the spread of white nose syndrome. Now there's a gigantic paved parking lot with cars zipping in and out, a restroom, stairs up to various viewing decks, gravel walkways through perfectly maintained grass, and the gate closes an hour after sunset. The sheriff seemed to be right on time to make sure everyone was leaving, too. He was heading up the road as I was heading down after enjoying the sunset over Samish Bay. A lot's changed in the last decade, but one thing that hasn't changed is the incredible view!
This has been the year for bears for me as I saw 1 or more black bears on my last 3 hikes in a row, but no such luck today. Oh well, that kind of streak couldn't last forever! All in all, it was a really nice day in the Chuckanuts.
