1815 32nd St
Bellingham
WA 98225
The Koma Kulshan Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society regularly holds educational field trips, meetings, and webinars–typically free and open to the public! Registration is required for this event. Please see below for details.
Date: Wednesday, July 20
Time: 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Meetup location: I-5 Park & Ride in Fairhaven on the WEST side of the freeway (address provided), or meet at the Sauk Mountain Trailhead by 9:45 am.
The trail begins and ends in high mountain meadows offering wildflowers and spectacular vistas the entire length. We will hike through 26 gentle switchbacks in the first 1.5 miles in steep terrain, and if we go all the way up to the site that once hosted a fire lookout at 5,500 feet elevation, removed by the Forest Service in the 1980s, it will be about 2.1 miles. There we (hopefully) can enjoy a 360-degree panorama of the North Cascades, where on a clear day you can see Mt. Rainier to the south, Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands to the west, and the rugged Cascade peaks stretching to the east, including Glacier Peak and Mount Baker. We expect an outstanding show of wildflowers that includes paintbrush, phlox, tiger lilies, aster, columbine, lupine, and many others.
This trail (roundtrip 4.2 miles and 1,200 feet elevation gain/loss) is very popular, which is why we are choosing a weekday to do this trip. We still may have to yield lots of hikers during our botanizing and have to be careful in the steep and narrow sections of the trail.
There is a decommissioned toilet at the trailhead, otherwise, blue bags are required to pack out waste. The trail is south-facing; sunscreen and hiking poles are advisable.
***The group size limit is 12 people. Pre-registration is required.***
Please visit our website for more information!
