Survey Creek Ridge Exploration

Aug. 22, 2002

Mt. Baker Explosion (not) © Ken James McLeod

It was still dark in the wee hours of the morning when my friend Jamie VanEtten dropped by my house and picked me up in his Toyota pickup truck.

With gear aboard, we set out for an adventure in the north country and headed for Skagit County and the mountains above Shannon Lake, near the Noisy-Diobsud Wilderness Area. In no time, we were parking on the logging road of Jackman Creek, putting on our mountain travel gear, and heading into the brush east of Thunder Peak, Thunder Lakes, and Survey Creek to the west.

We entered a beautiful meadow filled with lush-green flora with many wildflowers, Sitka Valanian dominated the scene. Soon, we traversed into the forest at hand.....a lovely forest of old growth trees: silver firs, nobles, hemlock, and Douglas fir. Some were as thick as cars! Through the forest we went increasingly ascending the ridge via a steep chute utilmately topping out at a pass on the ridge. Here, we discovered an old trail (to include old blazes hacked into virgin trees) that followed the ridge spine, as well as some year-old red flagging someone had placed on small trees. The trail was visible but had been well abandoned for decades. On its west side, only vertical sharpness prevailed into Survey Creek. I wondered if the Forest Service had originally built this trail up from Thunder Creek?

The forest atop the ridge was grand and the occasional view of Mt. Baker superb, and far down below could be heard the roar of Thunder Creek. And the steepness at which the ridge slid into Survey Creek was something to behold! We retraced our steps as best we could and in a few hours found ourselves back at the vehicle. As we drove home, I couldn't help but think what a wonderful rich forest it was and hoped that it would never be logged.

KJM

all rights reserved