Outdoors - Hiking and Trails

POSTED: Friday, Mar. 28, 2008

Alger Alp Trail: Start from Squires Lake

There are two routes to the top of what the locals call Alger Alp. This is the most direct, although it’s not consistently pretty. If you want scenic views all along the way and don’t mind a slightly longer hike, then start from the Squires Lake Park side.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Elevation gain: 1,000 feet.

Round trip: 3.7 miles.

Hiking time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.

Users: Hikers, bicyclists, horses.

Best times to hike: Yearround.

Family friendly: Young family members are better off on the Squires Lake Park side. Plus, there’s a steep drop-off from the summit of Alger Alp.

Maps: USGS Lake Whatcom and USGS Alger (7.5- minute series).

Dogs: A posted sign at the trailhead doesn’t say anything about dogs. But the only things banned are motor vehicles, according to the sign.

Driving directions: Go south on Interstate 5 to the Alger Exit (240). At the stop sign, turn left (east) and drive 0.8 mile to an intersection with Old Highway 99. Cross the intersection; you’re now on Alger-Cain Lake Road. Drive one-quarter mile to a gravel turnout on your right that’s just before a bridge. Park and walk back to a logging road that is blocked by a yellow gate.

Getting there: Walk around the yellow gate blocking the trail, which is part of the Pacific Northwest Trail — a network that stretches 1,200 miles from Glacier National Park in Montana to Washington’s Olympic National Park. The trail is on a gravel logging road and doesn’t look particularly promising at the start. Keep going, it does get better.

Ignore the other routes that branch off and continue your steady climb on the logging road (it’s marked in places with a white sign etched with 1000) until it dead-ends at the top of Alger Alp.

Walk through a small clearing between two trees and look out on a panoramic view that includes Alger and the Skagit Valley far below, as well as the San Juan Island Islands and mountain ranges off in the distance.

But the views aren’t found only at the top. Nice surprises on the way up include lakes and snow-capped mountains, including Mount Baker.

From Squires Lake Park: Hike up the South Ridge Trail, which connects to another trail that goes up along a ridge and outside the park boundary before hooking up to an old logging road. Stay on the latter and keep going straight when it drops right. At the next fork, go right and then left at the next split.

Source: “Hiking Whatcom County,” by Ken Wilcox (Northwest Wild Books); “Winter Hikes in Puget Sound & The Olympic Foothills,” Bob Mooers.