April 27th, 2019: Alex and I decided to venture out to Sumas Mountain and hike the 3.5 Gold Mine Trail. Along this hike we encountered an old gold mine safe door, a mine cart, some debris, and a cabin a top a grassy field.

This hike is filled with history, click here to check it out. Some of the history I will hit on throughout this post, but on the site above you will find much more!

Here is how the hike starts: a muddy trail right along someones property line who has a few cows grazing off in the distance. This is by far the most odd looking trail head I have seen. This part of the trail only lasts for about 10 minutes or so until you get into the forest and are on a more “legit” looking trail.

There were a few different trials you could take. The one on the left took you to the cabin and the one on the right took you to the old gold mine. We chose to go right. Below are a few photos I took of the old site:

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This spot was really cool and only took about an hour to hike to. There wasn’t much to see, but the parts that we did find were interesting to look at. There was also a river that was close by, adding to the ambiance of these sites.

As you can see from the photos above, there are little pellets of hail all over the ground. It must have hailed not too long before we started our hike. Thankfully we missed this part! Below is close-up photo of the hail. It was beautiful how these pellets lined the trails and fell into the cracks of different things laying on the trail (like the photo below).

Since getting to the gold mine area didn’t take as long as we thought it would, we decided to go back and take the left trial towards the cabin. This trial added about another 30 minutes to our hike but was totally worth it.

This part of the hike was fairly steeper than the other part. It was so rewarding coming up from the steep trail and opening up to this flat, green area with a little cabin, fire pit, and outhouse.

At first, Alex and I were debating whether or not to take this trail up to the cabin, as it seemed a little too out of the way. I am so glad we decided to though. This cabin has a stove inside and areas to sleep if needed. It was well worth taking the extra time out of the hike to sit up here and explore the area around the cabin. It was so sunny and so green! This is by far one of my favorite reasons to hike in the PNW: there is green all around you.

Overall, Alex and I really enjoyed this hike. It seemed short but it was a good way to start off our hiking for the season. I am hoping to get a few more hikes in this May! Stay tuned to hear about the other places Alex and I decide to adventure to!