Alger Alp
Friday, February 02, 2007
We met at Peace Arch Park parking lot, carpooled, and crossed the border. It had been a foggy morning but the mist cleared as we went. We left I-5 at the Sunset exit for a coffee stop at a deli and then continued, re-entering I-5 at Ohio. Leaving at Exit 242, we went left for about a kilometre on Old Highway 99 to the parking lot for Squires Lake. We walked the short distance up the hill to reach the lake and admired the view down its length.
The Squires family lived and worked here through most of the 20th century, at one time operating the lake as a trout hatchery. Assisted by contributions from others, Whatcom County purchased the land in 1995. The path now took us along the old Squires Road and we saw our Alger Alp destination when it appeared as the high point on the skyline to the south. When the road turned left to go higher, we carried on to the right following Squires Loop along the shoreline until it also rose up to reach a junction. Here a sign indicated that we could detour left to see the Beaver Pond and we accepted the offer. After a short climb, we looked at the pond and admired the beaver's handiwork at the lake's outlet, then retreated a few steps to go down an attractive treed gully to rejoin Squires Loop. We continued on this route until we found a rough trail on the left and a post saying Pacific Northwest Trail. A Park Boundary sign also alerted us to the fact that the trail, although more than adequate, would not be up to Whatcom Park standard. The South Ridge trail followed a crest overlooking the interstate highway below, a constant drone of trucks and vehicles rising up to the ridge. The view over to Blanshard mountain and Chuckanut was great but we did not find a suitable place for a quiet lunch. We followed the trail to its end where we found signs saying 1130 and 1140; we were on a track which we would follow all the way to the summit. We went briefly up the hill and took our lunch break where the road curved right before continuing. We didn't turn left until we reached the final junction where we left the Pacific.Northwest.Trail to go up to the Alp. At one point we reached a dip where a road led sharply down to the right. We went straight on and up to where the road generally contoured again and turned right where a road marked 1200 led left. Finally we came to an unmarked junction. A white stripe on a tree on the right indicated the pacific Northwest trail, which was carrying on to the community of Alger. We branched left uphill to go to the Alp.
The trail passed along an open ridge with views over the Cain Lake valley to Mount Baker. With a short steep climb from here we reached the summit with extensive views to the south and east. We enjoyed a second lunch and then, heading back from the summit, we took a downtrodden grass trail through trees to a viewpoint looking west. We then set off for the car, being careful to avoid any right-turning routes marked 1200 (although we would soon have found our error and come back). When we re-entered the park we stayed left when offered the chance to drop down right to the Squires Loop trail. The ridge trail ended at a bench overlooking the interstate highway, but just before that a trail switchbacked down to the loop trail and quickly on to the lake's end and the parking lot. 
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