The Wild Rhododendron Preserve is located in the Skagit Valley Recreation area, south of Hope, BC. This beautiful and unusual northern display is on-time this year with the start of prime viewing in mid-June.
Lovely, surprisingly dry forest trail with many wild flowers, leads to the Skagit River headwaters, swollen to a torrent by the spring rains and snowmelt. This trail provides pleasant level hiking with only one detour of a 120 ft gain. Also, the trailhead was blocked by a foot deep “lake” but a two minute walk south along the road led to an easy seasonal boot track that bypassed this obstacle. A special treat along the trail were the numerous lichen crusted lava flows that glowed in the forest darkness just to the east of the trail. Landscapes in miniature made the short detours rewarding. We hiked in and out via the west entrance at the "26 Mile Bridge" TH on the Silver-Hope Road but a vehicle shuttle with Hwy 3 on the east would have made the 9 mile walk even better. This section of trail is part of the historic Whatcom Trail originally specified as "Noot-sack Road, cut said road suitable for a pack trail not to be less than six feet in width."
After the hike we drove another 10 miles south to Ross Lake. The campgrounds were vacant but inviting. We were disappointed that we weren’t spending the weekend there hiking and paddling. Maybe another day, but soon.
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