Wanting to avoid the Labor Day crowds, I decided to attempt to reach Shuksan Lake. The hike started with 4.6 miles on old Forest Service road 1160, which has been abandoned for a couple of decades. Someone's placed a little bridge across the first branch of Shannon Creek, and I was able to rock-hop across the second branch. All trace of the former bridges has been removed, and navigating near the creek was a bit difficult.
Once I got across the creek and found the old road, navigation was straightforward. The road is very overgrown with alders, fir trees, bushes, and ferns. There's a faint trail under the bushes, and in most areas, it was possible to just push through. Almost no devils club or thorny things, but I got scratched up by constantly pushing through the foliage; long sleeves and gloves would have helped. There are a number of blowdowns to go over, under, or around. The surface was mostly smooth, which was good, since it was so brushy that I couldn't see the ground in a lot of places. The road ascends at a very steady 9% grade.
After Shannon Creek, the only water was a few tiny muddy trickles. There have been times in my life when I was desperate enough for water that I would have gotten some from then, but not today. There was one spot partway up with a mediocre view, otherwise I was in a tunnel of trees.
After 4.6 miles, the former road ends at a spot with a good view of Mt. Baker and Baker Lake. Earlier in the season, when there was more water in the muddy trickle a short distance down the road, this would be a good place to camp--the road surface is flat and mossy.
The old trail is fairly easy to follow for the first hundred yards or so. Then it gets ridiculously steep. The average gradient is well over 40%, and many parts required grabbing on to roots and branches to help pull myself up. There was the occasional pink ribbon on a branch--not enough to really help navigate, just enough to destroy any illusion that I was the first to hike there in a long time. I lost the trail multiple times and got into some dicey spots trying to find my way back.
After almost two hours, I was only about 2/3 of the way from the trailhead to the saddle, and I realized it was pretty unlikely that I'd make it to Shuksan Lake by dark, so I gave up and turned around. I had an easier time of following the old trail down; there were old scars from hatchet blazes that I hadn't noticed on the way up. Once I got back to the trailhead, crashing downhill through the brush on the old road was pretty fast. I was expecting to have to camp partway down, but it was just light enough to cross Shannon Creek, and my flashlight took me the last couple hundred yards to Baker Lake Road.
I'm on a quest to visit every lake in Whatcom County, so I'll probably try again next year. I'll go on a cooler day (so I can wear a thick, long-sleeved shirt and gloves without melting), get started at the crack of dawn, and bring enough food to camp two nights if necessary. I might want to camp at the Little Shuksan Lakes, then descend with a daypack to Shuksan Lake the next day, because previous trip reports, and the map, make that descent sound pretty difficult.
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