My grandfather spoke often of these mines, the old hotel, and their
colorful history and my father has long wanted to show them to me.
At least one of the mines along Swift Creek was "salted" with gold
flecks in an early Whatcom County scam. Placing this cache was a
great excuse to finally make it up there and envision the exploits
of so long ago.
This cache may not be child-friendly. The final ascent to the
cache requires some stability and surefootedness – you may wish to
use the rope provided at one section. Please be VERY careful. Bring
your own pencil and, do not forget your flashlight.
Once you've grabbed the cache, you could either go upstream to
Gold Rush - a fun cache by Teese - or backtrack to
Cabin Fever, a standard sized cache that is worth the trip.
From there, consider summiting the mountain (~4.4 mi; el. 3430’)
for a well-earned panorama from Bellingham to Abbotsford, BC and
finding nearby
Sumas Summit. For the crazy hiker, you could also find the
trail that goes over the summit to Lost Lake.