Galbraith Mountain sits on the vast Lookout Mountain range. It lies between Lake Watcom and Lake Samish by Interstate 5. Moreover, it harbors a radio facility at the top, like the nearby Lookout Mountain.
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Galbraith Mountain at a Glance
Access: Lake Samish Park and Ride
Round Trip: 7.8 miles
Elevation Range: 480′-1780′
Gear: none
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: yes
Galbraith Mountain Biking Trails
After visiting Westberg Trail last week, I considered returning east to seek out new places. But I opted for a scenery change, so the pups and I braved the weather up north. It rained while we walked the road.
Finding a vast network of world-class mountain biking trails here was fascinating. There were over 50 miles of singletracks over 3000+ acres. The Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition (WMBC) builds and maintains all the paths.
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Not the Galbraith Road Approach
I wanted to start from Galbraith Road, but a trip report had cautioned against it. It noted that the homeowners had been putting up signs and closing nearby accesses. But I couldn’t imagine it would’ve kept out foot traffic also.
An alternative GPS track from a group seemed to work better. It meant entering from the south at four miles each way over 1300′ gain. It took slightly longer than walking Galbraith Road, but not so much it’d stop the show.
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Galbraith Mountain Summit
We bypassed half a mile of the bike trails from the south. But we needed to go through two tracks to connect the roads. Someone had noted that foot traffic should stay off the bike trails for safety reasons.
The radio facility sat in the trees without anything interesting to see. Otherwise, the top of Mount Baker and Sisters Mountain would be in our faces. Several bikers came through the top while we took a break.
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Exiting
I chatted with two guys from Bellingham before leaving. They said they came in now to avoid the heavy summer crowds. Our dogs played briefly before we walked to the southeast summit for some quiet time.
Today the weather wasn’t on our side, so better luck next time! We would likely see the south through the trees on a clear day. But I doubted we’d see Mount Rainier from the photos I found online.
See more trip photos here.