Shawatum Mountain

Located around 50 kilometers down Silver-Skagit Road on the boundary between Manning Provincial Park and Skagit Valley Provincial Park. Very few people have summited this somewhat hidden, yet prominent and eye-catching peak, probably due to the “horrible” bushwhacking.
I injured my left leg two weeks ago in an adventure in Pemberton area. On Saturday August 31, I went to north shore mountains for a workout, which gave me confidence for a challenging hike. I contacted my friend, Henry and he would like to join me in this “a lot unknown adventure”, though I had planned it carefully since a while ago. Silver-Skagit Road has been nicely repaired since it was badly washed out in sections a few years ago. We parked on the road after 48 Kilometers at around 550 meters elevation, and started the bushwhacking right away. It was 8 degrees in the morning. Though the cool weather made us feel good through the bushes (higher than us), the process was slow. It took us two hours to have gained only 250 meters and hiked only 2 kilometers. The bushwhacking was not horrible but in many areas we did have to use a lot of extra energy to push through; and the terrains are steep. Once the sun was above us, we felt the heat right away. The bushwhacking eased after 1500 meters of elevation; actually the bushes after 1000 meters are not as high as below. We moved slowly in the hot sun to a steep gully, which offered some vege belays. Once we topped out of the gully, we found we still had to bushwhack a bit to the true summit, but very short. The views at the top are spectacular, but there are lots of annoying flying ants. 25 minutes later we left the peak. It was even hotter. The weather forecast for Shawatum for September 1 was 29 degrees, but we were feeling much higher than that. I carried 2.5 liters of water and my friend carried 3 liters. This is usually good enough for us for a hike like this. We drank our last drops of water at 1600 meters elevation, hoping to get back to our car on the road within two hours, which is normal for us. We were wrong this time, and we were in big trouble. Since all the trees are dead, the hot sunshine was right above us, which made the bushes feel like a sauna room. No breeze; just the heat with lots of humidity. If we kept our regular pace, we would be in big trouble, as we were sweating a lot. We ran out of drinking water! The worst part was no water sources in that area. My friend recommended that we should stop bushwhacking till dark when it was not as hot 🥵 I rejected it, as it would be dangerous for us to wait in the sauna-like bushes, and also it would not be safe to bushwhack in the darkness. So, we decided to take as many breaks as possible. We sometimes bushwhacked for 5 minutes and then had a 10 minutes’ break to cool down our bodies. We were still sweating even when we were sitting in the bushes. As soon as we started moving, sweating started all over. Very exhausting. At one point we both started having the early symptoms of heatstroke. We decided to have longer breaks after each 5-10 minutes. Finally we saw the road through the bushes. Once back on the road, we picked up our pace to the car. My friend started his car right away and turned on the AC to the maximum. He drank up his big bottle of water and I finished my cool Mountain Dew 750 ml. Feeling much better😄 We then drove as fast as we could along the Silver-Skagit Road to the gas station, which is around 50 kilometers away, where I bought two big original Cokes (1 liter each). We drank up the whole coke and felt everything was back to normal. I checked my Garmin Fenix 7X Pro and it showed I had drained 84% of my body battery. C2C 12 hours and 45 minutes including all breaks. Totally 13.10 kilometers return with 1662 meters of elevation gain.
Lesson: this peak had better be done in the early winter or late spring when most parts of the bushes are covered in snow; and of course, there are water sources from snow melting. Since it is very steep, avalanches can be a problem. Silver-Skagit Road is not plowed in winter, so a good timing is required. If you want to do it in snow free conditions, you need to bring lots of water. For us, we need at least 5 liters of water for this peak.

[@FahimehNamileh]

I love the hike report, very detailed ❤ just another beautiful video. Thank you for sharing.

[@chenangelina36]

A great trek revealing a beautiful vista of nature. Love the music.

[@redinaborros2111]

Beautiful once you got out of the bushwhack!! What an intense day!! Well done for hiking in those conditions! Too funny, hydrating with Mountain Dew and Coke :)

[@lynnpic]

真的是历险记。