San Juan County Highpoint Trip Report
Mount Constitution (2,407 ft)
Date: January 3, 2008
Author: Shannon Dillmore
At the tail end of a trip visiting friends in Canada, my wife and I headed out
to Orcas Island. This is obviously off-season and we enjoyed our visit to the
sleepy island.
I planned on driving the summit road to the top with my wife but signs indicated
it was closed 3.7 miles from the summit. My wife, not a lover of hiking, gamely
suggested "Well, you better get cracking if you want us to catch the ferry."
She graciously offered to visit some shops in town while I hiked to the top.
I took a loop that started up the Little Summit trail, went along a ridgeline and
to the observation tower. Like an idiot, I ditched my hiking boots in favor of
tennis shoes. Snow began at about 1600 feet and my feet got cold trudging
through the snow. An overlook along the trail gave great views to the east.
The summit was very windy and I spent only a few minutes at the top before
descending via the Twin Lakes and Mountain Lakes trail.
The hike was about 6.8 miles with 1,500 feet of gain and took me 2 hours and 50 minutes.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one.