If you can see Mt. Baker, you are part of The Experience

Easy Summits in the North Cascades

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Easy summits in the North Cascades

Reaching the top doesn’t have to mean weeks of preparation – these peaks offer huge rewards for minimal investment

Story and photos by Aubrey Laurence

The North Cascades region offers some of the finest hiking and climbing opportunities in North America, with many magnificent summit views. Here are five fabulous hikes that everyone can enjoy.

The physical and mental challenges of summiting in the North Cascades can push climbers to their limits. Approaches are often arduous, requiring cross-country travel, sometimes for days, through avalanche chutes and scree slopes, icy creeks and rivers, deep snow and steep, slippery terrain. And with mountains with names such as Fury, Despair, Damnation and Forbidden, there’s no doubt this area means business.

But that doesn’t mean all of the summits are unattainable to lightly equipped day hikers with tight schedules and high expectations.

If you want to experience a few of the most jaw-dropping vistas in the North Cascades, yet lack the time, technical skills or stamina that many peaks in this region require, you still have options. Read on for five low-effort, high-reward summit hikes – relatively short hikes with awesome summit views.

Mt Pilchuck

Round-Trip Distance:

6 miles Elevation: 5,324 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 2,200 feet

While some hikers may find this strenuous, it’s still only six miles round trip with 2,200 feet of gain, which is relatively easy compared to most mile-high North Cascades peaks. It’s worth the effort, assuming you can put up with throngs of hikers on the trail.

It’s understandably crowded, though – Mount Pilchuck is a beautiful hike that launches you from a lush forest to an alpine wonderland in little time. And it’s only snow-free for

a brief period each year.

If you are OK with crowds, don’t mind some minor talus hopping and can handle the possibility of a late-season snow crossing or two, then this hike will reward you tenfold with too many peaks to mention to be seen from the restored fire lookout (thanks to the Everett Mountaineers) on the rocky summit.

Directions: From Granite Falls, drive east on the Mountain Loop Highway 11 miles

to the Verlot Forest Service Ranger Station, then travel one more mile east and turn right (south) onto Forest Service Road 42. Continue 6.9 miles to the trailhead. A Discover

Pass is required.

Sauk Mountain

Round-Trip Distance:

4.2 miles Elevation: 5,537 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 1,200 feet

Most hikes in the North Cascades begin under a canopy of conifers, but this one begins with wide-open views of the Skagit River valley – right from the parking lot.

Not far into the hike, a narrow path ascends via a dizzying number of switchbacks, but they’re short. None of the trail is overly exposed, but you will need to watch your footing

in a few sections.

After winding around the mountain up to the summit ridge, you’ll arrive at the site of a former fire lookout. This is where most hikers stop to soak in the views. The true summit is only a short distance away and a few feet higher, but it requires a sketchy and exposed scramble.

No matter where you turn around, you’ll find expansive views from all points along the summit ridge.

On clear days you’ll be able to see Mt. Baker, the Pickets, Glacier Peak, Mt. Rainier, the Olympics, the San Juan islands and much more. And when you realize that all this eye candy cost you a mere two miles and 1,200 vertical feet, you may even feel a bit guilty about it.

Or not.

On your way back down, be careful to not take the spur trail down to Sauk Lake, unless that is your intention.

Directions: From I-5, drive east on State Route 20 (North Cascades Highway) past Concrete, then turn left onto Forest Road 1030 (Sauk Mountain Road). Drive up FR 1030 for a little more than seven miles and take a side road to the right, and then continue up that road for about a quarter mile to the trailhead parking area. A Northwest Forest Pass (or America the Beautiful Interagency/National Parks Annual Pass) is required.

Winchester Mountain

Round-Trip Distance:

3.5 miles Elevation: 6,521 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 1,300 feet

This short, relatively easy hike offers some of the finest views around, which is probably why it’s so popular. Plan on going early to beat the traffic up the narrow road and the crowds on the trail.

The trail starts in between the Twin Lakes, and in no time it begins climbing a steepening slope of evergreens, tall grass and wildflowers.

If you become enamored by the scenery at the beginning of this hike, you’ll be happy to know that the views continue to improve with each step you ascend.

The hardest part of the route is where the trail traverses a steep slope up to a rocky ridge, right before switchbacking up the southwest side of the mountain. As you approach this point, it will look worse than it really is. Just take it slowly and step carefully.

Before you know it you’ll reach the summit, which is home to a restored fire lookout thanks to the Mount Baker Hiking Club.

Saunter around the lookout cabin and enjoy the intimate views of Tomyhoi Peak,

American Border Peak, Mt. Larrabee, the Pleiades, Mt. Shuksan, Mt. Baker and countless peaks to the east. You’ll also have a commanding view of the turquoise-hued Twin Lakes directly below.

Directions: From Bellingham, take State Route 542 (Mt. Baker Highway) east. About 13 miles past Glacier, turn left onto Forest Road 3065 (Twin Lakes Road), which is just past a Department of Transportation building. Immediately angle left, staying on FR 3065. After about 4.5 miles, you’ll pass the Yellow Aster Butte trailhead parking area at a sharp switchback, and if you have 4WD, a high-clearance vehicle or a low-clearance 2WD vehicle that you don’t care much about, you should be able to make it all the way up another 2.5 miles to the Twin Lakes area. Sometimes snowdrifts and/or fallen trees block the road, so check conditions before you go. A Northwest Forest Pass (or America the Beautiful Interagency/National Parks Annual Pass) is required.

Tatie Peak

Round-Trip Distance:

5 miles Elevation: 7,386 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 1,000 feet

Nestled in the southeast corner of Whatcom County right on the border with Okanogan County, Tatie Peak humbly sits among a legion of jagged giants. Most Grasshopper Pass-bound hikers pass right beneath Tatie without even giving it a thought, but it’s a worthy destination on its own.

The second-best part about this hike is that you’re rewarded with incredible vistas just yards from the trailhead parking area. And the best part about this hike is that the panoramic views accompany you from start to finish.

After slowly gaining elevation for almost two miles on the well-maintained trail to Grasshopper Pass, turn right, leaving the trail, and head up a faint path to Tatie Peak’s eastern ridge. The north side of the mountain (to your right) drops off steeply, but you can easily avoid that airy feeling by hiking a couple yards away from the edge on the mountain’s mellower south side.

After a leisurely dip on the ridge, you’ll gain the summit. And for your efforts, you will be more than compensated.

Take a seat on the surprisingly small summit and drink in the 360-degree views. The high, dry and rugged nature of the area may make you think you’re in the Rockies instead of the Pacific Northwest.

Even though Tatie has a commendable height of 7,386 feet, it’s not the tallest mountain in the area. As you scan the nearby horizon, you can make out dozens of taller mountains, including the Needles, Tower Mountain, Golden Horn and Mt. Ballard to the south and west, plus at least a baker’s dozen in the Pasayten Wilderness to the northeast. On a clear day, you might even see Mt. Baker peeking above some rocky ridges to the west.

Directions: From Sedro-Woolley, take State Route 20 east to Mazama, which requires a left onto Lost River Road because Mazama is about a half-mile off of SR 20. As you enter Mazama, take a left at the three-way intersection, staying on Lost River Road and heading toward Harts Pass. The road is narrow and rough at times, but some 2WD cars can make it. After driving almost 20 miles to Harts Pass, turn left onto Forest Road 54-500 and follow signs to Meadows Campground, which you’ll reach in a couple more miles. A Northwest Forest Pass (or America the Beautiful Interagency/National Parks Annual Pass) is required.

Skyline Divide

Round-Trip Distance:

4-9 miles Elevation: 5,800 to 6,563 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 1,500-2,500 feet

Skyline Divide may not be a proper mountain, but once you gain this ridge, you’ll surely feel like you’re on top of one.

As you break out of the woods and onto the ridge, just two miles and 1,500 feet of elevation beyond the trailhead, you’ll pop out onto an idyllic alpine meadow. A gentle hill up to the left makes the perfect place to stop and picnic while viewing Mt. Shuksan, Mt. Baker and seemingly countless other peaks in every direction.

On the other hand, if you turn to the right after gaining the ridge and then follow the path along the undulating ridge all the way to Point 6563 and back, you will gain another 2,500 feet of elevation and hike about nine miles total. And for that extra effort, you will

be rewarded with increasingly dramatic views of Mt. Baker’s north face.

Directions: From Bellingham, take State Route 542 (Mt. Baker Highway) east. About a mile past Glacier, take a right onto Forest Road 39 (Glacier Creek Road), and then take an immediate left onto Forest Road 37. Follow this gravel road for almost 13 miles to the trailhead parking lot at the end of the road. A Northwest Forest Pass (or America the Beautiful Interagency/National Parks Annual Pass) is required. X

Aubrey Laurence has climbed hundreds of mountains throughout the U.S. and in a half-dozen countries. Beyond his passion for the mountains, he is an avid traveler, photographer and homebrewer.