2007-07-21 Mt. Pilchuck

6 mile round trip
Map offline: Green Trails Maps™ No TBD
Map online: TerraServer USA
Elevation gain: 2,200 ft.
Max elevation: Lat: 48.05810, Long: 121.7956; Alt: 5,324 ft.
Hike time: up ↑ 2:40; break ↔ 0:20; down ↓ 2:00; Total ⇅ 5:00
Effort: Slow and Steady
Trail difficulty: Moderate

Time for a little break. I decided to do an old stand by this week and it did not disappoint. Mount Pilchuck is in the North Cascades, a little more off the beaten path than the North Bend and Snoqualamie Pass areas that we have been doing. However, what it lacks in proximity to my house it makes up for in grandiose views with relatively little effort.

The trail starts at about 3,1000 ft (you drive up from ~1,000 ft.) If you climb anytime other than June-August you'll encounter snow. We timed it for a snow free climb, however, I do highly recommend an off season ascent as you're much more likely to get a clear view. The area is really susceptible to fog in the summer.

This is the third hike this year where bugs were a serious problem. Luckily it started raining a little bit on the way down which cleared the bugs. What is going on with the Washington weather this year?

We met a couple of Michiganders at the top and had some good conversation. It's amazing how many of them there are out here.

Notice the fog/clouds in the pictures. I love this stuff!


Matt and Christina at the start of the hike.

Look! We're at the top already!

Matt glancing at the view before the ~30 foot scramble.

Climbing the rocks. This is kind of like Granite Mountain, only on Granite there is about 1000 feet of this. :-)

Puget Sound, including Everett if you look closely

The clouds wafting up along the edge of Mount Pilchuck

Mount Pilchuck stopping the clouds

There it is again! Why did I pick the same picture twice?

The trail on the way down

2007-07-15 McClellan Butte

9.2 mile round trip
Map offline: Green Trails Maps™ No 206S
Map online: TerraServer USA
Trailhead coordinate: Lat: 47.4113690, Long: -121.586766; Alt: 1580 ft.
Elevation gain: 3,582 ft.
Max elevation: Lat: 47.406869, Long: -121.622176; Alt: 5,162 ft.
Hike time: up ↑ 3:00; break ↔ 0:10; down ↓ 2:00; Total ⇅ 5:10
Effort: Steady
Trail difficulty: Most Difficult

Forest Service Link

This time, I took out you and your Butte McClellan! So it was a lot easier when there wasn't any snow... Linda and I got our start at 10:00am sharp; others take note :-) The hike was pretty easy. No stops, just a steady pace.

Having consumed food before and during this hike, my energy level was a lot higher. Score one for carbs.

We reached the top after about 3 hours. The last 100 feet are a scramble (see picture.) Linda was good to go, but I chickened out. It wasn't even that steep, just exposed. I suppose sometimes you have to save some challenges for later. :-)

Here are the pics:



A view east along I-90 from the top.

A view west from the top. On a clear day, I'll bet you could see Seattle.

The scramble to the top from where we stopped. Actually, I climbed about a 1/3 of the way up this before calling it good.

What awaits if one is to slip from the scramble to the top

Linda. Not getting away without her picture taken; but she doesn't have to be happy about it.

2007-07-01 Granite Moutain

8.5 mile round trip
Map offline: TBD
Map online: TerraServer USA
Trailhead coordinate: Lat: TBD, Long: TBD; Alt: 1880 ft.
Elevation gain: 3,749 ft.
Max elevation: Lat: TBD, Long: TBD; Alt: 5,629 ft.
Hike time: up ↑ 3:30; break ↔ 0:15; down ↓ 1:45; Total ⇅ 5:30
Effort: Hard
Trail difficulty: Most difficult

I'm more than a little late in updating the blog. But I'm going to make up for it with a lot of pictures! Graham, John, and I met up around 10:00am (read 11:00am) and headed out to the trailhead. Granite mountain was great fun. It had it all: flat dirt trails, steep dirt trails, meadow walks, waterfall crossings, boulder scrambles, and snow traverses. However, I had a really tough time keeping up with Graham and John! Mental note: eat food before a hike like this!

The last section of the hike is a boulder scramble, which was great fun. There, we met another hiker, Linda, who joined our party (not pictured here for fear of reprisal.) At the top we had lunch and good conversation after which we exchanged contact information with Linda so she could join in our future hikes. If you follow this blog, you'll notice that I'm dragging someone new kicking a screaming every week. I'm always happy to have some fresh blood.

Oh yeah, I promised pictures:


Graham caught off guard.

A trail view

John caught not off guard

A meadow scene about 3/4 of the way up.

Mountain views from the top.

Mountain views from the top.

Graham, John, and I from left to right. Thanks for the picture(s) Linda!

A beautiful alpine lake.

The lookout at the top under which lunch was had.

Do you believe John actually drinks the water right out of the falls?