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