If you don’t want to hear about the best hike in Washington State, don’t read this post. .
If the value of a view is measured by the sweat it took to get to it, this hike comes at a steep price and is still a bargain, am I over selling this? Based on my 2 hikes there no, I am not.
Just up the Cascade River from Marblemount this hike starts around 3,600 feet in elevation at the end of a steep gravel road that can look a little intimidating but was apparently doable by the guy in the dark blue Dodge Charger, which by the way I wouldn’t recommend, but kudos to that guy for sticking it out.
This hike is at a minimum from the trail head to the fire lookout 3,300ft of elevation gain in 3 or 4 miles, for those of us that are mathematically challenged that means it goes up pretty much relentlessly up for the first half of the hike. It starts in the forest meandering around through the trees as it climbs up the drainage for the East Fork Sibley Creek. After a while of wandering around in the trees you pop out into an avalanche scrubbed alpine valley and cross over the creek.
This is where the magic begins. Yes you are constantly going uphill, yes there is no shade and it can be swelteringly hot and humid from all the plants, but the view is AMAZING. Time it right and you’ll be wandering through acres and acres of wildflowers. Looking up you’ll see the granite peaks that you’ll soon be climbing up on top of. Looking down you’ll see the debris left from the winter snowstorms and avalanches.
As we neared the top of this wonderfully lush valley and began the transition into the alpine areas that were still covered largely with snow we saw a bear down below us across the valley just doing his thing a few hundred yards uphill of where we had just walked through. While not much more than a dot at this point it was neat to watch him meander through the mountain meadows. The last time we hiked through here we came on a mountain goat literally on the trail.
At about the half way point the trail begins to traverse south towards the peak with the fire lookout. The traverse is gently uphill (with a little down hill section that we didn’t notice until the hike down). At this point however we did begin to encounter snow fields. Which we expected and came prepared for with ice axes and crampons. We did not use the crampons, however if the snow had frozen over hard, like it was on our previous hike here, crampons or micro spikes would have been in useful.
From here we followed the boot pack and the trail when we could find it and worked our way up to the saddle between the peak with the lookout on it and the peak to the north.
Again this is a hike that doesn’t disappoint and as we continued to climb the views continued to amaze. The view down the Cascade River Valley continued to open up, snow capped mountians and deep mountain valleys surrounded us, and then as the lookout peak came into view it we were presented with an imposing granite peak rising up above us.
At the saddle between the peak with the lookout to the south and Hidden Lake Peak to the north you’ll get your first look at Hidden Lake which is about 1000′ below the saddle to the east with a backdrop of verdant valleys and snow capped peaks. Early in the summer the lake is still covered in snow and ice. The trail to the fire lookout takes off from the saddle and virtually strait up the peak, look for the cairns and you’ll be OK.
I am always amazed at these fire lookouts about the men that had to haul the stuff up to these remote peaks to build, maintain, and live in them. We spent some time hanging out and enjoying the view from the top and then decided to go back up the ridge to Hidden Lake Peak. Just below the peak and above the saddle there is a flat spot on the ridge of giant granite slabs and plenty of places to get some cool pictures overlooking the lake. Zach and I hung out there while our hiking buddies went the rest of the way up to the peak.
The way down was a blast, being that probably for the top 1,000′ or so we were in the snow and were able to glissade down.
Once we were out of the snow though it was a bit of a slog through the alpine meadow as things had began to warm up and it was pretty muggy, as remarkable consolation though the alpine flowers were out and the views were amazing.
Finishing up the hike I stopped at the creek just before the parking lot and tried out the new water filter I had just purchased to get my self some ice cold water for the ride home. It was very refreshing!
