THE
NORTH CASCADES
Our
plans for the rest of the trip were up in the air. Plan A was to head to Olympic National Park
and do a 6-day backpacking trip combining the Quinalt
rain forest, Enchanted Valley, and the alpine country above. The problem with that plan was that Christy’s
ankle was still bothering her. We were
reluctant to commit to a 50 mile backpacking trip with the uncertainty about
her ankle.
My
other thought was to head up into the North Cascades and do some car camping
and dayhiking.
That would give us more flexibility.
I’d hiked in the North Cascades for more than a week back in 2007 and
loved it. There were several hikes that
I hadn’t gotten to on that trip, and I was eager to get back there. My previous visit had featured a lot of rainy
days, but the forecast for the next week looked great. We decided to head that way for most of the
next week. That would leave us with a
few days for a short backpacking trip to Shi Shi
Beach in Olympic National Park.
We
drove into Coupville and had a decent breakfast at a
small café with a gluten-free menu.
Afterwards, we drove back north through Oak Harbor and then east towards
Bellingham. We picked up enough groceries
for several days of car camping and headed for the North Cascades. The North Cascades feature three distinct
areas – the heart of the National Park around Marblemount,
Lake Chelan on the southeast side, and the big mountains (including Mount
Baker, Mount Shuksan, and the Picket Range) north of
the park up to the Canadian border. We
decided to go to Marblemount first, and then relocate
to the north side of the range. I’ll get
to Lake Chelan one of these days.
We
stopped at the Ranger Station in Marblemount for
current info around mid-day on Friday.
Then we headed out to secure a campsite.
We didn’t have reservations, and it was a Friday afternoon. It was a gray, damp day though, and I wasn’t
expecting to have any trouble finding a campsite. I was wrong.
The small campgrounds at Goodell Creek and Gorge Lake were full. We went on to the big campground at Colonial
Creek. We did four laps through that
campground looking for an available spot.
The system there is horribly inefficient. When you claim at campsite, you are supposed
to put a little tag on the post next to the road. However, some posts had tags from prior
visitors that hadn’t been removed. So,
at each campsite that appeared to be unoccupied, I had to get out and check the
dates on the tag. Incredibly, all 200+
campsites in that campground appeared to be full.
There
are more campgrounds farther east, but they were a long distance from where I
wanted to hike. We doubled-back in the
other direction, to the other big campground at Newhalem. We had passed this one earlier, but hadn’t
checked it because we were being overly picky.
At least here they had a sign at the entrance that said campground full. We were frustrated and running out of ideas,
but at least we didn’t kill an hour driving through the campground looking for
a vacant site.
I
checked my map, and noticed a couple of campgrounds in the national forest
outside the park along Cascade River Road.
Those sites would at least be close to one of the hikes I wanted to do. We headed that way, but found the first one
full. We continued on up Cascade River
Road, which is dirt, towards Cascade Pass.
As we drove, I was scoping out informal spots along the road where we
could pitch the tent for the night.
There wasn’t much, but we were getting desperate. We finally reached the Mineral Park
campground, which is a small campground in the rain forest along the Cascade
River. Incredibly, there were several
vacant sites! We took a really nice spot
on a bluff above the river, under a dripping canopy of evergreens. It was a private, secluded spot sheltered
from the other campsites but within earshot of the river. We would’ve settled for much, much worse.
We
set up camp and had a very late lunch.
It was mid-afternoon, so our hiking options for the rest of the day were
limited. It was an overcast day though,
with low clouds. All of the high
elevation hikes in the area would’ve been pointless anyway. The weather was expected to improve
dramatically on Saturday, so we decided to explore the North Cascades
tourist-style.
We
drove all the way back to Newhalem and then east
along the North Cascades Highway. We
stopped at several overlooks and did a couple of short hikes to Ladder Creek
Falls and overlooks of Gorge Lake and Diablo Lake. One highlight was an unnamed waterfall on an
unnamed stream along the North Cascades Highway. The big storms over the previous day really
had that one running full. After a lot
of driving around and a little bit of walking, we made the long drive back to
Mineral Park for the evening. By that
point, the campground was full, and we noticed that a couple of groups had
improvised campsites along Cascade River Road.
Several other people drove through the campground later that evening
looking for sites.
Saturday
morning was foggy and overcast, but there were a few sucker holes around. Two of three forecasts promised sunny weather
(except the Weather Channel, which predicted mostly cloudy skies) so I decided
to go ahead with the hike that was my top priority in the area. It is a dayhike to
the ridge above Hidden Lake. The ridge
is on the border of the National Park and National Forest, and there is an old
fire lookout on a peak directly above the lake.
The lookout is open to the public, and you can even camp there! If the weather cleared it would be an
exceptionally scenic destination for a hike.
Getting
to the trailhead was a challenge. The
road was a little rough in places, but the main problem was a massive traffic
jam leading into the parking area. From
where we stopped we could see a long line of cars that wasn’t moving. I thought there might be a wreck, or somebody
had gotten stuck. Christy’s ankle was
still bothering her, so she was going to skip the hike. She would drop me off and then go check out
the Baker Lake area for possible mountain biking or kayaking opportunities. I jumped out, and we managed to get the car
turned around on the narrow road. I
walked up the road past the long line of cars.
When I reached the parking area, I discovered the problem. The parking lot was overflowing, and there
simply wasn’t anywhere for the cars to go.
I’d guess there are 25 actual parking spots there, and there were
already around 50 cars. By the time I
finished the hike that afternoon, the cars were pulled off on the side of the
road. That was exciting, as it is only a
one lane road, with a sheer dropoff on one side.
I
joined a conga line of hikers heading up the mountain. Many were dayhiking,
but there were quite a few backpackers, too.
I kept a fast pace on the muddy trail, which is in deep forest
initially. It is a steady climb all the
way to the crest of the ridge above the lake.
The upper half of the trail is in meadows that were bursting with
wildflowers. Above that, it is an alpine
hike with a mixture of rock gardens and snowfields. As I climbed, the huge herd of hikers
gradually dispersed. That was a bit of a
relief, though the trail remained busy all day.
It
was still overcast when I reached the top.
Hidden Lake Lookout requires a steep scramble to reach, and it was
drifting in and out of the fog above me.
Climbing up there looked pointless.
Luckily, I had a clear view of Hidden Lake, which is in a lovely alpine
cirque below the pass. I had lunch
there, and I relaxed on a flat rock while watching the fog drift in and out of
the cirque below. At one point a
substantial sucker hole parked itself directly above Hidden Lake. That blue sky teased me into thinking that
the clouds would finally break, but it didn’t happen. Eventually it drifted off to sucker somebody
else and more clouds raced back in to replace it.
I
had some time to kill before I headed back down. Instead of climbing up into the fog to the
lookout, I decided to go down to the lake.
I scrambled down some boulders before descending a steep snowfield. This led to an area of open rock, where I
spotted a marmot. I continued to a point
directly above the lake. There was a
cool view from here, and I didn’t see any reason to continue down to the water,
which was still mostly frozen. I did
notice some campsites farther down, which were intriguing. This would be an amazing place to camp, and
from the number of backpackers I’d seen on the trail, a popular one.
I
hiked down quickly, but the afternoon clearing I’d hoped for failed to
materialize. I hiked past the
overflowing parking area and down the gridlocked road to the end of the traffic
jam, where Christy was waiting for me.
We headed back to the campground, and I took a short walk along the
North Fork of the Cascade River. Later we
enjoyed dinner and a fire.
Continue reading about our trip as I hike solo to the summit of Sourdough Mountain and we hike together to the summit of Sauk Mountain.
Back to Washington trip reports.
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!
I
had another alpine hike planned for the next day. Maybe the clouds would finally break for it.