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Backpacker Magazine – March 2012
In Backpacker Magazine March 2012 issue is an article entitled: “America’s Newest Long Trail”. The article details what the author says is the best 120 miles of the trail, all in the Pasayten Wilderness in Washington. 6 of the images in the magazine are mine, including a 2-page spread! here is the image:
And here is a link to the on-line version of the article: BackPacker Magazine March 2012 “America’s Newest Long Trail”
North Cascades National Park: Nothing could be better!
North Cascades National Park, located in Washington State, is one of the most beautiful though least visited parks in the US.
Its beauty is due to the rugged mountains 
and serrated ridges carpeted in lush green and wildflowers
, snow and rock, with waterfalls seemingly around every corner (all depending upon which season you visit.). As for the lack of visitors, the North Cascades National Park is bisected by none other than the North Cascades Highway (locally known as Highway 20) and 90% of all visitors to the park venture no more than a few miles from the road.
Unlike many National Parks, like Arches, Olympic or Yosemite the most impressive sights of the park are only revealed to those willing to strap on a backpack and take to the trail.
I own several trail guides about the North Cascades and spend much time perusing them, looking for cool-sounding hikes, day dreaming about the sounds, smells and views to be had…
In several of the guide books it was written that the hike to North Fork Meadows delivered the best views for the least amount of effort. Generally this would translate to “lots of people” but in this case “low effort” is more targeted to the amount of elevation gain from the car to the destination: about 1,600 feet; and decidedly not taking into account the fact that it’s a 17 mile hike to the meadows!
This was sounding better and better, a spectacular view with little or no company but the clincher was the description of the meadows themselves:
“As the valley makes a great bend to the east, sedge swards of brilliant green offer views of the summit of Mount Logan, with a multitude of cascades tumbling down from its brilliant snow fields. The trail end here, at the foot of converging waterfalls on the facing cliffs and just below a rumbling cataract on the North Fork itself. Above the meadows are the jumbled spires and cliffs of Goode Mountain and Storm King, which soar above the valley in jagged pinnacles.”
I decided to map a route that would take in North Fork Meadow, detour down to Stehekin for a break and then traverse the range via Park Creek Pass and return us to Highway 20 so we could hitchhike back home.
We started our trek at Bridge Creek on Highway 20 Sat, Aug. 1. We hiked down the Pacific Crest Trail south, towards Stehekin and had a chance encounter on the trail:
The bear was eating blue berries on the trail, moseyed over to sniff at us, and then moved off the trail for us to get by so she could continue her snack.
The trail was in great shape, little brush and no downed trees. Gently sloping down the first days hike was an easy one, 10 miles to the trail junction and camp site.
We camped the first night at North Fork Camp which occupies a bench at the confluence of Bridge Creek and North Fork.
The next day we hiked up the North Fork Trail. The first 3 miles were uneventful. We were able to ford Grizzly Creek on a series of logs snags and rocks, the creek was high and about 45 feet wide but we didn’t have to resort to wading.
Just before Grizzly Camp there were remains of a very large recent mud slide, maybe 50 yards wide.
At Grizzly Camp we encountered flies, like 900 trillion of them. Very small, about 1/20 the size of a house fly but packing a big bite, these little bastards were horrendous.
Nothing seemed to hinder their appetite, Deet, eucalyptus, etc only seemed to whet their desire to bite us more. The only thing to do was keep walking. A brisk pace kept them at bay. Of course the down side to that was the heat! It was in the mid to high 90’s during the afternoon
The brush became thicker, in many sections the ground was completely obscured it was just like walking in a jungle. Stinging nettles, and other nasty brush was all over. Every so often we would get an enticing view…
We thankfully came out of the brush and the trail skirted alongside the creek. 
In the mountains it’s often a situation of all or nothing, choose your preferred form of discomfort. In the sun the flies were few, but the heat oppressive. In the shade the flies were ravenously abundant…Hot, thirsty and needing a break we rotated between the two forms of torture, cooking in an oven and having our flesh devoured as we sat…then tiring of this vacillation, we shouldered the packs and continued our trek…
Here is photo from about half way up the valley. 
As we continued up the valley we came out of the brush and thankfully caught an occasional breeze as we navigated our way from meadow to meadow…the views improved 
with our spirits and in relatively short order we reached the end of the trail (it just sort of petered out) and now was time to venture off trail and scout for a camp site.
The park requires a permit for all overnight stays and has designated campsites spaced along each trail. However an off-trail camping permit is available, one has to agree to camp at least half a mile from the nearest trail.
Although the scenery was outstanding we all had one thought: How to find a camping spot, get in the tent and get away from these god-damned flies…But before we could muster the energy to start bushwhacking in search of a spot to pitch our tent, we needed a break.
We located a spot with partial shade on a moderately flat piece of meadow and hurriedly set up the tent (its all screen mesh, we didn’t use the fly) and dove in. We spent the next 10 minutes feverishly swatting flies until the floor of the tent was littered with their tiny bodies. By this time we were drenched in sweat, we had lost our shade and the sun was cooking us. We resorted to holding the sleeping pads over our heads with out legs while we laid on our backs laughing and cursing…
It reminded me of the movie “Madagascar” when the penguins, who have hijacked a huge cargo ship to go home to Antarctica, finally arrive. They are standing there on the ice in the cold and howling wind. One of them is looking around, and finally says to the others “Well, this sucks!”.
Well, this sucks!
Well, this sucks…
Anyway we dragged our selves out of the tent and worked our way up to the valley head and found a suitable but somewhat tenuous camp on a snow field. This turned out to be a great idea, the snow for some reason minimized the flies and the heat at the same time.
I had read a description in one of the guide books that said that there was once a camp site at the valley head called “Many Waterfalls Camp”. The camp is no more, but the spot is well named. There were more than 30 waterfalls coursing down from the many glaciers and snow fields above.
With out a doubt the trail guide was correct: an absolutely unbelievably beautiful valley…as a side comment the guide book: “Hiking the North Cascades” by Erik Molvar; Falcon Press, is a great guide. Mr. Molvar is a gifted writer and his descriptions are vivid and accurate, a combination one does not always find! (The quote above is from his guide.)
Here are a few images from near our camping spot.
We stayed there only one night (I think the flies drove us out!) and headed back to North Fork Camp.
Here are some more random images from the head of the valley:
The sunrise was magnificent! here are some images:
Here are a few views from the trip down the valley.
Once back down the valley we came to our camp site from the night before last and after a long relaxing lunch continued our trip further down the valley to the Bridge Creek Camp along the Stehekin Road.
The plan for the next day was to hike a quick 5 miles down the now abandoned road, making certain to arrive at High Bridge in time to catch the Park shuttle bus heading south to the small village of Stehekin.
While perusing maps and planning the route is was clear that this little detour would enable us to not only resupply mid way through our trip, but also give us the opportunity to score a couple of good meals and most importantly visit the Stehekin Pastry Company
once or twice before continuing our hike over Park Creek Pass!
And camped near the village for a night.
The route from Bridge Creek to High Bridge is covered by two separate trails, one is the Stehekin Road, which is no longer open to vehicles) and the Old Wagon Trail, (also know as the Pacific Crest Trail), which is actually a foot trail.
And we (being geniuses) or I should say that I, being an idiot, assumed that the Stehekin Road, while being closed to vehicles would certainly be open to hikers all the way to Stehekin.
Actually there are Park Service signs at Bridge Creek Camp saying that it is “highly advisable” to follow the PCT and NOT the Stehekin Road from Bridge Creek Camp to High Bridge. I decided that meant it could be hiked, and so we ignored the detour signs and hiked a few miles south on the old road. It soon became clear why the road was closed to vehicles! The road is completely washed out in many places. As we continued we came to a spot where what was left of the road was entirely covered by water! The water came to the edge of a cliff. We some how climbed the cliff with our packs and made it over the spot. We continued, hoping that we had passed the worst and came to yet another spot which for us (not being basically spiders) was not possible to cross. Now we were faced with the prospect of hiking back 3 miles (and most likely missing the bus and having to hike an extra 10 miles to Stehekin.) or swimming… so we decided to go cross country!
We backtracked a ways and then scrambled up the steep ridge and bushwhacked about half a mile until we finally made it over to the Old Wagon Trail (PCT), and hurried along to High Bridge. We were late in arriving and so missed the bus but were lucky to bum a ride from a few lovely ladies who were up for a short day hike. They were staying at a cabin down in Stehekin and they gratefully gave us a lift down the valley. So we arrived finally at Stehekin!
If you’re interested in reading more about Stehekin or locating links to sites regarding visiting, Here is the Wikipedia page
We made it to town, had lunch, got a camp site, visited the bakery, lazed around, picked up our supplies at the post office, explored, spent the night and early the next morning caught the shuttle bus (with one more stop at the bakery) back up to High Bridge.
One note: if you ever do visit Stehekin, plan to make several trips to the bakery!
When the shuttle bus dropped us off we re-traced our path along the Old Wagon Trail back to Bridge Creek, and then headed west along the Stehekin Road to the trail head for the Park Creek Trail.
The trail from the road to the top of the pass is 8 miles and 3,850 feet elevation gain. Most of the climbing is in the last two miles up to the top of the pass. This is one of the most remote parts of the park which is accessible by trail. I would guess that during an entire summer that no more than 50-75 people pass this way. A few pics on the way up:
As the trail nears the pass it winds its way through a hanging cirque. There are meadows and great views all around. The entire area of Park Creek Pass is unbelievable. One of the very coolest parts of the NP. Just before gaining the pass there is an extensive network of trails on the west side of the trail offering many opportunities for roaming.
When I was above the pass I spied a bear crossing the upper snow filed at the top of the pass, heading south:
We camped near the top of the pass, close to Buckner Mountain, about a mile off the trail.
The next morning was cold and cloudy, we crested the Pass and headed down the trail, north, towards Highway 20. The trail changed names at the top of the pass, and is now known as the Thunder Creek Trail.
Just below the pass the trail was covered with winter avalanche debris.
The trail down from Park Creek pass to Skagit Queen Camp was rough and brushy. Lots of nettles, downed trees and yellow jackets!
Just beyond the camp lie the ruins of the Skagit Queen generator house, which dates from 1905. water was piped downhill from Thunder Creek to run a Pelton wheel, which used the flow of water to generate electricity for the mill which served the Skagit Queen Mine.
From Skagit Queen Camp to the highway and Diablo Lake the trail is in beautiful shape.
The last days hike was uneventful; it was 20 miles, mostly down hill with few views.
We arrived at Highway 20 at about 1pm, at the Colonial Creek Camp ground and hitchhiked back to civilization!
Even on a short trip like this one its always funny to me how quickly I lose the friendly social skills!
There and Back, Again: My Spring and Fall Sojourn to Cathedral Lake, on the Pacific Northwest Trail, Pasayten Wilderness
July 14 -19
I never had any idea that there was real tundra in Washington State, I thought I’d have to go to Alaska to have a tundra experience. So when I read that there was a part of the Pasayten Wilderness sporting REAL tundra my interest was piqued.
The Pasayten Wilderness is in Washington State. Its northern boundary is the US/Canada border. To the west is Ross Lake and North Cascades National Park and it extends 50 miles to the east expanding across almost half a million acres.
The trail guide I was reading described a trek through the eastern Pasayten, along the Boundary Trail (running east/west parallel to the Canadian border), to a place called Upper Cathedral Lake. Along the way, the author wrote, you will pass through Horseshoe Basin and there, LO! You will experience True Tundra!!
The route in the book began at Thirty Mile trailhead and went north along the Chewuch River. I bought the topos, studied the route, got all provisioned up and hoped for nice weather. About a week before the trip I visited the US Forest Service web site (Okanagan National Forest) and discovered that the first four and a half miles of trail were littered with more than 550 down trees!
Two years before I’d hiked 18 miles on an almost-abandoned trail, also in the Pasayten, aptly called the Three Fools Trail.
This was taken from the Three Fools Trail (AKA the Castle Pass Trail) as the trail traverses the side of the hill, just before the steep (and brushy!) descent to Big Face Creek. Pasayten Wilderness.
I say aptly named because the “trail” is non-existent in many places, and more importantly, two of my most foolish friends accompanied me.
The trail had about the same number of blow-downs (500 to 600) and was literally covered in thick brush. Hiking a trail like that is only fun AFTER you’re done, when you’re sitting at the restaurant enjoying a great meal, never before!
I located an alternate trail, it was 29 miles one way to Cathedral Lake, maintaining an elevation of 6,100 to 7,800 ft and promised great views.
The only downside was that we would need to drive nearly an extra 3 hours, but that was a much more appealing than clambering over 450 dead trees!
Our new route took us over Loup Loup Pass and through the towns of Omak, Tonasket and into the small town of Loomis. From there we headed up the Toats Coulee Road to the trailhead. The road was easy to follow, and not a challenge for our 4 wheeled friend.
We arrived rather late in the day and by 6pm we had arrived in Horseshoe Basin and tundra! We looked and looked and all we could see were acres of meadows carpeted with wildflowers. Where was the Tundra?
We consulted the map and then the copied pages of the trail guide, and then the map again. Yep, we were where the Tundra was supposed to be. Right smack-dab in the middle of Horseshoe Basin.
We were just happy to be there meadow, tundra, or what ever you called it, the place was magnificent.
I love hiking in the Pasayten. One reason is that I love views and the Pasayten provides plenty.
With many trails following the crest of long ridges you can hike for days and have spectacular scenery damn near every minute.
Further west, in the North Cascades National Park most hikes start at a rather low elevation, involve a longish hike through forests and then rise up to a spectacular pass.
Some examples are Easy Pass, Park Creek Pass and Cascade Pass.
All of these places are breathtaking in the extreme. However you cannot camp at the top of any of them. So you go up and then quickly down the other side, back in to the forest.
Not in the Pasayten! Not only are there long and wonderful ridges to hike, but there are less trees and immense meadows. Endless meadows. And in July and early August the meadows are carpeted in flowers.
“Upholstered in herbaceous wildflowers” is what one of the guidebooks said. I have been to many places in the Cascades and seen lots of flowers. But nothing like the Pasayten. In other places there would be a meadow and clumps of flowers here and there.
In the Pasayten the entire meadow, as far as you can see is completely filled with flowers. Columbine, paintbrush, lupines and countless others blanket the ground.
It is really something to see an entire mountainside literally covered in flowers.
And the trees. Interspersed between the rocky summits and explosion of flowers are perfect clumps of trees. Each element serves to offset the other. The result is that the Pasayten is like a Zen Garden.
Every stand of trees, rock outcropping, and flower display has a special feel, like it was all painstakingly handcrafted. Nothing looks out of place.
There were literally miles and miles of flowers…
Our first night we camped in the middle of Horseshoe Basin, right on the tundra and anticipated our journey the next day. This was our first long hike of the year and we were not acclimated yet.
The next day’s hike took us by Louden Lake
and around Rock Mountain. We lazed at a fine looking creek and enjoyed a hot lunch, and made it as far as Teapot Dome to camp.
Our campsite was another meadowy-tundra-like concoction full of flowers and bugs, LOTS of bugs.
Early the next morning we were on our way, we stayed on the Boundary Trail, which maintains its elevation, traversing along the western side of Bauerman Ridge, through Scheelite pass and again traversing along Wolframite Mountain.
The weather so far was perfect, cool at night (we had a few nights with frost) and warm in the day. The entire route on this day was on south facing slopes.
It was clear that the trail was normally quite dry, but as we were so early in the season there was a flourish of small almost desert like flowers all over the ground.
Approaching Tungsten Creek we passed a couple hiking the opposite direction, with what appeared to the reincarnation of Lassie. Lassie was happily leading the way, with her heavy pack.
Following were a couple; I would say 65 to 70 years old, cruising right along.
Both had old sneakers, external frame backpacks, with super big canvas-looking sacks and looked like they could out-hike us any day of the week.
We continued our traverse and saw some wooden posts made into sort of an A-frame welcoming us to the Tungsten Mine.
Just at that moment by friend gave me a sort of garbled hush noise and pointed up the hillside. It was a huge bear, much bigger than any I’d ever seen, I would guess 800 lbs or more.
Both of us thought it sure looked like a Grizzly. She sure had the face of one, she was there maybe 20 yards off the trail in plain view. She got a good look at us and vamoosed off, up the hill.
We continued to the mine where there are all sorts of intact buildings and other human remains. There is an old long and low bunkhouse, which is empty now except for an old cast iron wood stove.
The walls and wood work inside are literally covered, almost every square inch with the carvings of the names of hikers who have passed through.
Nearby is a newer looking a-frame structure with an old bathtub sitting out front . It looked inhabited, and we looked around outside but didn’t see the miner or anyone else.
From the mine it was a relatively short and easy hike up to Apex Pass (7800 ft). Once we came out on the west side of the pass we were astounded, shocked, surprised and generally overwhelmed with the view.
The trail guide we had raved about the beautiful tundra and didn’t make much mention of Apex Pass or Cathedral Peak, so we weren’t expecting any thing special.
The view was astounding. We could see the eastside of Amphitheater Mountain, and next to it the triangular spire of Cathedral Peak.
Across the valley to the southwest Remmel Mountain reared up. There was a bright blue sky, white puffy clouds and lots of green meadows (tundra?) all around.
We just stopped there in awe, I was running all over like a 6 year old, taking pictures and exclaiming loudly how awesome a place it was.
After running out of cool sh## to say and taking maybe 200 pictures we saddled up to tackle the final two miles or so Cathedral Pass.
The closer you get to Cathedral Peak the more you stop and stare.
The southeast face of the peak is remarkably steep and actually looks out of place. The eastern Pasayten is better known for its rounded peaks than its jagged summits.
This entire area looked more like it belonged in the Southwest than the Northwest!
After untold numbers of stops for more picture taking we arrived at the pass. And there was heaven! Amphitheater Mountain on the south shoulder of the pass
and Cathedral on the north,
to the west a sweet basin containing Upper Cathedral Lake. Amphitheater Mountain is a very long (1.5 miles) sweeping, rocky ridge.
Viewed from Cathedral Pass its quite a sight, Amphitheater makes a 100 degree turn and so you can view both faces, or arms of the mountain from one spot.
We strolled down into the upper basin where there was a large snowmelt pool.
The view from here of Cathedral and Amphitheater was so incredible we decided to camp right there and leave further exploring for the next day.
The pool provided many reflective photo opportunities when the sun started setting.
Before starting our trip back we took a few minutes to head over to Upper Cathedral Lake.
The lake was more than half covered in snow and ice, the southwestern end of the lake ripples at the sheer base of Amphitheater Mountain.
There are many great camping spots and we saw several anglers trying their luck.
The classic view of Cathedral Peak is taken from this SW corner of the lake.
From here one can see that the entire basin is filled with larches. Coming back when they turn yellow will definitely be part of the plan for the fall!
Here is our camp site below Cathedral Peak, looking at Amphitheater Mountain…
The only single thing detracting from staying at Cathedral was the bugs. The incessant drone of mosquitoes compelled us to consider finding a new camp for the night.
The day before when we were at Apex Pass we hadn’t noticed many bugs, and the view was fantastic, so we packed up and headed back there to camp.
We arrived and found a place to set up the mesh tent in the shade, where we had a stupendous view.
It didn’t take long before we realized that a) there were even more bugs at Apex Pass, b) even with a mesh tent in the shade we were literally cooking in the tent.
Our view was beyond compare, but as the day got longer we grew hotter and grumpier from being held captive in out stupid tent.
There were a few more hours before it got dark, so we quickly packed and hit the trail.
Passing through the mine again did not reveal any more grizzlies and we made it back to Scheelite Pass as darkness fell.
Its always interesting to me that even when I have already hiked a trail my memory of it is can be so off.
No doubt my physical and emotional state alters my perception of the difficulty/beauty of the trail. In this case being hungry, tired, in a hurry to reach a new camping spot, and completely DONE with mosquitoes it seemed that the trail was MUCH longer.
The following day we hiked all the way back to the other side of Sunny Pass, passing through Horseshoe Basin. This time we spent some time at Louden Lake and got some great pictures of the lake and the wildflowers.
A couple of years ago I made a trip to Entiat Meadows, in the eastern part of Glacier Peak Wilderness. The fields/meadows/tundra in Horseshoe Basin didn’t look any different than Entiat.
But what do I know! I’m just glad that the mention of tundra caught my attention!
October 1 – 4
It took a little finagalin’ to get the time to go, but we did it! We left Thursday night, Sept 30 and headed up to Washington Pass. I wanted to get photos of Liberty Bell at sunrise/sunset,
so we camped out along the start of the Blue Lake trail and captured a few images.
We retraced our earlier trip, heading to Tonasket, up to Loomis and to Iron Gate Trail Head.
The road to the trail was itself spectacular, great fall colors.
There were very few cars at the trailhead…
We arrived and got started, we passed through Horseshoe Basin, with its now brownish tundra,
passed almost gone Louden Lake,
and made it to Teapot Dome by night fall.
During the entire trip we did not see one other person.
Our plan was to do about 14 miles a day, 4 days total there and back.
The nights were COLD and the days perfect, blue skies and no clouds. It is really so much more pleasant to hike with NO bugs! I need to do more fall hiking.
We had some concern that there may not be water available along the trail, now that it was fall, but we found an abundance of water all along the trail.
Hiking along the Boundary trail is such a pleasant experience, easy grades, great views,
lots of sun. We could see the band of larches across the valley, on the side of Windy Peak.
As we approached Apex Pass we were again awestruck with the views,
only this time the larches added so much color to the experience.
The larches look like a swath of orange painted across the mountains…
The larches seemed to find a specific elevation, creating a swath of outrageous color…
Its interesting to compare the images from early summer to fall…
Remmel Mountain from the Boundary Trail, Pasayten Wilderness
We reached Upper Cathedral Basin about an hour before sunset,
almost 30 miles in two days, its a good feeling to reach the final pass!
Any lack of energy I was feeling soon disappeared as we reached the pass and looked down towards Cathedral Lake
Luckily we had about 2 hours yet until sunset.
We hurriedly set a camp and rushed down to the lake to get images of the sunset.
The orgy of photo taking ended a few hours later.
I was definitely in sensory overwhelm!
The larches looked like they were plugged in.
The Upper Cathedral Lake Basin was filled with them.
It was a perfect evening: blue skies, orange larches and no bugs!
The entire basin was afire.
Amphitheater Mountain was stunning.
Blue, black, green and orange…
As the sun set the larches became even more rich in color.
The trees made perfect frames for the peaks.
I definitely took many pictures!
After an hour or so it was hard to continue, the sensory shock was upon me!
We finally made it back to camp and had some dinner while the final rays of sun shone in the basin…
and we slept very well!
We arose early the next day and started our journey back.
Late Sunday afternoon as we approached Sunny Pass it got cloudy and cold, and we flew down the trail and off to Tonasket for some dinner and started the long drive back.
One of the most pleasant and scenic trips I have ever taken in the North cascades, both in spring, and fall!
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