Barclay Lake & Heybrook Lookout

Barclay Lake and Heybrook Lookout are only a few miles apart, and they share more than geographic proximimty. They are also both great hikes to take novices and your non-hiking friends on. They are short, easy trails with no signifigant obsticles but with wonderful scenic payoffs.
Barclay lake is an almost level (50' elevation gain), well maintaned trail that is as water & mud free as any trail in Western Washington can be in November. Since the old growth forest I remember walking through as a child was logged most of the way to the lake, you can use the walk to explain the difference between an intensively managed (i.e. clearcut) tree farm and a natural forest, which you encounter as you near and walk along the lake. Trees were replanted along the trail over 40 years ago, but the understory is still a biological desert, except for the wood fiber. Plenty of sticks, cones and needles carpet the "forest" floor, but little else. The almost total lack of understory diversity gives meaning to the otherwise oxymoronic phrase "can't see the forest for the trees".
As you are just about in sight of the lake you come across an area opened by a small rockslide and get your first real glimpse of the towering vertical wall of Mount Baring to your right. Look to your left for a view of Gunn Peak, source of the rocky rubble on which your stand. For the best view of the lake, keep following the trail to the lakes infall creek, then duck under some thorny shrubs to a small opening at the creeks mouth. Enjoy the trout jumping, rippling the glassy surface.
After this short hike, those who still have some ambition and energy should head to the trailhead for Heybrook Lookout, located about 3 1/2 miles west on Highway 2, just across from the "Leaving Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest" sign. It's only 1 1/3 miles to the top, but the elevation gain is 850', which can be challenging for those not used to walking more than the width of a Mall parking lot. Most of that gain comes in the first half of the ascent, so gently prod your novices with the occasional "one step at a time" or "we're getting close now", and as the grade becomes gentler they'll feel as if they've hit their stride. Before you know it you come to an opening with Mount Index and Bridal Veil falls to your right and the lookout rising from the peak to your left, just a few feet away.
There are seven flights of starirs (68') to the top of the observation platform, from which the views unfold. South is Index, east is the Skykomish River valley winding its way between the mountains towards Stevens Pass, and to the left of that are Mount Baring and Gunn Peak, flanking the valley you just hiked to get to Barclay Lake. Kids faces will light up when they recognize it, a satisfied "I did that!" look on their faces.

Perry Creek & Mount Forgotten

Perry Creek is a beautiful fall hike with a taste of winter thrown in. The short but steep trail (8 miles round trip, 3200' elevation gain) begins under the sheer cliffs of Mount Dickerman's west face, a nearly 2 mile long avalanche chute between the trailhead and the falls. Few evergreens grow here, swept away by annual avalanches and occasional rock slides, but the alders and vine maples abound, dappling the trail with yellow, orange, red and gold, and expansive openings reveal views of Big Four, Hall Peak and a half dozen waterfalls across the valley.
A good trail procedes over stable rock on a gentle grade at first, gradually steepening in the second mile until you reach old growth forest at Perry Creek falls. Just past the falls is a creek crossing, partly on rocks, partly on a large downed cedar log, easy today but it could be tough if the creek was any fuller. Stepping on the partly submerged rocks, the water came within an inch of my boot tops. If your unsure, it might be worth putting on gaiters to keep the very chilly water out.
From here, the trail begins to climb steeply up the side of Mount Forgotten. Although easy to follow, it is a root and rock strewn path that keeps your eyes focused on the trail, just as well since the views have vanished, but it's worth stopping now and then to examine the large trees above and the interesting fungi below. Try not to get discouraged at the steep slope that seems to go endlessly up.
After gaining 2000' in the next 2 miles the ridge is finally attained. On this late October day we reached snowline at about 4500' elev., and found 2 inches of snow dusting the top. Great views here of Dickerman, Forgotten, Big Four, Hall & Stillaguamish Peak's. Another 300' gain in less than a quarter mile brings you to Mount Forgotten's meadows, but any wildflowers were long since bloomed and burried under snow.
If the creek crossing was a bit dodgy on the way up, be sure to keep an eye on the weather as this small, narrow creek will fill up fast in a heavy rain.

Deer Creek Pass & Kelcema Lake

About 50' from the very popular Kelcema Lake trail is the trailhead for Deer Creek Pass, a .6 mile, 300' elevation gain stroll to a ridge with views of Three Fingers, Liberty and Big Bear mountains. It's easy to overlook. We went past it at first, thinking the trail was a small eroded watercourse. Turns out it's both.
The small bridges and puncheons look like they were installed around 1960, and I'd guess that's the last time anybody other than the occasional trail user thought to maintain it, so it's safer to avoid the crumbling bridges and slick, slimey puncheons than to use them. Be sure your boots are laced up tight too, because there are some deep, boot sucking mudholes that are hard to avoid on the first half of the trail.
(Note to any interested parties: it wouldn't take much to rehabilitate this trail, which would help relieve some of the pressure from the somewhat overused Kelcema trail. This would make a great Eagle Scout project, or a nice opportunity for WTA volunteers who aren't athletic enough to tackle a backcountry work party).
The second half of the trail is wider, less brushy and with only a few small blowdowns as it switchbacks quickly to the ridge. Just before reaching the top I saw flagging tape and a sign for the "Helena Mine Trail", an informal trail marked off by someone (the ranger said a Boeing engineer) with a sense of adventure & history, but I didn't have time to explore it as grandpa duty called this afternoon.
For the curious and intrepid, there is also the Saint Louis Mine along Deer Creek just 100 yards or so downhill from the parking area, and the Bonanza Queen Mine about 2 miles up Deer Creek Road from the Mountain Loop Highway. Look for a wide spot on the left with a "what the duece?" brass plaque on a rock among the bushes and follow a faint trail a few hundred feet to the mine.

Independence & North Lakes

Independence Lake is a short, kid friendly hike to a small lake with a few trout, a worthwhile destination in its own right, but too short for much of a workout, so we headed up the trail towards North Lake. I would classify this hike as moderate, but it does head up agressively for two steep miles to a ridge where you either admire the view then head back down, or drop down 700' to the lake, which means 700' elevation gain on the way back (plus another 200' coming up from Independence Lake).
It's best to start early on a hot day. The route has plenty of exposure to sun, and the people we saw coming up in the afternoon looked uncomfortably hot in the 80 degree weather.
There is flagging tape to seperate the trail from some social paths to campsites at the end of Independence Lake, as well as to mark the trail up a boulder field to North Lake. The trail branches off here, left up the boulders to the ridge or right on a level path to an unnamed tarn with beautiful views towards a peak known as the Devils Thumb and a lovely campsite with a "big sky" view. The tarn is definately worth the short side trip, and makes a great destination for those disinclined to greater exertion. The blueberries were large and tasty.

Mount Pilchuck

Mount Pilchuck is one of the classic trails in Washington. Jutting out 30 miles west of the main massif of the Cascade mountains, it rises a mile above Puget Sound and has a 360 degree panorama that includes Mount Baker, Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountains, 3 National Parks and a dozen wilderness areas.
While the views are spectacular during the day, it's the sunrises and sunsets that really take your breath away, so we decided to take an "illegal" (it's a day use only site) camping trip there the evening of July 4th. Talk about a balcony seat! The show was awesome, fireworks as far as the eye could see. We spent the night camped in the lookout.
The hike is 6 miles round trip, witha 2400' elevation gain, slogging up snowfields and over bouklders, a hard slog with a 40 pound pack but well worth the effort. Bug spray, sunscreen and sunglasses are a must, and trekking poles help on the snow. If you take only one hike this year, this is the one.

Barlow Point

After hiking the much too crowded Lake 22 trail (we'd hoped the rain would keep the crowds away, but it didn't, not even the woefully unprepared sneakers and sweatshirt people), so we went on an additional hike to Barlow Point.
The trailhead is at Barlow Pass. A hike of 1.2 miles and 800' elevation gain, this moderately easy trail starts by going slightly down hill under a long rock wall (pretty hanging purple flowers here...penstamon?), then begins a series of switchbacks with no level areas (those not used to hiking might need to pause for a breather on the way) through a forest of second growth timber. This is a fairly boring trail, with little understory vegetation, mostly sticks and fir needle duff on the ground, but can be a great educational walk when showing friends why clearcuts are bad forestry, a mirror opposite of the lush and lovely Lake 22 Research Natural Area.
There's no lake or stream on the way, and no views to speak of. So why bother?
Because when you reach the site of an old fire lookout at the top of this 3200' knob, you'll find lovely views up the Sauk river towards Mt. Pugh, across to Sheep Mountain, and down the Stillaguamish to Big Four and Hall Peak, as well as Twin Peaks and Mt. Dickerman. The rocky summit provides nice "chairs" to lounge on, and unlike other hikes in the neighborhood you'll probably have the trail to yourself.
On the return trip, turn off at the trail marked "Railroad Grade" and follow the path of the old Everett & Monte Cristo Railway back to the trailhead parking lot.

Deception Creek

We chose Deception Creek because it was a day of low clouds and little visibility, and there are no real views on this trail, except for a brief glimpse of Spark Plug Mountain from a landslide-opened area at about 3 1/2 miles. The trail and the creek the "view" here. You enter the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in about 1/2 mile and begin a slow but steady climb, above and away from the creek, but always within earshot.
After 3 miles you've already gained most of your elevation for this hike. The creek again makes contact with the trail, and there are supposedly camp sites here, but they were still under snow as of this date. Intermittent snow covers the trail in places from here on, becoming continuous at about 4 miles until you reach Fisher Creek at 5 1/2 miles. Deception Creek was awesome on the second half of the trail, narrowing into ravines, tumbling over pools and basins, with so many waterfalls I lost count. At Fisher Creek it is possible to cross on downed logs and continue to Deception Lakes & Pass, but that would require an overnight trip, so this is a good turn around for a day hike, round trip of about 11 miles.
A big shout out to our fellow WTA members who built a number of bridges, large and small, along this trail. We stayed safe and dry. Thanks volunteers!
When you're done, don't forget to stop at the nearby Deception Falls viewing area, just west of the trail on the north side of HWY 2. It's a short trail, just a few hundred feet, and the falls are quite impressive there.
We chose Deception Creek because it was a day of low clouds and little visibility, and there are no real views on this trail, except for a brief glimpse of Spark Plug Mountain from a landslide-opened area at about 3 1/2 miles. The trail and the creek the "view" here. You enter the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in about 1/2 mile and begin a slow but steady climb, above and away from the creek, but always within earshot.
After 3 miles you've already gained most of your elevation for this hike. The creek again makes contact with the trail, and there are supposedly camp sites here, but they were still under snow as of this date. Intermittent snow covers the trail in places from here on, becoming continuous at about 4 miles until you reach Fisher Creek at 5 1/2 miles. Deception Creek was awesome on the second half of the trail, narrowing into ravines, tumbling over pools and basins, with so many waterfalls I lost count. At Fisher Creek it is possible to cross on downed logs and continue to Deception Lakes & Pass, but that would require an overnight trip, so this is a good turn around for a day hike, round trip of about 11 miles.
A big shout out to our fellow WTA members who built a number of bridges, large and small, along this trail. We stayed safe and dry. Thanks volunteers!
When you're done, don't forget to stop at the nearby Deception Falls viewing area, just west of the trail on the north side of HWY 2. It's a short trail, just a few hundred feet, and the falls are quite impressive there.

Goat Lake

Happy day! Barlow Pass is now open!
The Goat Lake trail is in great shape, snow free and free of blowdowns the whole way. Since there is a lower and upper trail here, we did this hike as a loop, starting with the lower trail, which follows Elliot Creek through a forest that ranges from slide alder to tree farm to old growth, turning into a towering stand of ancient sentinals as you enter the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness. Elliot Creek makes a nice waterfall at the lake's outlet and was running so full of snow melt that it looked more like Elliot River.
At Goat Lake we found low clouds obscuring views of Cadet Peak and the aptly named Foggy Peak, so we bushwahcked on a faint tred along the north side of the lake to a view of yet another waterfall. The temperature dropped into the low 50's as a light rain began to fall, cool enough that I actually fished my gloves out of my pack for a few minutes. Typical "June-uary" Cascades weather. We did finally get a short sun break and the clouds briefly parted revealing Cadet Peak rising from the lake's east end.
We returned via the upper trail, an old logging road through a mostly alder forest, with occasional views of Sheep Mountain and passing by numerous small waterfalls. This segment of the trail has lots of flowers like trillium, bleeding heart and red columbine, and a couple nice moss & fern gardens clinging to wet rock walls.
Total trail distance for our trip was 12 miles, 1400' elevation gain. If you want to camp here, come early or come during the week, Sunday it was full of campers.

North Fork Sauk & Red Mountain

These three short hikes make for a great day trip, a sort of Sauk Valley sampler, all accessed by the same route, FS road 49.
The first hike, North Fork Sauk Falls, is less than two miles after the turn off from the Mountain Loop. We had to approach from Darrington because Barlow Pass isn't open yet, turning on to FS 49 just before Bedal Creek campground. The trail is very short, maybe 1/8th mile with a drop of 100' to the falls, which are thundering and misting mightily with snowmelt on this warm sunny weekend. Watch out for the rickety stairs and loose hand rails near the bottom.
FS Road 49 ends 1/2 mile before the trailhead for the other two hikes due to a washout. There's just room enough to turn around and park abot 200' before the washout. Crossing the gully can be done on the uphill side, an easy leap in you're athletic or a short scramble if you're not.
The trailhead is an easy 1/2 mile later at Sloan Creek campground. After pausing to pay our respects to a grove of ancient cedars and sign the trail register, we walked about 200 feet and took the trail to the left for Red Mountain. In a steep (800') mile, you'll come to a former FS lookout site with great views of Sloan Peak and the Cadets. The trail keeps going uphill, but unless you're out to explore deeper into the backcountry, this is a good turn around.
We returned to the valley and headed up the North Fork Sauk trail. We followed the river for 2 1/2 miles through swaths of huge old trees surrounded by carpets of wildflowers, from huge skunk cabbage to dainty calypso orchids. There's an avalanche chute to cross, along side of a creek at 2 miles, so watch out for hollow spots beneath otherwise hard packed snow. The FS web page said there would be deep snow after 1 1/2 miles, but we only saw small patches in the shade, so it's probably clear to Red creek at 4 miles, at which point it will be August before you can ford there and continue up the valley.
We did all three hikes in six hours, but that includes lunch, photo ops and 45 minutes just gazing from the lookout. This would be a great introduction to the Cascades for out of town friends or young explorers.
This is also a great place to hike if you're tired of the crowds at more popular hikes like Lake 22 or Mount Index. On this warm, sunny Sunday, Memorial Day weekend no less, we found only 4 other cars when we arrived at noon and only passed one couple on Red Mountain and one family on the North Fork Sauk River trail. If you seek beauty and solitude, these hikes in the Glacier Peak Wilderness offer the best "bang for the buck" sweat to scenary ratio in the Darrington Ranger District.

Thunder Creek

The Thunder Creek trail is in the North Cascades National Park, beginning at the Colonial Creek Campground and going as far as Lake Chelan in central Washington, via Park Creek Pass & Cascade Pass. We followed the first 6 1/2 miles along Thunder Creek to McAllister camp, an easy, kid friendly stretch that is 13 miles round trip, 700' elevation gain through huge old cedars and firs.
The trail is in good shape. We did encounter numerous blowdowns from last winter, maybe 30 trees that we had to go over/under/around, but none were major obstacles. Considering it was a Sunday in early May with temperatures in the low 70's, I would have thought that this fairly low elevation (1200'-1900') trail would have been packed, but we only saw one other hiker all day. I don't know if solitude can be found here once school lets out for the summer, but right now it's very peaceful. If you're afraid you'll be lonely, don't worry, you'll have plenty of mosquitoes to keep you company.
The trail starts along Diablo Lake for the first mile, then a bridge crossing takrs you to the north side of Thunder Creek, where the trail climbs above but within earshot of the creek for the next 5 miles. You'll cross Neve Creek and a dozen other unnamed tributaries, some on bridges but most by scrambling over logs or hopping stones. The forest is a mix of age classes, from towering old growth to areas cleared by fire and avalanche. The patches of new growth also afford teaser views of local peaks, including Colonial Peak for which the creek and campground are named (pictured above).
McAllister camp is a good spot for lunch and turnaround for day hikers. Backpackers may want to forge on to Tricouni Camp 2 miles away to avoid the tourists and to peer into the Great Dismal Swamp. The trail then takes of up hill for Park creek Pass, the Pacific Crest Trail and Lake Chelan.
I love Thunder Creek for its color, ranging from torquoise ble to emerald green; for its lovely spring wildflowers; and its tasty huckleberries and blueberries which line the trail in August and September.

Cowiche Canyon

The Cowiche Canyon Conservancy is a series of 4 trails along an abandoned railroad corridor. There is the canyon trail itself, a 6 mile round trip hike of the old RR right-of-way, a hill climb for views of Cowiche Mountain and the sagebrush plain before it, a jaunt to a winery(?) and a hike to the top of Cowiche Mountain.
Today we did the canyon trail and the winery detour.
Cowiche Creek has a pretty good flow and so the vegitation in the valley is lush, at least compared to the sage/steppe country around it. As you'll notice driving around the orchards and vineyards of the Yakima are, if you water something in this warm valley it will grow well. And with the plants come animals. We saw a gopher snake (but not until about 4 feet away), red tail hawks and a legion of violet-green swallows.
The first 3 of 11 bridge crossings of Cowiche Creek are gone, thanks to one of the neighbors who tried to stop the trail with a little pre-emptive strike by having them removed, but despite that the trail opened with detours to keep your boots dry. Be sure to be pleasant and unobtrusive to the folks who live here, respecting their property and privacy. Be sure to look for the giant stone head too, you'll know it when you see it.
The trip to the winery is worthwhile too. The 1 mile round trip, 400' Elevation gain yeilds some nice views of the canyon and Cowiche Mountain, as as advertised delivers you at a winery and tasting room (open Sundays!) where for $5 you can sample the local wares, all of which are for sale on site
This canyon is great for a short stroll or an all day adventure, because you can hike up to 14 milkes of trail here.