Erik Molvar - Hiking the North Cascades: a guide to more than 100 great hiking adventures

Hiking the North Cascades

A Guide to More Than 100 Great Hiking Adventures

Second Edition

Erik Molvar

Help Us Keep This Guide Up to Date

Every effort has been made by the author and editors to make this guide as accurate and useful as possible. However, many things can change after a guide is publishedtrails are rerouted, regulations change, facilities come under new management, and so forth.

We would love to hear from you concerning your experiences with this guide and how you feel it could be improved and kept up to date. While we may not be able to respond to all comments and suggestions, well take them to heart and well also make certain to share them with the author. Please send your comments and suggestions to the following address:

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Thanks for your input, and happy trails!

For Bill Brockman, whose influence extends across several generations of conservationists in the Pacific Northwest

Copyright 2009 by Morris Book Publishing, LLC.

A previous edition of this book was published by Falcon Publishing, Inc. in 1998.

Falcon, FalconGuides and Outfit Yor Mind are trademarks of Morris Book Publishing, LLC

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to The Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Project Manager: Jessica Haberman

Layout: Kevin Mak

Maps: Sue Murray Morris Book Publishing, LLC.

Photos: Erik Molvar except where otherwise credited

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Molvar, Erik.

Hiking the North Cascades : a guide to the areas best hiking adventures / Erik Molvar. -- 2nd ed.

p. cm. -- (Falconguides)

ISBN 978-0-7627-9738-7

1. Hiking--North Cascades (B.C. and Wash.)Guidebooks. 2. HikingWashington (State)North Cascades National Park--Guidebooks. 3. BackpackingNorth Cascades (B.C. and Wash.)Guidebooks. 4. Backpacking--Washington (State)North Cascades National ParkGuidebooks. 5. North Cascades (B.C. and Wash.)Guidebooks. 6. North Cascades National Park (Wash.)Guidebooks. 7. Washington (State)Guidebooks. I. Title.

GV199.42.W22N675 2009

917.9750444--dc22

2008046135

The author and The Globe Pequot Press assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

Contents

Acknowledgments

First, I would like to recognize my wife Melanie for her constant companionship over hundreds of miles of trails, who maintained her humor and mine through the wind and the rain and the snow, on tedious forest treks and over the steepest passes. Melanie was in large part responsible for keeping our backcountry patrol reports up to date, and was indispensable in providing extra runs to town for supplies and in giving me a two-car shuttle capability that obviated the need for hundreds of miles of backtracking. Many thanks for a job well done.

Thanks to Hugh Dougher and Kelly Bush for allowing us to volunteer as backcountry rangers and for providing assistance in a thousand small but crucial ways. Thanks to Robes, Tony, and Adam for their hospitality during our exile from the Marblemount compound. Jim Archambeault provided information concerning trails on the Okanogan National Forest. Rosemary Siefrit and Todd Johnson provided valuable information for the revision of the book. Thanks to Marshall and Dawn Plumer for the logistical support and the rare treat of Hozomeen ice cream. The ranger staff at Stehekin provided much-needed assistance in helping us solve the transportation challenges in that remote corner of the world. Mikhail and Vladimir at Northwest Boot Repair in Bellingham did yeoman work in keeping our expensive but disappointing footwear going.

This book, as well as Hiking Olympic National Park , would never have been written without Donna DeShazos visionary handling of my Glacier manuscript. Background research was conducted at the North Cascades National Park interpreters library in Newhalem, park headquarters at Sedro-Woolley, the University of Idaho, the Texas A&M University map collection, and the Wilderness district office in Marblemount. We appreciate the curators of these collections of texts and maps for their diligence in keeping this information available. Archaeological information was provided by Bob Mierendorf, who generously shared some of the results of his survey efforts.

Thanks to Craig Holmquist, Eli Warren, Kevin Kennedy, Margi Gromek, Barry George, Jim Hammer, and Jim Archambeault of the Forest Service for providing mileage data, background information, and reviews for the trails that fell within their respective districts. John Rose and Jim Wiebe of BC Parks provided information and reviews for hikes in Canada. The park dispatchers, Gaylyn, Lynn, and Vicki, will always have a special place in our memories as the friendly voices on the other end of the radio each morning and evening.

Finally, I would like to thank Little Joe Manley for just being himself.

Green Trails Topo Map Index

USGS Topo Map Index

Introduction

East of Puget Sound, a jagged range of glacier-clad mountains rises skyward, walling off the rainy country of the coast from the arid plains of the Columbia River Basin. This is not a lofty range from the standpoint of altitudemost of the taller peaks are less than 9,000 feet at the summit. However, because they rise from sea level, these mountains have a vertical rise similar to that of the Rockies or the Sierra Nevada. The northern end of the Cascades has always been the most forbidding and impenetrable, replete with sawback ridges and dense jungles of brush, vast icefields and torrential rivers. This wilderness had never been conquered by civilization and offers a last retreat for those who seek to leave the encumbrances of the modern world behind and discover themselves in the simplicity of the untamed wilds. This is steep country, but the trails have been built along the same gradients as those in other mountainous parts of the United States, and most trails are suitable for intermediate-level backpackers.

North Cascades National Park is no tour-bus park. In contrast to many of our national parks, the scenic wonders in this part of the world cannot be reached by car, do not have paved sidewalks or boardwalks to them, and are not accompanied by interpretive plaques. To experience the raw grandeur and beauty of the North Cascades, it is necessary to shoulder a pack and travel into the wilderness by shoe-leather express. This is a backpackers park, with hundreds of miles of pathways that penetrate deep into the forests and climb to the barren tundra of the mountaintops. These mountains offer unlimited possibilities to solitude-seeking hikers, from short day hikes to two-week expeditions. Along with surrounding wilderness areas administered by the Forest Service and neighboring parks and reserves in Canada, the park is part of a vast and complete ecosystem that supports mountain lions, elk, mountain goats, and even a few grizzly bears along with its annual influx of human visitors. Enjoy the wilderness and help to preserve its pristine quality for future generations.