Mileage: 9.6 miles RT
Elevation Gain/Highest: 4040ft/4460ft
Map: Green Trails Marblemount No 47, my GAIA
Favorite Eats After Hike: 5 B’s Bakery, Bird’s View Brewing Company, Mirkwood Public House, Glorybucha Microbrewery, River Time Brewing, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty Please.
Hike Details:
Accessible year round, the trail to Cow Heaven and views of the Skagit and Sauk River Valleys along with the majestic North Cascades is enticing despite the challenge of its many switchbacks and eroded trail.
Starting out just beyond the Marblemount Ranger Station, the well maintained trail begins innocently enough for the first 2 miles. Multiple waterfalls cascade over the trail making dry feet a balancing test and cushy green carpets most stagnant surfaces. The first of many switchbacks start just a quarter mile in and you may reach as many as 60 or 70 if you keep track. The last reliable water source is about 1.75 miles in at 2000 feet elevation, so make sure you have plenty before continuing on.
From here the trail climbs at a slightly more gradual ascent as it follows the contour and navigates around large house-size boulders and moss-clogged drainages. Keep you eye out for evidence of trail work, the path is slowly being taken back by the forest and often resembles a dry creek bed or weave of gnarled roots. Keep a northwesterly tack until 2800 feet and 2.75 miles in. Here the trail turns west and soon follows high above another creek drainage on the right.
Keep on climbing. At about 3250 feet and 3.15 miles the trail meets a cliff band and goes left on what looks like nothing more than a tangle of roots. In a quarter mile, the route adjusts itself to stay west up another tangle of roots and rocks. At 3650 feet and 3.5 miles, the terrain mellows out and often holds snow into summer months. Look for flagging to help if necessary.
At 3800 feet or so and just under 4 miles, the trail makes another left and hugs the plateau with peek-a-boo views to your left of the snow-capped Cascades before correcting and rising up into a higher meadow at 4250 feet and 4.3 miles with the knob of Helen Buttes rising above. This whole time you may have been wondering how on earth this was ever cattle country but now you can see where a herd of cows may have once wondered looking for lunch. Now huckleberries can be munched the right time of year.
But you are not done yet! The trail crosses the meadow and heads for a notch in the cliff band on the right to pop out on a ridgeline that continues to the base of Helen Buttes. Snow can linger here, as well, and kicking steps may be necessary.
For the next quarter mile, the ridge offers an abundant number of rocky outcroppings for taking in the views and for those with scramble skills, the buttes make for sunny perches. Both the Skagit and Sauk River Valleys stretch on for miles and popular peaks such as Glacier, Sloan and Sno-King line up on the horizon. See if you can spot the scorched walls of Newhalem from a 2016 wild fire while taking it all in.
I wrote an in-depth hike guide description for Washington Trail Association, you can find it here.
My Hike:
6/23/2020
I can’t believe it has been over 4 years since I have visited Cow Heaven! Once again, remnants of snow had me a bit off course but with just a little time in the bramble I was able to make it to the top. The streams were all running well and because I was here mid-week, I was the only one around today. The bugs were FIERCE so I opted not to scramble up onto the buttes but I hope to return later in the season for berries and higher views. If following my GAIA above and snow persists, take the route down…it is much more direct.
2/27/2016
Well, today taught me to take other people’s trip reports at face value. I wrote more about this adventure on my post, Persistent.
I got to the trailhead at 9am and decided to stick with just microspikes and gators based on the last trip report, heading up at about 9:20am. This was my second time visiting Cow Heaven, the last time being in summer. It kicked my butt that time, too, probably because I did some scrambling up the butte.
I’ll make a note here that WTA says 5 miles for this trail, and Green Trails says 3.5 miles. I don’t do the GPS thing, so I relied on my altimeter, compass and map today.
The trail was good and easy to follow the first 2 miles (there is a sign on a tree). I thought I would count the switchbacks at the beginning before you hit the ridge, but lost track at 40 (about 2000 ft). The waterfalls were running nicely and crossing the streams can get your feet wet right from the beginning.
After a brief leveling out, you lose some of the switchbacks and climb in more earnest. The trail also becomes less maintained and at times will look like a dried up creek bed. The snow started to cover the trail at 3100 ft, and with the warm weather it meant no tracks to follow and lots of postholing. Lots.
It was often easier to walk on the snow next to trail instead of what I thought was a trail because I was sinking up to my knees in spots. The snow was both hard enough to walk on and then suddenly you’d sink. Kept me on my toes (or knees). The snow is not consistent, and there will be a few bare spots to confirm you are indeed headed in the right directions. Someone has also tied pink tagging randomly to trees which I noticed more on the way down than the way up.
There was a spot where the trail seemed to either run into a three foot snow bank or climb straight up to my left through a moss covered creek bed. I gambled wrong with the snow bank and spent about 30 minutes off trail until I made it back to that same spot and took the straight up.
By the time I got to 3500 feet, I was post holing in spots up to my waist. Snowshoes would have been nice but I’m stubborn so I kept on. By 3800 feet it was after 1pm, so I just decided to head straight up and onto what appeared to be a viewpoint. I had seen glimpses of the buttes and blue sky taunting me to my left and having been here before I knew I could hope for a view of the valley.
It took me a bit to get up there, I was kick stepping and postholing the whole way. I must have looked at my compass at least 30 times today just to make sure I was headed in the right direction. Having those buttes on my left was great reassurance. I topped out at about 4100ft.
I managed to get down to the car by 4:30, sore but no worse for the adventure. I saw no one else on the trail today.
5/9/2015
The first time I hiked Cow Heaven, I made it all the way up and onto the base of the butte for some pretty spectacular views of the valley. It must have been a dry year for there to have been so little snow in May!
Directions: Drive SR 20 east toward Marblemount. Turn left onto Ranger Station Road (signed “Ranger Station, one mile”). Proceed to the ranger station. Pulling into the parking lot for the station, continue through on the left (driving past storage buildings and abandoned cars). The road turns to gravel and the trailhead is on your left (elev. 400 ft). There is room for just 2-3 cars and no services. There are bathrooms at the ranger station or the boat launch just up the Cascade River Road across the bridge.
For more hikes along HWY 20, click HERE.
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