Miles: 11.8 miles one way
Elevation Gain/Highest: 2400ft/4430ft
Map: Green Trails Stevens Pass No 176
My favorite places to stop post hike with friends are: Grilla Bites, Route 2 Taproom and Grazing Place, Good Brewing Company, River House Cafe, Espresso Chalet, Gustav’s, Yodelin’s Broth Company, South, Dan’s Food Market, 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:
The Deception Creek Trail runs 11.8 miles up the valley along side its namesake at a gradual rate but don’t let those timid numbers fool you, there is much to be seen and experienced. From sturdy foot bridges to knee deep fords, soft pine needle carpeted trail to boulder field traversing, old growth giants and huckleberries, you will not be bored. A handful of campsites are littered along the route at 2, 3.4, 3.9, 5.8, and 10 miles for those who want to make an overnight of it and truly savor their journey.
Most folks stop about 5.8 miles up the trail at the confluence of Deception Creek and Fisher Creek where you can either ford or balance on a tangle of downed trees to continue on the trail. It is also possible here to take a turn on the 1059.1 trail to head up towards Tonga Ridge and Mount Sawyer. But for those more brave and determined, continuing on the Deception Creek Trail to Deception Pass offers the option of the Pacific Crest Trail, Marmot and Jade Lakes or Tuck and Robin Lakes. The adventure is yours!
My trip report:
7/5/2020, Deception Creek to Deception Pass, Pacific Crest Trail to Deception Lakes and 1059.2 back to Deception Creek and out, my GAIA
Well, nothing like a long river trail to break into the summer backpacking season! In an effort to avoid the holiday crowds, I started up the trail about 5pm with plans to camp before dusk. My plan was to hike the distance of Deception Creek to the pass for two nights and then head back down. Maybe stay at a lake up on the PCT or take a side trip to Fisher Lake off Tonga Ridge depending on conditions.
I passed 3 people hiking out who looked like they did an overnighter a short distance in. Otherwise, the trail was empty the first 2.5 miles. I crossed Deception Creek for the first time on the sturdy bridge at .5 miles and the trail moved away from the creek and up into the forest. There was mud but not horrible, some eroding switchbacks, quite a few rock hops over streams and a dozen trees over the trail including a major blowdown about .9 miles in.
A little after 2 miles, I could see Sparkplug Mountain through the trees and there was a small campsite off to the right. As I approached the bridge over Sawyer Creek at 2.5 miles, I saw the only other person I would see today. He was returning from a night at Deception Pass after not making it to Marmot Lake. He was all decked out with waterproof boots, gaiters, ice axe and full-size pack. He looked at me with worry as I had only my hiking skirt, G4 and trailrunners.
He mentioned having only one night and how many fords of Deception Creek there were to make it to the pass. How it was not possible to keep your shoes dry unless you took them off and wore Crocs. He had come back via the PCT and Trail 1059.2 (“the trail with all the switchbacks from Deception Lakes”) to avoid doing it again. I thanked him for the intel and continued on kicking myself for not having remembered my Lunas. Luckily, I had packed extra socks.
More mud, more trees down but the trail was fairly mellow in gain. I reached the set of campsites at 3.4 miles where the trail slides up to Deception Creek again and sat for a snack. It was only 7pm and the next known campsites were supposed to at about 5.5 miles. The further I went today, the more options for tomorrow so I carried on.
From here, the trail steepens slightly as the creek flows through a canyon for half a mile making for some spectacular cascades. Just before 4 miles, I looked down and there was a small bank at the top of the canyon where the creek flattens out. A boot path went down to it and I could see a campfire ring. Not that I ever use one but it told me this could be a stop for the night.
Now this site wouldn’t be for everyone, the roar of the rapids was deafening. And you have to walk a distance away and up to be far enough to use the “facilities“ (LNT). But two trees perfect for my hammock made it home for the night. And, I didn’t have to worry about getting further along and those campsites be occupied. I spent the evening by the water and analyzed the map for tomorrow’s adventure before heading off to sleep.
I woke the next morning and continued on the trail around 6am. There was another set of rapids before the creek mellowed at again in about 3/4 of a mile and the trail opens up along side alder choked scree fields. The clouds hung low but it looked like they would burn off before too long.
At 5.8 miles I arrived at the junction with Trail 1059.1 that leads west to Tonga Ridge and I turned right to keep on the Deception Creek Trail. There were 4 small campsites just a bit further, one occupied with Zpack bathtub tent (legit) and a pup not happy I was there. The final campsite sat next to the confluence of Deception and Fisher Creek and this is where the trail can be seen on the other side through a tangle of downed trees that span both creeks.
I walked around a bit and weighed my options to get across Fisher. It was a reasonable ford or a set of 3+ trees to walk across. Thinking about the hiker from yesterday who said fording was inevitable and my disdain for walking logs, I took the ford in my trailrunners. Easy, peasy, maybe knee high.
At 6 miles, a sign indicated I had the option of a ford (again) or a footlog over Deception so I took the footlog. There turned out to be some blowdown to get down to the footlog. And then NO footlog.
Again, I had a choice. A set of 3 trees downed a bit down the creek or a ford. One of those trees was partially submerged and slick. So, it was a ford. This one was above the knee but manageable. I was at 6.2 miles when I reached the other side.
More mud, more stream crossings, more downed trees. But the trail was gentle. I passed a few wooden signs nailed to trees marking the mileage and pondered why this was called Deception Creek. The mileage was off at this point by 1.5 miles and there were no footlogs?
At 8.3 miles I reached the outlet for Deception Lakes cascading over the trail. This was a two-parter and although there were logs across that one could balance on, I just walked through. Rock hopping was not worth it but I suppose if you have waterproof boots and gaiters on at this point you keep dry.
Shortly after, Terrace Mountain glowed with the sun on my right and the junction for Trail 1059.2 appeared on my left marked for Deception Lakes. I thought about what the hiker had said yesterday (again) and debated just heading up here. But I wanted to walk the whole length of the Deception Creek Trail so I carried on. I will note here that I was using the GAIA app and my track was not running in line with the trail, I was at a lower elevation. Green Trails says the junction is at 4400ft but I was at closer to 4000ft. This is important later…
The trail dropped down here on a set of switchbacks to run up along Deception yet again on the right. More downed trees, more rock hopping and more mud with aged turnpikes losing the battle to a slope dripping with runoff from the ridge above.
At 9.8 miles the trail was engulfed by marshy meadow and shooting stars popped against the emerald green. More downed trees and mud.
At 10 miles, I forded Deception again. I believe there was a log available downstream but I didn’t bother. There was a small campsite here and patches of snow began. It was easy to keep the trail, plenty of cut logs from trailwork to mark the way.
In .2 miles, I forded Deception again. No log available, about knee deep. I forded back across again in another 5 minutes. If you are wondering why so many crossings? Well, there was either a slide on one side or a boulder field on the other as the valley narrows.
At 10.4, another ford. Most of these average about a foot deep. The snow patches grew and there was no trail but I followed the creek mostly, now on my left. 10 minutes later, I forded again and the trail moved through a lovely open meadow. A few minutes later at 11 miles in I forded again keeping Deception Creek on my left. It is possible I am off a ford or two but that is my story and I am sticking to it.
At 11.1 miles, there was a dramatic waterfall on my right and here is where things got tricky. With the trail snow covered, I knew I was looking for a brief turn to the right but the map has been off so far. Staying on track was clearly going to put me off a drop into a ravine on my left.
At about 4300 feet, I was scanning the short raise to my right for a trail but really didn’t see anything that looked like an established path . So assuming I had missed it, I took a little time off trail heading up and over to reconnect with the trail in a meadow on the other side at 4375ft and 11.5 miles in. the trail was sloppy as it snaked through the newly thawed out terrain, more shooting stars and glacier lilies danced in the breeze.
From here the trail resembled more of an eroded climber’s route, rocky and rooty. Cathedral towered between the trees and I shortly popped out onto the Pacific Crest Trail around 11:40 am and 11.8.
There were a few more patches of snow heading south and I was soon at the bare pass. I sat in the sun for a short while and let my shoes, socks and feet dry. A set of 4 backpackers came up from Hyak and turned up at Marmot, their packs were light and one had an ice axe that I saw.
At 12:15 I opted to head north to Deception Lakes for the night. Overall the trail had just a few snow patches and a handful of trees down. The angle of the snow left at Deception Creek made my final crossing of it today a bit tricky, I had to get down beforehand into the creek, then walk up to where the trail was.
From here the views of Cathedral Rock, Mount Daniel and Terrace Mountain were stunning. There were more stream crossings, one so jammed with wood debris it was not possible to rock hop. Again more trees down, including a major pileup I had to take my pack off twice for. It was a great upper body workout! It felt so good to be on the PCT here, my trek through was 7 years ago now.
I never liked the stream crossing below Mac Peak, etched out of the rock and spraying from above and this was no exception. That drop off if you slip is no joke! I took the lower route and leaned right, a little water never hurt anyone.
Around 2:30pm and 3.5 miles from the pass, I reached the junction with Trail 1059.2(1059A) again. Again, it did not line up with the map which showed it much closer to Deception Lakes. I was now at 4950ft. From here I soon crossed the outlet for the lakes and I arrived at the middle lake at 2:45pm 3.9 miles from the pass. There was only one other group there, a couple camped across the outlet between the lakes who ended up packing up shortly after I arrived.
I rested a bit on the rock viewpoint before finding a camp just off the Surprise Mountain Trail on the other side of the middle lake. Not ideal as it is a good walk away from the marshy area surrounding it to find a “facility“, but it offered a great view of the walls of Mac Peak across the lake and Surprise Mountain on my left.
The trail continuing up the PCT was snow covered and I imagine it stays that way over Pieper Pass. I debated a jaunt up Surprise Mountain but after drying out my feet and swinging in my hammock, I lost motivation to do anything but relax. Besides, the breeze had picked up and more clouds were rolling in and I had no desire to climb to no view. I knew rain was coming on Tuesday at some point but I took my chances I could always summit in the morning.
Well, the rain began hitting my tarp around midnight and continued most of the night. However, I woke to low clouds with the rain having passed fortunately. After breakfast, I packed up and headed south again on the PCT around 7am. It was clear that despite no rain it was going to be another wet day as all the foliage was drenched and hugging the trail. Great.
I turned down on 1059.2 (1059A) and took the switchbacks a mile beside the outlet stream and connected with the Deception Creek Trail. The drop was not bad at only 775ft of loss. This time, I used a few of the logs to keep my feet dry over the streams but eventually gave up as the brush made it pointless.
About 9am I made it to the original ford of Deception Creek (where there was supposed to be a footlog) and there was a group of about 6-8 people doing there best to make it across my way. Some were fording and some were tag teaming across the set of logs. I skipped it all and turned on a trail for the ford option.
Actually, I had no plans to take that either. Yesterday as I was debating at the Fisher Creek confluence, I noticed two well placed downed trees that crossed Deception Creek. I had wondered if it was possible just to cross on those and off trail it to where the ford/footlog were. Now that I knew what was up, I had decided to see if there was a bootpath from the ford to those logs.
I was right, although it was not exactly a walk in the park. There were a couple mucky spots and you had to rock hop a few divergent streams .3 miles before you got to them but once I did it was easy just to take those logs right to that campsite along the creek.
Passing the campsites, I smelled smoke and found that group that had just left had not completely put out their fire. Ugh. It took three trips with water to get it to stop smoking.
Thankfully, the rest of my trip out was uneventful. Things were pretty soaked and no one else was headed in. All in all a fun trip and I look forward to taking it again for more adventures in the area! And remembering my sandals…
Directions: Drive east on State Route 2 from Monroe towards Stevens Pass. Look for brown signs for the Deception Falls Interpretive Site after passing Skykomish and FR 6088 will be just after on the right. If you pass the Iron Goat Interpretive Site you have gone too far.
After turning right onto the gravel road, the trailhead is in less than half a mile under a set of powerlines. However, the road is deeply rutted and most find parking sooner in a pullout by the railroad tracks is best for those without 4×4 or higher clearance. The interpretive site makes a good restroom pit stop as the trailhead has no privy. Northwest Forest Pass is needed.
For more hikes in the area, visit my State Route 2 page.
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