Mileage: 12 miles RT
Map: Green Trails Chiwaukum Mtns No 177
Favorite Eats After Hike: 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.
My Hike:
5/2/2015 I think I may have wondered up this trail with my mom one time but we turned back after the first set of switchbacks because she was WAY over dressed for the day (her base layer was a turtleneck). I did this hike with a Mountaineers group and I was glad we went earlier in the season as this hike is exposed and very little water. The long switchbacks took us up the side of the ridge through a large burn area and what was left of the regal Ponderosa pines towered over us. Bright yellow Muledeer brightened the scorched landscape.
There were a few downed trees to manipulate but nothing major. Snow covered the switchbacks before the ridge where you swing over to more to the west before switching back to the north which made route finding challenging and we didn’t take the same route down as we did up. We guessed at the exact spot to turn left towards the rock outcropping that once held the lookout towering out in front of us, the sign marking the way had yet to thaw out. We scrambled over the snow covered boulders (it’s hard to believe the lookout was actually on them) and had lunch with views of Glacier Peak, the Stuart Range, Mission Range, and many more peaks and mountains.
Directions: From just west of Leavenworth at MP 99, turn south onto Icicle Road (FR 76). Follow for 9.4 miles to the trailhead, located on your right (elev. 2300 ft). You will need a Northwest Forest Pass and parking is limited on the lot on the side of the ride.
For more hikes off HWY 2, click HERE.
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