Mileage: 5.7 miles RT (West) and 6.7 miles RT (Middle)
Elevation Gain/Highest: 2143ft/5053ft (if you go to the middle peak).
Map: Green Trails Skykomish No. 175 (trail isn’t shown)
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:
Let me first say that this trail is no longer being maintained and is overgrown in places. Navigation and off-trail skills could be necessary. Beckler Peak has three summits: West, Middle and East (and a technical monolith for a fourth highpoint). The new trail is built to take hikes to the East Beckler summit and offer an official parking lot. But for those who know, it is possible to still follow the old trail to the West summit where lookout remnants remain and then weave your way along the ridge to the middle summit which involves a scramble.
My Hikes:
1/5/2024
Snow has been scarce this year but with a new storm on the way, I decided to make a quick jaunt up FR6066 to check out how the trail to both East and West-Middle Beckler are doing. After hiking a short distance in on East Beckler to where the bridge was put in (about .6 miles in), I came back down and parked at the trail for West-Middle. It was snowing and the forecast was for a lot more in the afternoon, so I only hiked about 1 mile so I wouldn’t get stuck coming down.
I was happy to see that the trail was in roughly the same condition for that first mile but as expected, as I reached the one mile mark where it opens up to views of East Beckler, the slide alder and devil’s club are really taking over. I promised myself that I need to get back this spring and summer to do some trail work!
I had hoped for some views of East Beckler but other than a brief glimpse at the base as I approached, she was mostly hidden in the clouds. I waited around for a little while just to see if the clouds would part but no luck. On the way down I pulled out some flagging, something I don’t usually do but I selfishly don’t want to lose the trail and my hikes alone won’t keep the vegetation back.
8/19/2020, my GAIA
Well, it was inevitable that the trail would continue to be taking back by nature and this trip was a battle with vegetation. So much so, I almost turned around half way through. It took up enough time I only made it to the West Peak and lookout area before having to turn around. Looking at previous trip reports I have written, clearly I forgot about not coming when vegetation is at its fullest!
The “trailhead” was much different than it has been in previous years, it was obvious some work is being done. The spot where the decommissioned road begins was cleared a bit and a huge pile of debris has been dumped and then covered with straw. It is the same debris that is sloughing off the slope on the trail BUT there is none on the slope here to indicate it could have been a slide. A mystery…
The first 1.5 miles are the most overgrown, the thimbleberry and alder are a mess. It is becoming harder and harder to distinguish where the trail/road makes its switchbacks, I can see how if you are not familiar it would be easy to miss them. The worst two spots are where the trail faces towards East Beckler and water typically travels down trenching it and then again where it turns and opens up to a view south and the trail has become nothing but a bunch of holes in the ground ready to twist an ankle as you push through the brush. This is from 3600 feet to 3700 feet, 1 to 1.5 miles in.
Oh, and did I mention there is still plenty of scat? The animals know where solitude is…
I did find a few more things at the lookout site I hadn’t seen before, like a hinge and a long set of stairs tucked back in the trees. Glad to see the artifacts are still there for folks to enjoy. This area has really seen some growth, the pines and heather have effectively blocked the trail at the end to the clearing.
7/19/2018, my GAIA
Conditions were roughly the same, just a lot more green vegetation. And an added bonus, I summited the middle peak. You can read more about it on my blog post, Reaching New Heights!
11/11/2016
I have done the new Beckler Peak Trail multiple times since 2011, including a snowshoe in April and have always wanted to visit the middle peaks. In March, I went to snowshoe Beckler and snow on the road stopped me short of the trailhead.
As I was walking up the road, I saw an old trail up to the left. I remembered that just a few days before a hiking friend had told me about an old trail to Beckler. Guessing that was it, I did a short snowshoe up to about 4200ft but stopped because the trail leaves the old road and becomes harder to follow, especially not having taken that route before.
Today I went back to hike it without snow so I would be more familiar and to check out the location of the old lookout. There isn’t a lot of consistent intel for this trail (it’s not on the map) and I don’t carry a GPS, so the stats above are based on Green Trails and what I could glean from the internet.
Just like the new trail, you spend a fair amount of time on an decommissioned road until about 4000ft. The trail is actually easy to follow in most places for being abandoned (as long as you are paying attention), although it has plenty of water between 3500-4000ft and quite a few trees down on the ridge between the lookout and the talus field. Not to mention all the growing tree branches you have to walk through to “stay” on the ridge section.
I was glad I went this time of year because the trail is very brushy but had no leaves or was dying back for the season. Not that I don’t have plenty of scratches from wearing hiking sandals. The boulders in the talus field were cool and I scrambled up the middle summit as far as I felt comfortable being by myself. I’m a hiker, not a climber.
It was strange to see the folks over on the east peak but I had the whole trail to myself today! My trip took about 6 hours, I did have to retrace my steps a few times around the lookout section before I made it to the ridge. I saw lots of fresh evidence of elk and what I am guessing is bobcat.
For a more detailed trip report, you can read my blog post, One Of Those Days.
3/18/2016
I drove up FR 6066 to see how far I could get before having to park. The road was full of potholes and LOTS of debris, there are several branches that will want to swipe your car. I parked a little more than 4 miles in on a curve in the road when I felt my tires start to lose traction in the snow on the road (I’ve already been stuck once this season).
There were recent tire marks well past the 5 mile mark (that’s as far as I went with snowshoes) and the snow on the road was not that high in between the ruts. I decided to not walk all the way to the new trailhead but headed up the old trail because there were tracks to follow and the snow was compact. Made it up to about 4200ft by 4pm, enjoyed the views and headed back down to the car.
Directions: From the town of Skykomish, drive east to FR 6066 (there is a yellow sign on the right side of road). The turn is on the left after the ranger station and the road becomes 2 lanes (1.8 miles). Follow FR 6066 road for about 4.9 miles (keep right at the Y). When the road comes around a bend to the right and starts to flatten out (about 2700ft), look for a decommissioned road on the left hand side that goes up parallel to the road (there are a few large boulders) at 5.1 miles. There is no parking area but a few small pullout areas before and after the trailhead.
For more hikes on HWY 2, click HERE. For more information about the lookout that used to be on West Peak, visit THIS site for old pictures.
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