Elevation Gain/Highest: 2300/5327ft
Map: Green Trails Granite Falls No. 109, my GAIA on 9/27/2019
Favorite Eats After Hike: LJs Bistro & Bar, Mirkwood Public House, Creekside Ale 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:
If you haven’t hiked Mount Pilchuck, it is one of the most popular hikes in Washington State and it sits in my backyard. It starts out in the forest on a wide, well traveled trail and within a mile and a half crosses a scree field and out onto the side of the mountain with views out to the Puget Sound and Olympics.
Once you reach the summit, you have 360 views of the Cascades, including Mount Rainier, Mount Baker and Glacier Peak. Because of its popularity, I usually hike it early and in the off season when there may be fewer people. Make sure to use the link above for current conditions, during the winter and heavy snow accumulation this hike is best for backcountry skiing and scrambling. I wrote more about hiking this the same day as Heather Lake at A Lookout and A Lake.
9/27/2019 My GAIA
Well, this was an interesting one…
We thought we would get out in the morning before too much rain, settled on the Mountain Loop. Headed towards Pilchuck/Heather and let the weather decide which one it would be. With patches of blue sky overhead, we continued past Heather and found the Pilchuck parking lot empty. Did pass one car headed out around 9am, must have been a sunrise/overnighter.
Our hike up was lovely, no rain and intermittent views across the valley. I remarked that I believe this the first time I have hiked Pilchuck with a bare trail, avoiding it during the summer. Probably should not have said this outloud.
When we arrived at the lookout a little after 11am, the wind picked up and clouds drifted over the summit. There were no views to start but we soon had some more patches of sun. No panos but we could see down into the basin and out to the valley.
Shortly after noon we headed back down the trail. There were a few drops of hail but the sun continued to play peek-a-boo. But about 30 minutes into our descent, the skies darkened significantly. We passed three sets of hikers heading up, the last set in jeans with a leather purse. The sound of thunder rumbled once in the distance. Time to get going…
Minutes later, the skies opened up and hail pelted us, quickly turning the trail white. It was crazy! Hail sprayed off the backslope and boulders, piling on the trail as we hightailed it down. The loudest crack of thunder I have ever encountered echoed to our right, I would have sworn someone just shot off a gun.
Within 10 minutes, there was 2-3 inches of hail on the trail and it was a balance between speed and not wanting to slip as we did our best to get under tree cover. At one point my hiking partner stopped to show me her boot was buried with hail on the side of the trail.
Back down near the trailhead, we both peered up at the sign that reminds hikers about extreme weather and to be prepared. We also noticed that patches of blue sky had returned. Although I didn’t need them, it didn’t feel so bad for the extra layers and spikes I had thrown in my pack today, you never know what you will encounter on the trail.
Still wondering how the other hikers faired, there was no way they were to the lookout yet and had to been even more bombarded!
I didn’t get up near as early as I wanted to today but there were only 4 other cars in the lot when I started up around 8:30am so I didn’t do too bad. I wore spikes from the beginning, with the freezing temps the poor drainage on the this trail meant the usual sheet of ice covering most of the trail right from the get-go.
The snow really doesn’t start in earnest until after you start that long switchback along the contour and even then there are plenty of straight up ice patches to keep things interesting. I was happy at first to see evidence of people using traction devices but then began to notice how scratched up most of the stones and large rocks were in the trail from all the metal spikes. I did my best to stay on the ice and snow and avoid striking any rocks unnecessarily. Hopefully more snow will come soon.
All the usual peaks were out from Baker to Rainier with Glacier, Pugh and Three Fingers in between. I was up at the top in about 2 hours after making a round about the lookout, I found a spot in the sun to enjoy a snack. It was a bit disappointing to see feces in the snow on the deck of the lookout and hundreds of holes in the wood left by spikes. I’m sure the deck surface can’t sustain much of that if it continues. Again, let’s hope for more of that white stuff!
A few more people began to arrive and I was on my way back down around 11am and back to the car at 12:22pm with about 12 cars in the lot. It pays to be able to hike midweek!
11/26/2016
I needed a short hike before the family Thanksgiving festivities so I headed up to Pilchuck. The last mile or so had snow on the road but it wasn’t a problem to navigate. There were about 8 other cars in the parking lot when I headed up about 7am. The trail is completely covered in compact snow and ice, I put on microspikes and didn’t have any problem. I was disappointed to see once again that a local business feels it is okay to put their stickers on the trail markers, every one was tagged. The views from the top were beautiful as always (unless you are fogged in!).
2/2015
Pilchuck is usually way to overrun with people for me but we decided to check it out during a winter jaunt in hopes it would be a little less crowded. No such luck but the views were amazing so we didn’t complain too much. Just laughed a lot at the underprepared “hikers”. The temps were low so everything was icy on the way up but with a little sun, some spots had melted for chilling wet steps on the way down. I was glad to have microspikes to keep things safe.
Directions: From Granite Falls, proceed 10 miles to the Verlot Visitors Center. Continue another mile past the visitor’s center, cross a bridge, then take the next right onto paved Mount Pilchuck Road. Once you’ve made the right-turn, look for a sign indicating the road is FR 42. Proceed 6.8 miles down this road and you will reach the parking lot, which is just off the trailhead and bathroom for Mount Pilchuck. During the winter, the road may be gated at the trailhead for Heather Lake. This trail is extremely popular, expect crowds and break-ins. A Northwest Forest Pass is needed.
For more hikes on the Mountain Loop Highway, click HERE.
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