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North Cascades National Park
9-5-3 Woke up at 5:30 a.m. in Grand Rapids, Michigan and by 7:00 p.m. had my tarp pitched five miles into the Little Beaver trail at Perry Creek. Flew into Sea-Tac airport and took the Airporter Shuttle (www.airporter.com - 360-380-8800) to Mount Vernon where we had arranged to meet a ride for hire. Drove to the Marblemount North Cascades National Park (http://www.nps.gov/noca/index.htm ) Ranger Station for the free permit. Drove to the Ross Lake Dam trailhead on highway 20. Hiked down to the lake and called on the Ross Lake Resort (http://www.rosslakeresort.com/ ) phone for the water taxi to take us to the Little Beaver trailhead ($60 per boatload). Big Beaver was closed due to forest fires. Saw two fires during the water taxi up Ross Lake to Little Beaver trailhead. One was down low in Big Beaver, and one was up on the ridge between Big Beaver and Ross Lake. Lots of smoke as well. Trail from Little Beaver trailhead to Perry Creek campground was in good shape. No smoke in Little Beaver, only the smell of smoke, but I guess that could change with the wind. 9-6-3 Headed for Twin Rocks campground. Took a side trip to Beaver Pass. There is a new bridge over Little Beaver Creek. It is a mile west of the old suspension bridge, which used to be right at Stillwell campground. So, if you are coming from the west side of the park down Little Beaver and want to stay at Stillwell, or want to go up to the pass toward Big Beaver, you have to go past the old crossing by a mile and then back track a mile on the other side of the creek. That new mile of trail is fresh and perfect. Trail up to Beaver pass is good too. Blueberries are in season. We scarfed a bunch up in Beaver Pass. Saw no smoke while we were there. One of my friends was in the lead and saw a black bear in almost the identical spot where I saw one last trip. Heading up Big Beaver, well past Stillwell, nearing Twin Rocks, you break out of the woods and get your first glimpse of the Challenger Glacier at the head of the valley. The trail there is bounded by thick brush and with a lot of scat around, so if you walk quietly, you might see a bear there too. The one I saw walked noisily out of the brush, onto the trail, stared at me for what seemed like forever, then ambled down the trail the same direction I was headed. I gave it about a half-hour head start, then continued on, but found that Twin Rocks campground was only five more minutes up the trail. The valley there is narrow with only about a mile until you have to climb Whatcom pass to get out. I was solo there with at least one bear that wasn’t afraid of humans so I was glad for my policy of cooking only in the morning. I don’t often burn, but that night I also had a rippin’ good fire that I kept stoking (no fires this year though because there’s a burn ban on due to dry weather and the forest fire). 9-7-3 Up to Whatcom Pass—trail good. We did not go to Tapto as planned due to rain. Instead we pitched camp at the Whatcom campground and hunkered down hoping for a break in the rain. We only caught a few brief glimpses of the fantastic views that can be had there. However, my hiking partners went up the trail toward Whatcom peak on the south side and got an awesome view of the Challenger Glacier in a clear layer with clouds below and above. 9-8-3 Trail down from Whatcom in great shape. Last years blow-downs are all cleared, and there were some big ones. We headed south on the Chilliwack trail, also in great shape, so we got to ride the cable car over the river. We stayed at US Cabin campground. The skies began to clear. We tried to dry out. 9-9-3 About 15 minutes SW of US Cabin is the side trail to Easy Ridge. I didn’t know about this trail before. The park does not maintain it and it’s not on their maps. Where it connects to the Chilliwack trail it heads down to the river where you have to ford and enter the brush on the other side where a cairn marks the trail. The trail is overgrown, lots of blow-downs, sometimes difficult to follow, steep, off-camber, slippery, and very much worth it. I’m not a climber so I wouldn’t call the Easy Ridge trail easy, especially compared to the Copper Ridge trail, but the view at the top is incredible. We did it as a day hike, took us about four hours round-trip with about an hour of that wandering around on top taking pictures. We did not take the trail to the very end though. From where we stopped, we could see the trail wind down through a notch then up toward a scree slope, and then we could not see where it went. If you get past the scree slope and can climb to the ridge proper, it looks like you could drive a car along it right up to Whatcom peak. Lots of blueberries and huckleberries up high on the trail. After the day hike up Easy we hiked out to Boundary campground. Trail condition excellent. I don’t like Boundary very much. Most sites are on a slant, it’s a common stop for the masses hiking in through Hannegan up to Copper Ridge so I find trash there, and it’s all dirt so in the rain it’s a mud hole. 9-10-3 Rain closed in again so our day hike of Copper Ridge was canceled. I talked my buddies into hiking out that day and trying to hook up our ride out a day early. They were a bit peeved when after ten miles, we reached the highway and could not find a phone to call our arranged ride to see if she could pick us up a day early. On a long shot, we gave the message to a couple forest service workers who said they would try to call her when they finished their rounds. Our ride didn’t have a cell or even an answering machine so this was a long shot for sure. Earlier, while trying to convince them to hike out early, I told my buddies that instead of sitting in the rain for another 24 hours, we could be eating pizza, drinking beer, and sitting in a hot tub by eight o’clock that night. I was wrong, we didn’t hit the hot tub until nine. The forest service guys came through, our ride showed up, and we were drying out and pigging out at the Val-U-Inn in Bellingham that night. It’s a good thing we left early because we drove back in to see Baker the next day but were met with even more rain than the day before. By the way, the trail from Boundary out to the Hannegan trailhead is in great shape except for a couple spots where I think the creek will wash it away during the next spring melt or two. 9-11-3 The Val-U-Inn in Bellingham is highly recommended. Good price and very clean. It’s where the Airporter Shuttle bus stops so you can take the bus back down to Sea-Tac airport if you are flying out. I rented a car both times I went though because you can get one at the Bellingham airport and drop it off at Sea-Tac for cheap. I think it saves the rental guys from having to drive it down there themselves. The hotel has a van that will take you to the Bellingham airport to pick up your rental for just the cost of a nice tip for the driver.
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