Day Hike Washington: North Cascades, 5th Edition: More than 55 Trails around Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Chuckanuts, and Methow Valley

by Mike McQuaide

Overview

Explore North Cascades National Park and the wilderness around Washington State's scenic North Cascades.

Now fully updated for climate-change impacts to trails and ADA accessibility, the Day Hike series is perfect for National Park enthusiasts and people who want to spend their days in the mountains and their nights at home.

From Washington State's Mount Baker to Washington Pass and the Methow Valley, you'll find 59  of the best day hikes in this full-color hiking guide. Featuring the lush forests, mountain vistas, waterfalls, and alpine meadows of the North Cascades, each trail is rated from easy to extreme, giving first-time or veteran hikers the variety they want, as well as topographical maps, trail descriptions, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632175441
Publisher:	Blue Star Press
Publication date:	03/04/2025
Series:	Day Hike!
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240

About the Author

MIKE MCQUAIDE has written outdoor, travel, and lifestyle stories for everyone from Outside and Sunset to Runner’s World, Adventure Cyclist, and more. A former outdoors writer for the Seattle Times, Mike has written six books on outdoor recreation and travel including Day Hike! Central Cascades and 75 Classic Rides: Washington. He is also an avid cyclist—both road and mountain bike—as well as a trail runner, mountaineer, and snowboarder. He’s been hiking and running Pacific Northwest trails for more than twenty-five years. Mike currently lives in Luxembourg with his wife, Jennifer, and son, Baker, named for the mountain.

Read an Excerpt

WHAT’S NEW IN THE 5TH EDITION
 
With this guide now in its 5th edition, we aim to make it as user-friendly as ever. We thoroughly rechecked all the data related to the trails and their current conditions, including contact information and best times of the year to access the hike. Other upgrades are distinctly aimed at accessibility, with new denotations of trails accessible by mobility devices (more on page XX). But some of the most extensive changes since the last edition involve issues related to climate change.

Many people in the northwest have now begun referring to the time between summer and fall as “fire season.”  The fire season brings new problems, such as air quality issues and loss of habitat.  With such extreme weather conditions, many trails and roads end up flooded or washed out, leaving many areas of the park inaccessible until park crews can rebuild or repair the affected areas. 

Fire management has been implemented to aide in the preservation of ecosystems, sensitive species and their habitat.  This management consists of prescribed fire—these are fires intentionally ignited and controlled by NPS in specific areas of the forest to reduce fuel availability for future wildfires or for ecosystem restoration.  Trees are thinned in high-risk areas to further reduce fuel availability.  Projects involving the restoration of native vegetation around Lake Roosevelt are being conducted to improve the forest health and to make the area more defensible against wildfire.  These tactics, combined with targeted fire suppression tactics, are intended to improve the forest’s ability to recover from wildfires by limiting the amount of damage inflicted by wildfires.

Studies are underway to examine the impacts of human-driven climate on snow pack, glacier recession, park resources, and park management.  The glaciers of the North Cascades have lost over 50 percent of their area in the last 100 years, due to increased summer melt and decreased winter snowfall.  The warmer temperatures and loss of glaciers has resulted in decreased river and stream flow, endangered habitat for Chinook salmon and bull trout, and a forest line which has crept further and further into alpine and subalpine areas.  NPS is currently conducting research to identify vulnerable wetlands, monitor butterfly distribution, and to improve our understanding of how pikas can adapt to these fluctuations in temperature and habitat.  Improvements to lessen the park’s environmental impact are ongoing, and to date have consisted of installation of energy efficient windows and insulation in park buildings, waterless urinals at visitor center restrooms, and implementing a “no idling” policy within North Cascades National Park.

As the park attempts to solve climate change related issues, they must also prepare themselves for the influx of visitors that arrive each year.  National parks have seen a surge in visitation since the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, and many areas of our national parks simply were not built to withstand the amount of traffic they are now experiencing.  While many parks require a timed-entry permit, North Cascades National Park hasn’t seen enough of an increase in visitation to necessitate such strict measures.  So, breathe easy!  For now, North Cascades National Park and its surrounding areas may feel a bit more crowded, but visitors are still able to come and go freely.

With this increase in visitation comes an increasing amount of interaction between humans and wildlife.  It must be mentioned that NPS has released new guidance regarding bear activity – the picnic areas of the parking area for Boston Basin and Johannesberg camp have been closed due to increased bear activity.  In addition to these closures, it is inadvisable to eat along the Cascade River Road and the Boston Basin trailhead.  More human visitors bring more garbage, which can attract bears.  While it may seem fun to see a bear foraging through a picnicker’s leftover scraps, the bears can become aggressive and require intervention from NPS.  Under extreme circumstances, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will sometimes euthanize an aggressive bear.  For the bear’s sake, heed any advice regarding areas where humans should avoid grabbing a trailside snack.

The pressures placed on NPS are high.  In addition to the problems outlined above, many trails face permanent, temporary, or seasonal closures.  The 5th edition of this has replaced two hikes which are inaccessible for the time being due to a washed-out forest service road.  However, with the ever-changing conditions of the North Cascades, hikers should always be mindful of how suddenly their surroundings can change and how frequently natural disasters can put their plans on hold.  Always check current weather and fire conditions for road and trail accessibility and be prepared for rapidly changing conditions in the wilderness.  But most importantly, get out and enjoy some nature!

Table of Contents

CONTENTS 
Overview Map vii 
Hikes at a Glance viii 
Acknowledgments xi 
The North Cascades xii 
Using This Guide xv 
Be Careful xx 

Baker Lake, 1
1. Park Butte–Railroad  Grade, 2 
2. Scott Paul Trail, 6 
3. Anderson Butte–Watson  and Anderson Lakes, 9 
4. Shadow of the Sentinels  Trail, 12 
5. Baker River Trail, 15
6. Baker Lake Trail, 19
7. Sauk Mountain, 23 

Cascade Pass, 27
8. Lookout Mountain Trail  (near Marblemount), 28 
9. Hidden Lake Lookout, 32
10. Boston Basin, 36 
11. Cascade Pass–Sahale  Arm, 39 

Diablo and Ross Lakes, 43
12. Thornton Lakes–Trappers  Peak, 44 
13. Skagit River Loop, 48
14. Sourdough Mountain  Trail, 51 
15. Pyramid Lake Trail, 54
16. Diablo Lake Trail, 57
17. Thunder Knob Trail, 61
18. Thunder Creek–Fourth of  July Pass, 64 
19. Ross Dam, 68 
20. Happy Creek Forest  Walk, 71 
21. Ruby Creek Trail, 73 
 
Rainy and Washington  Passes, 77
22. Easy Pass, 78 
23. Lake Ann–Maple Pass  Loop, 81 
24. Rainy Lake, 84 
25. Blue Lake Trail, 86 
26. Washington Pass  Overlook, 89 
27. Cutthroat Pass Trail, 91

Harts Pass and the Methow, 95
28. Driveway Butte, 96 
29. Grasshopper Pass, 100 30. Slate Peak, 104 
31. Goat Peak Lookout, 107 32. Sun Mountain Trails, 110
33. Patterson Mountain, 115 34. Slate Creek Trail, 119 
35. Lookout Mountain Trail (near Twisp), 123 

Chuckanut and Blanchard Mountains, 127
36. Oyster Dome, 128 
37. Fragrance Lake, 131 

West Mount Baker, 135
38. Canyon Lake, 136 
39. Heliotrope Ridge Trail, 139 
40. BAKER HOT SPRINGS [new]
41. COUGAR DIVIDE TRAIL [new]
42. Horseshoe Bend Trail, 149 

North Mount Baker, 153
43. Church Mountain, 154
44. Damfino Lakes and  Excelsior Mountain, 157 
45. High Divide Trail via  Damfino Lakes Trail, 160 
46. Excelsior Pass Trail, 163
47. Welcome Pass, 167 
48. Yellow Aster Butte, 169
49. Winchester Mountain Lookout, 172 
50. High Pass Trail, 175 51. Goat Mountain, 179
52. Hannegan Pass and  Peak, 183 

Heather Meadows, 187
53. Picture Lake, 188 
54. Bagley Lakes–Lower Wild  Goose Trails Loop, 191 
55. Chain Lakes Loop, 194
56. Lake Ann Trail, 199 
57. Artist Ridge Trail, 202
58. Table Mountain, 205
59. Ptarmigan Ridge Trail, 208 

Index 213