Friday, February 28, 2014

Mount Pilchuck Trail

Mount Rainier from the Mount Pilchuck Trail August 2012

Mount Baker from the Mount Pilchuck Trail August 2012

Mount Pilchuck August 2012

Phyllodoce empetriformis (Pink Mountain-Heather) Mount Pilchuck Trail August 2012

 Mount Pilchuck Fire Lookout August 2012

Click here for more photos of the Mount Pilchuck Trail.

The Mount Pilchuck Trail offers interesting terrain & sweeping vistas.  There are great slabs of granite resting on the slopes of the mountain like so many toppled dominoes.  The flora is not particularly exciting.  I found this trail to be fairly difficult: steep, crowded with hikers & strewn with sharp rocks.  There was snow on parts of the trail in August.  I slipped & fell on my back.  However, there were people of every age & description on the trail.  I was utterly amazed to see one man hiking barefoot.  At the very top of the mountain, you must climb over large boulders (& around the people climbing down) to get to the old fire lookout.  You can see forever from up there.  I'm not sorry I did this hike.  But I don't ever want to do it again.  The trail starts at 3,100 feet in elevation & climbs to the summit at 5,324 feet (1,623 meters).  It is 5.4 miles round trip.  The road to the trail head can be found off the Mountain Loop Highway in Snohomish County, Washington.

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