Information about this hike provided in partnership with
Mountaineers Books.
Copyright © Craig Romano/The Mountaineers Books Alpine Lookout
Featured In:
Day Hiking: Central Cascades,
by Craig Romano.
A portion of all book sales from the links above benefits WTA and helps protect and maintain our trails. Start hiking via the Round Mountain Trail, immediately climbing, and steeply. In 0.5 mile enter the edge of a 1990s burn (elev. 4600 ft). The scorched forest is recovering nicely. Silver snags stand surrounded by swaying strands of fireweed. Nuthatches and woodpeckers busily grocery shop up and down their weathered and withered trunks. Enjoy views southeast over waves of forested ridges resembling the Blue Ridge Mountains of the American Southeast. The grade eases somewhat as the way reenters green forest after about 0.5 mile. Traverse pocket meadows before reaching the Nason Ridge Trail at 1.6 miles (elev. 5200 ft). Turn left, following wheel-beaten tread along the high crest of Nason Ridge. Note that while most motorcyclists stick to the trail, a few renegades have veered off, leaving ugly scars in the fragile forest floor. Frustrating and disheartening. Best to cast your attention to the upcoming series of excellent window views to Glacier Peak and over Lake Wenatchee to set your mood back in positive territory. Skirting the 5700-foot summit of Round Mountain, the trail moseys along, breaking out into open meadows (elev. 5500 ft) that provide splendid viewing west along Nason Ridge and south to the Chiwaukums. Undulating between forest and meadow, the trail reaches an elevation of 5600 feet before dipping to a small saddle (elev. 5450 ft). Regain elevation lost and then some, following tread that at times is deeply eroded (blame the motorcycles). At 3.7 miles reach another small saddle, and then round a small knoll before emerging on a broad ridge. More meadows! More views! Gently climbing, the trail rounds yet another knoll (elev. 6100 ft) before dropping a couple hundred feet to rocky Ninemile Saddle at 4.5 miles. Overhanging and balancing rocks add intrigue to this rugged spot. Motorcycles are barred from continuing farther, but you aren't. Carry on, making one last climb. Come to a signed junction. The main trail heads left to the high hinterlands of Nason Ridge. Take the spur right, reaching the Alpine Lookout after 0.3 mile. One of only a handful of lookouts still staffed in the Cascades, there's a good chance a real live lookout may be present. But you have some looking out to do too. The views are amazing from this 6237-foot knob: Straight down to Lake Wenatchee and the oxbowing White River flowing into it. South to Big Jim, Snowgrass, Rainier, and Stuart. West to Hinman, Daniel, Jim Hill, Rock, Mastiff, and Howard. North to Sloan, the Poet Ridge, Buck, and Glacier. And east to the Entiat and Chelan ranges and the "rock chimneys" of Chiwawa Ridge. What a panorama! Hang around late in the day or arrive early in the morning, and perhaps you'll share this alpine splendor with the resident mountain goats.
Driving Directions:
From Everett head east on US 2 for 65 miles to Stevens Pass. Continue east for another 17 miles to the Nason Creek Rest Area. A quarter mile beyond, turn left onto unsigned and easy-to-miss Forest Road 6910 (look for a row of mailboxes). (From Leavenworth reach the turnoff in 16.75 miles.) Cross Nason Creek after 0.2 mile and a powerline corridor after another 0.3 mile. Follow the main road, avoiding side spurs. At 4.5 miles from US 2 bear right onto a narrow, brushy, somewhat rough road. Reach the trailhead in 0.2 mile (elev. 4000 ft). Privy available. Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
Issues:
Mudholes | Snow on trail
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Went with several friends on this lovely hike. I called ahead to the USFS representative at REI, who said...
Went with several friends on this lovely hike. I called ahead to the USFS representative at REI, who said there should only be a dusting of snow- boy was he wrong! The trail starts off covered by pine needles, with occasional mud or snow. By the time we got to the burn area though, the snow was consistently covering the trail, and once we hit the turn off to the Nason Ridge trail, it was about 3-4" deep. The trail was well-trodden however (I had a trekking pole but none of my companions did, and no one had traction issues), and we had no difficulties making it all the way to Ninemile Saddle. We turned around here because of time constraints and unfortunately didn't make it to the lookout, so I guess I'll have to come back sometime. We didn't see any mountain goats, but did spot Red Crossbills, Pine Grosbeaks, Common Ravens, Mountain Chickadees, Clark's Nutcrackers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and a single Varied Thrush (for the fellow birders out there).
Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
Issues:
Overgrown | Bugs
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Great weather here today, sunny. Trail in good condition, a little brushy in areas but overall good. Passed a few...
Great weather here today, sunny. Trail in good condition, a little brushy in areas but overall good. Passed a few people on this trail, not to busy which was nice. Saw goats and great views at the look out. It was strange; at the lookout there were hundreds of lady bugs like crazy. Really liked the silver forest we went thru( 1 mile in), with the fall colors starting.... it was so amazing.
Overnight
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Washouts | Water on trail | Snow on trail | Road to trailhead inaccessible
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Well, it's still pretty snowy. Lost the trail to Merritt Lake at the junction with Nason Ridge trail 1/2...
Well, it's still pretty snowy. Lost the trail to Merritt Lake at the junction with Nason Ridge trail 1/2 mile before the lake. Did an old-school compass and map reading and actually found the lake. Still snow-ringed, but sites were melting out. Continued up in snow to catch the trail to Alpine Lookout. After a bit of a side trip (lost trail again in the snow) met up with the actual path and followed it all the way to the top. This portion of trail was mostly clear of snow, or had been clearly marked with pink tape.
Had the pleasure of meeting Gary, one of the last real fire look-out men at the top. Got the tour of the look-out cabin, and a bit of history. Great views, lots of snow. Camped near the look-out, (stars and fireworks!) then headed out the next morning following the trail towards Nason Creek and Round Mountain. Had to work VERY hard to keep the trail until the junction with 1529, Round Mountain. Road is washed out along Butcher Creek, about 1 mile from HWY 2, so had to walk from the trailhead about 3.8 miles to meet our pick-up car. All in all a great outing, would have been easier with GPS unit.
Alpine Lookout
— Jun 04, 2011
— judidec
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Washouts | Snow on trail | Road to trailhead inaccessible
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The road to the trail head was closed because of a washout. We decided to hike up the rest of...
The road to the trail head was closed because of a washout. We decided to hike up the rest of the way anyway. We encountered the washout about a half-mile up. It was passable by foot but no wheeled vehicle could get through it. We reached the Round Mountain trail head in about 2 hours. It wasn't a bad climb - nice view of the surrounding mountains -- although hot with little shade. We found some snow as we approached the last turn to the trail head, and once on the trail the snow got thicker. It was obvious no one had hiked this trail since the last snowfall. We turned back after about a half-mile since we didn't have the equipment for such thick snow.
Day hike
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The weather looked sketchy but we wanted to give it a shot. Not long into the hike the snow started...
The weather looked sketchy but we wanted to give it a shot. Not long into the hike the snow started to show up. Luckily it wasn't too deep to need to put on snowshoes. I only brought the microspikes for the hike, left other tools in the car knowing I probably didn't need them. Sure enough, those were the only things I needed to get through most snow on the ridge.
Once we started to descend the snow was mostly gone. It was snow free when we began to ascend again to the tower. The tower was a pleasant surprise as I didn't remember reading about it before the hike. When we got to the lookout tower, the mostly cloudy weather turned cloudy and eventually the little view we got was completely covered. Flickr: http://bit.ly/alpine-lookout |
Alpine Lookout. Photo by Alan Bauer.
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