Cascade Pass
Last modified
Jul 03, 2009 05:34 PM
Contributors:
Susan Elderkin, Big Pants Trekkers
Photo by Jani.
One of the most scenic, accessible hikes in North Cascades National Park (including for kids, at least to the pass) and is consequently heavily used. Views begin at the parking lot and don't quit. Jagged, snowcapped peaks and meadows abound. Possibilities for rambling are endless. Recent Trip Reports
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Cascade Pass
— May 10, 2009
— SeanB
Day hike
Issues:
Blowdowns | Bridge out | Snow on trail | Avalanche danger | Road to trailhead inaccessible
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Drove down Cascade River Road to MP 20, where it is gated. Decided to walk the last three miles...
Drove down Cascade River Road to MP 20, where it is gated. Decided to walk the last three miles before the Cascade Pass trailhead, to see what condition the trail is in. As it turns out, there is still alot of snow on Cascade River Road, especially once you approach MP 22. I ended up turning around a little before reaching the trailhead of Cascade Pass. The snow was getting deeper, plus I had to climb over several avalanche blowdowns on the road. It was nice to see that the area was beginning to look like spring. The trees and bushes in the lower meadows were getting their leaves.
I spotted a large black bear in one of the meadows. He appeared to be searching for whatever edible food he could find, such as grass, leaves, etc. Overall, a nice spring-time trip to the North Cascades National Park. Day hike
Features:
Fall foliage
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Cascade River Rd is now closed at Eldorado Creek for the remainder of the hiking season. The road is...
Cascade River Rd is now closed at Eldorado Creek for the remainder of the hiking season. The road is to receive a permanent fix of the washout there. It's an additional 3 miles or bikeride to the Cascade Pass trailhead until next year.
The fall color is petty spectacular now; it'd be worth that bike ride to the trailhead. Scarlet huckleberry leaves, golden hellibore, orange and red mountain ash. Wow!
Stehekin River Trail, Cascade Pass
— Sep 12, 2008
— austineats
Multi-night backpack
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Many trips are all good and some are mostly good. Although this falls into the latter category, if you are...
Many trips are all good and some are mostly good. Although this falls into the latter category, if you are interested some amazing country and eventual solitude this one has got it. I say eventual solitude because you need to hike the Cascade Pass trial to get to Trapper Mountain (TM, no to be confused with Trapper Peak). The trail up to the pass if well graded and in excellent condition. It grinds on and on gaining <2k in 3 plus miles. The pass has been beautifully restored to accommodate the hordes of tourists who come up for the views. We quickly had a bite and continued east down the Stehekin trail. After a short while one turns of towards Pelton Basin on an equally well maintained trail. There are a few camp sites in the trees that sadly don't get enough light in my opinion. Various trails wander down hill (perhaps the easiest near what is now signed as being for water or the toilet) to the river.
Getting to Trapper Lake at the base of TM requires going cross country slightly SE (down river) in Pelton Basin. Once you've crossed the meadow and are heading up hill again look for two stream cuts on the left side of the talus field. The right hand one of these goes up and follows a faint trail through small trees along the edge of the talus field. Once you've gained the high point there is an amazing bivy site and a small pool of water. On our visit there were bear tracks up to the edge of this bathtub sized pool. The trail continues due east to the saddle between Pelton Peak and point 5973'. For all practical purposes the trail ends here. We found the best way down (if you could call it that) was to the far west end of the saddle. We skirted below the rock toes towards gentle snow which will take you southward. One goes up and over a treed bulge and onto the old glacier just north of Hurry-Up Peak. No crevasses to worry about here. This takes you down to Trapper Lake. There is an official camp site about 50m from the west end of the lake. A large rock is suitable for stashing your food on as we saw no less than 7 bears on this trip. Once you crossed this saddle into Trapper Basin you might as well be in Alaska! It is fantastic, big walls, hanging glaciers, braided streams running through a brushy meadow... WOW! We climbed Trapper Mountain (look to cascadeclimbers.org for a trip report of the climb itself, not yet up as of 9-29-08) via the north face. Roughly the route goes up the left leaning snow gully, then across the face at mid height on a ledge and then up the dark cleft to just right of the summit. I wouldn't recommend this climb to anybody but the most experienced. The descent itself took hours of down climbing perilous terrain. Just sit back in camp, enjoy the amazing views and laugh at the fools who climbed that crazy face. Day hike
Issues:
Mudholes | Water on trail
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September 6th, 2008: Cascade Pass – Horseshoe Basin
Mighty peaks, festooned with hanging glaciers – a colorful valley, highlighted by shafts...
September 6th, 2008: Cascade Pass – Horseshoe Basin Day hike
Issues:
Snow on trail
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We wanted to start out early but ended up at the trail head at about 10:00 in the morning. Couldn't...
We wanted to start out early but ended up at the trail head at about 10:00 in the morning. Couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day with all the sunshine and no clouds. There were only a few small blow-downs on the trail, with no real effort to get over them, and two patches of snow to cross. We saw lots of birds, and a marmot on the trail doing their usual songs and whistling. |
Driving Directions
Drive Hwy 20 to the little town of Marblemount. Keep going straight when 20 turns left and you will be on Cascade River road. Drive the 23 miles to the end. You will follow the Cascade River the whole way; it takes nearly an hour on Cascade river road. |
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