This is NOT a trail for the faint of heart. We saw a couple of people start and not get beyond the talus slope where the trail splits (Right for Silver Creek, Left for Kachees Ridge/Beacon).

The directions say "Drive about 1 mile, then turn right at the next road junction and continue another 0.5 mile to the trailhead." We found the road was at 0.81 on our odometer, and there was a tiny yellow sign stapled to a tree, labeled Kachees Ridge hike, with an arrow. There isn't a ton of parking at the trailhead, but there are a lot of turnouts prior to it, so if you got there and didn't have any place to park, you could find parking a little ways back and hike up to the trailhead with little issue. The roads themselves are in good shape.


We got a half-mile up the trail (and the trail starts steeply) when I realized that I had forgotten to put the NW Forrest Pass up on the dash. I handed the dog to my boyfriend and headed back down the trail to go hang the pass, just in case the rangers came by. Turning, I huffed back up the trail to catch up with my Boyfriend. We enjoyed the first part of the hike- the trail is well defined with pretty little views, very few roots or rocks, and was definitely not crowded.

Once you pass the talus slope, you come to the "Y" in the trail. We stayed to the left and enjoyed the last short stretch of flat trail before you REALLY start heading up. The trail is steep- toes only steep in some places. I saw comparisons of it to Mailbox (which I haven't done) but I would compare it to the climb to Lake Serene on Mt. Index IF there weren't any stairs on the trail.

After a bunch of switch backs, you get to a knob and it almost looks like the trail ends there, but if you look at the rock in front of you, there *is* actually a trail up over the rock. Once you get over it, the trail is fairly evident the rest of the way. You walk along a ridge for a while before heading up the hill. We met a couple of people coming down who admitted that there was nothing but climb in front of us. Doh!

We huffed and puffed up the trail and started noticing the clouds rolling in across the valley, south and to the west of us. By the time we reached the tower where the beacon used to be, there were lightning strikes and thunder in the clouds on the other side of Lake Keechelus and we knew it would be reaching us soon. Not wanting to be caught on a bald ridge in a lightning storm, we hiked down the trail, past the tower, and headed for a stand of trees at the end of the trail. The wind was really whipping now, so we quickly pulled on extra layers for warmth, pulled on our rain shells, and then decided to move downhill, further into the forest, just to be on the safe side. We also tied the dog to a tree, in case he was frightened by the storm. We stood under the trees, eating our lunch while it poured, hailed, the lightning flashed, and the thunder boomed. We waited about 10 minutes after the last boom of thunder before packing up and heading back down the trail.

The trail is very steep on the way up. After a thunderstorm, the trail is still steep, but is now very slick. Luckily, I had brought a set of trekking poles, so we each took one and carefully climbed down. We also let the dog off-leash while we were on the steep part so that we didn't have to worry about him accidentally pulling us off of our feet or over some ledge. Once we got back to where the trail Y, we leashed him again (much to his chagrin) and had no further incidents getting back to the parking area.

This was a terrific hike and a great workout. The wildflowers were lovely, and the views are really nice. This would not be a great trail for someone brand-new to hiking, or for someone who was unprepared for how suddenly the weather can change in the mountains. It would be a tough trail for someone with limited eyesight, or for children too.

Regarding the road to the trailhead, the current Green Trails map (#208) is no longer correct. Do not attempt to locate the trailhead by driving under the power lines to Road 203. That road is not maintained and disappears into the woods. The correct road is about .5 mile past the power lines (after the next bend in the road). It does not appear on the Green Trails map, but you can see it in the google maps satellite image.

Trying to avoid the showers and grey, we escaped East for an early Fathers day hike. We decided to try Kachess Ridge after reading Janice's excellent report from last week, see:
http://www.wta.org/[…]/trip_report.2012-06-11.6972704685

The wildflowers are spectacular. See photos below for the subtle turn off to the ridge route It is steep, but easy to follow and decorated all the way up with flowers. The Silver Creek fork of the trail is still choked with snow.

Like many others who saw this trip report on the WTA hike of the week, we decided to head to Kachess Ridge/Kachess Beacon as a possible hike were we just might stay dry and get away for a few hours from the gray gloom that was covering Seattle and much of the Cascades.

We got to the trail head around 9:30 and were slightly surprised at the number of cars already there - I guess this is what you get for trying to find some sun and hiking the WTA hike of the week. The trial is well maintained and starts off with a nice uphill stretch that definitely wakes up your legs and gets the heart-rate up. As we kept trekking on, we were surprised at how quickly we made it to the junction (about 1.9 miles in). We decided to stay left and head up ridge to the beacon.

Just after this spur is where the trail kicks into high gear and the last mile is a good climb up the ridge. The views from the top are definitely worth it but we will have to go back on a clear day for the complete views of Rainier. We did have some scattered blue skies and even a few sun breaks so we cannot complain about the weather or the views we did have.

On the way back down, we detoured up Silver Creek a little ways and hit snow around 3/4 of a mile onto that trail. If you decided to branch off onto this trail, just when you hit the creek, about 1/2 mile in, there is a little spur on your right. This goes up onto the ridge and has great views of the valley and a waterfall. Definitely worth the side trip.

Over all a good early season hike!

My camera battery was dead so there were no pictures documenting this particular hike. Next time.