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Pugh Ridge

Featured In: Day Hiking: Central Cascades, by Craig Romano.
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At this high and lonely outpost among the craggy giants of the Chelan Mountains, views are grand and company is rare. Pugh Ridge sits smack dab in the middle of the North Fork Entiat watershed, a de facto wilderness sans motors and quite a quiet contrast to the Entiat Valley. It's a grueling grunt to the flower gardens and breathtaking belvederes of Pugh, but worth every calorie spent.

Consider the first 2.75 miles along the North Fork Entiat River a nice warm-up. The tread is smooth, the grade slight. Only a mere 300 feet of elevation are subdued. Hit the trail and immediately confront Crow Creek. Easy to cross late in the season, in July it's a foot soaker. At 1 mile come to South Pyramid Creek, easily negotiated via a bridge. A short distance beyond, reach the junction with the Pyramid Creek Trail. Admire the vintage signpost.

Continue straight through pleasant forest, and at 2.7 miles come to the junction with the Pugh Ridge Trail (elev. 4250 ft). A side path takes off left to a campsite along the river. Take it if your water supply is low. Otherwise, head right and commence climbing. The way is steep and at times rough. Animal tracks are numerous in the soft pumiceous soils. These critters also have to work hard to get to Pugh's open higher elevations.

After 1 mile and 1000 vertical feet, the grade thankfully eases and you near a creek-carrying small ravine. After passing through a soggy spring-fed meadow, the way once again steepens. At about 2 miles from the North Fork Entiat, pass a sign proclaiming "Buddy Camp" (elev. 5800 ft). No buddy of mine would want to camp there. Pocket meadows begin shortly afterward and the forest thins. At 2.7 miles from the valley, reach the meadow-carpeted ridge crest (elev. 6500 ft).

Now on faint to practically nonexistent tread, head west, climbing a couple of hundred more feet to a larch- and whitebark pine-graced knoll. Continue across open meadow along the level ridge crest for another 0.5 mile to the 6783-foot high point. Views! Golden-crowned and aptly named Pyramid Mountain dominates the show. Its Chelan Range neighbors to the west-Cardinal, Emerald, and Saska-are no less impressive. Directly to the west Duncan Hill fills the viewfinder. Beyond are the Entiat Mountains, the Chiwaukums, Nason Ridge, and Mount Stuart.

Here, from the center of the North Fork Entiat country you are afforded an unobstructed view of an unmolested drainage. The Forest Service used to allow it to be ravaged by motorcycles. Public outcry changed that. More public comment is needed to put this wild watershed into wilderness-where it belongs.

Driving Directions:

From Wenatchee head north for 15 miles on US 97A to Entiat. (From Chelan head south for 20 miles on US 97A.) Turn left (west) onto the Entiat River Road (Forest Road 51) and proceed 33 miles to FR 5606, sign reads North Fork (2.9 miles beyond Silver Falls). Continue 4 miles to the road's end and trailhead (elev. 3950 ft). Privy available.

Recent Trip Reports

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There are 10 trip reports for this hike. See all trip reports for this hike.

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Pyramid Creek, Pugh Ridge — Aug 13, 2011 — alpinist

Overnight

Features: Wildflowers blooming

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Having been on a day hike near Mt. Baker the previous weekend and encountering 6 feet of snow at ele...

Having been on a day hike near Mt. Baker the previous weekend and encountering 6 feet of snow at elevation, we weren't sure what to expect. It became obvious just on the drive to the trailhead that the East side of the crest, though behind schedule, was a much different story.

We set out for the loop hike mid-day and were pleased by the relatively cool air temps and forested trail of the N. Fork Entiat. We took the Pyramid Creek trail which also delivered a gentle grade and infinite possibilities to get water. While we saw and smelled lots of evidence of horses traveling this way, the WHOLE TRIP WE DIDN'T ENCOUNTER A SINGLE OTHER HIKER!!! There are only a few small patches of snow on the entire loop yet several snow fields melting steadily off of Pyramid Peak making many clear and fast streams.

Camped at the pass then back down in the morning to the Pugh Ridge trailhead and up to the ridge where wildflowers are at their peak. Saw shooting stars, lupine, fleabane?, penstemen?, columbine, paintbrush, and others. Lots of larches at the pass. No water on Ridge. Overall a very nice opportunity for solitude.

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Pugh Ridge, North Fork Entiat River — Jul 17, 2011 — HikesWithJazz

Day hike

Issues: Blowdowns | Water on trail | Snow on trail

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Hike starts at the trailhead for North Fork Entiat River (FR 5606). The first three miles are easy ...

Hike starts at the trailhead for North Fork Entiat River (FR 5606). The first three miles are easy with just a few creek crossings. At approximately 3 miles the Pugh Ridge trail starts, it is well signed. The trail then climbs for the next 3 miles to Pugh Ridge. The trail is easy to follow with cairns marking the way at the top. There was still some snow on the trail and a few fallen trees to climb over, but nothing difficult to navigate. The views were great and we didn't see a single other person on the trail despite it being a Sunday in July.

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North Fork Entiat River #1437,Pyramid Creek #1439,Pugh Ridge #1438,Pyramid Mountain #1433 — Jun 29, 2005 — cascade dreams

Day hike

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An overnight loop trip to Pyramid Mtn. via the North Fork Entiat River Trail, So. Pyramid Creek Tra...

An overnight loop trip to Pyramid Mtn. via the North Fork Entiat River Trail, So. Pyramid Creek Trail, Pyramid Mtn Trail and return via the Pugh Ridge trail. We camped in a pleasant meadow at Buck Camp at approx. 6500' to the west of the summit. All trails are in good shape, the only snow was minimal and was found off trail on the WNW aspect of the summit ridge. Won't be there for much longer. Plenty of water in all the creeks. The three crossings along the So. Pyramid Trail weren't too difficult. A little deep to keep dry boots, but good logs are found just a short way up stream in all cases. The Pugh Ridge trail, as has been noted in other reports, fades here and there especially when heading south, but we didn't have too much difficulty staying with it. Bugs were out, but a little lethargic with the still cool evenings. That won't last for long. Great trip. Looking forward to a return trip to explore the area around Cardinal, Emerald and beyond.

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Mount Pugh #644,Pugh Ridge #1438 — Sep 06, 2004 — Jason & Denver

Day hike

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Sept 5-6, 2004 Saturday’s rain was forecasted to give way to partly cloudy skies on Sunday and g...

Sept 5-6, 2004

Saturday’s rain was forecasted to give way to partly cloudy skies on Sunday and great weather on Monday. I’ve wanted to hike up Mt. Pugh for a couple of years now and managed to talk Denver into going for it. We decided to camp at Metan Lake Sunday night and summit on Monday. Monday’s weather turned out just as forecasted, and there were clear blue skies.

The trail through the forest from the trailhead to the top of Stujack Pass is in great shape. The trail is free of debris, and there are minimal roots in comparison to our last hike on Vesper Peak. The trail in the forest climbs at a very modest rate. Stujack Pass picks up nicely as is to be expected and gives a good workout in contrast to the ease of going through the forest.

From the top of Stujack Pass we had great views of Mt. Baker, White Chuck Mountain and Sloan Peak along with tempting views of Mt. Rainier.

Here is our first warning on the hike. Metan Lake was fairly brown in color which made the thought of drinking the water, even filtered, seem unappealing. Also we couldn’t see any water coming into or draining out of the lake. We decided to hold out for some running water later on and doing so proved disappointing. There was, of course, no running water as we were going up rather late in the season. We each had a little over a quart of water and we managed to ration it just fine. Remember, you’ll want to bring plenty of water with you on this hike.

This was our first experience with a razorback ridge and it proved impressive as well. There is a fair amount of exposure on the ridge and a lot more on the scramble up from the ridge to the top.

Here is our second warning on the hike. You’ll want to cinch your packs down tight, keep a close eye on the cairns and watch your step. The margin for error is minimal at best in several places above the ridge.

The exposure had us questioning our sanity and right about the time we were discussing turning around, we made it to the top. The 360 degree view from the top is truly amazing and makes it all worth while. In addition to the mountains mentioned above, we had great views of Glacier Peak, Three Fingers and Whitehorse Mountain. I've attached two pictures with views from the top.

The bugs were light and the other hikers were polite and courteous. We recommend adding this hike to your to-do list. It is outstanding!

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Entiat River #1400,Pugh Ridge #1438 — Jun 01, 2003 — Mike and Pam

Day hike

Issues: Snow on trail

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Road to the trailhead is in good shape. We started walking at about ten in the morning and hit snow...

Road to the trailhead is in good shape. We started walking at about ten in the morning and hit snow within 1/2 mile of the trailhead. At the junction with Pyramid Creek trail snow became constant but very firm and made for decent walking. There were a handfull of blowdowns in the first 2 1/2 miles and a couple of wet stream crossings. We turned off at Pugh Ridge trail and within 100 ft were out of the snow. The Pugh ridge trail is very narrow and obviously little used. It's moderately steep and south facing, I'll bet this is a hot one in mid-summer. We hit heavy snow about a mile up the trail and turned back. This would be a great fall hike, lots of solitude, I think we'll go back then.

Mike

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