Hoping for the fabled views of Cascade Pass, and armed with a ""partly cloudy"" forecast, 7 of us made the long drive from Seattle to the Cascade pass trailhead. Alas, except for a few teaser breaks in the fog, we did most of the hike in chilly grayness. However, there were no bugs at all, the flowers were amazing, and we enjoyed the magnificent forest and meadows, climbing on rocks, and being pelted with snowballs by the kids. Trail is in great shape. Very easy hike, managed by kids aged 8,10,11 and 11 with no trouble.

Hiked from the end of Cascade River Road via many switchbacks and Cascade pass towards Sahale Arm. Turned around on the final ridge before the base camp, only b/c of a long drive back to Seattle.

Trail conditions great, snow only past Cascade Pass, very little of it, poles maybe helpful, by no means necessary, easy routefinding. Great views abound. Wildflowers out, virtually no bugs, saw marmots and a black bear. Awesome hike!

Wanted to do this hike for the past 2 years and today was the day despite the partially cloudy and cold weather forecast since the access road was to be closed about 2 miles from the trailhead because of repairs needed. The weatherman lied, the sun hardly made an appearance and it was overcast almost all day with low clouds and some snowflakes. The access road is about 23 miles long, most of it unpaved; takes about an hour to get from Highway 20 to the trailhead. Started about 12:15 and saw a over a half a dozen cars at the parking lot. The trail through the woods is 2.5 miles long with a 1400ft elevation gain in about 1.5 hours. Since it had snowed the day before, most of the trees were covered with snow at the higher elevation. Once out of the woods the whole landscape is snow covered. It took a total a little 3 hours to get to Cascade Pass, elevation 5400ft and 3.7 miles from the trailhead. Continued on to the Sahale Arm trail beginning with a climb on the snow-covered slopes. Took a short break to a side trail to Doubtful Lake but did not descend to it. Continued to a plateau about 1.5 miles from the Sahale glacier camp. Decided to turn back since it was 5:30pm and wanted to make it back before dark. Did not get back until 7:30 and needed a flashlight for the last few minutes...bad knees significantly slowed my progress down but the hiking poles helped greatly. For more photos see: http://picasaweb.google.com/steve.d.podleski/2007CascadePassSahaleArm

I have done a lot of hiking, and the trip up Cascade Pass and Sahale Arm is one of the most beautiful hikes I have done.

I left Bothell about 5:45 with the hopes of reaching a place about 20 miles up the Cascade River Road by 8:00 where the sun streams through Cascade Pass and dramatically lights up the opposite side of the valley. But some Bozos doing construction on northbound I-5 were late in opening up the lanes. Only one lane was open, and the backup was forming fast. They said on the radio they were wrapping up the work and would be done in about 10 minutes, but 15 minutes and after passing about 3 miles of cones, I saw two half-sleeping laborers slowly moving cones out of the way. At the pace they were moving, it would be 3 hours before the lanes were open.

Nevertheless, I was able to punch the old pick-up into warp drive on the back roads between Darrington and Marblemount, and shoot up the Cascade River road just in time to catch the light show.

I finally hit the trail about 9:00 and reached the pass in about an hour and 15 minutes. The trail is in excellent shape. Hardly any roots or rocks, and at a fairly consistent 10% grade for the 3.7 miles and 1800 feet elevation gain. The sky was pretty clear, but there must be a fire over by Stehekin and some of the smoke had blown this way making the valley a bit hazy. A nice breeze blew it all back over to eastern Washington later in the day.

It is another 2 miles and 2200 feet elevation gain to the Sahale glacier. A trail crew was improving the lower part of the trail up Sahale Arm. The first ½ mile is quite steep, and then levels off when you reach the turn-off to Doubtful Lake. For the next mile, the trail gradually snakes its way along the top of the ridge. The huckleberry bushes were flaming in the backlit sun, contrasting beautifully with the still green lupine. It is difficult to make good time on this part of the trail, not because it is so steep but because the beauty takes your breath away and you have to stop every hundred yards to take more pictures.

The last ½ mile up to the glacier is also quite steep. But every bit of elevation gain opens new vistas of ridge upon ridge of jagged peaks laden with glaciers barely clinging to their sides. There are several campsites just below the glacier in the moraine, and on the flatter rocks. Some crevasses were visible in the glacier, and water was streaming out underneath exiting down the mountain in a series of streams and waterfalls.

On the way back down, I ran into a vain marmot who insisted I take his picture several times, sometimes posing standing up, sometimes sitting down, sometimes while eating lupine, and sometimes flashing his fanny at me from a few feet way. Finally I asked him to move out of the trail so I could proceed down the mountain. I also warned him about the coyote I saw on the way up.

The colors on Sahale Arm will probably be at their peak this coming weekend, but the colors down at the pass are a bit slower and might be at their peak in about 2 weeks.

You can OD on beauty on this hike. It nourishes the soul for several days.