Schweitzer Creek Loop
Jan 31, 2009
by
liaisonguy
—
last modified
Feb 02, 2009 12:37 PM
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Schweitzer Creek Loop
- Region: North Cascades -- Mountain Loop Highway
- Avg Rating: 2.50
- Be Aware Of
- Snow on trail
This trip used to be on the Mt Baker – Snoqualmie national forest website:
http://www.fs.fed.us/[…]/schweitzer_ski_route.htm
Now it’s only available on the way-back machine. Plug the URL in here:
http://www.archive.org/index.php
It’s also shown on the green trails map.
I’d done this loop trip in previous light snow years when it was possible to drive up forest road 4020 to a wide switchback, thus cutting a large chunk of the elevation gain out. This year, only daring 4 wheel enthusiast groups are attempting to drive the road. I parked at the road junction with the Mt Loop and hiked without snowshoes all the way to the road junction with forest road 4021, walking on compacted snow in wheel tracks. Here, I strapped on the snowshoes and proceeded eastbound on road 4020 another mile and a half to the gravel pit. There are no pesky blow downs on the road this year. After a quick snack, my dog Yeti and I continued up the road passing the trails toward Evans and Boardman lakes. The trailhead marker is still visible beside the road, sticking up a foot above the snow. Look for the trailhead just after the road turns south and climbs a short bit. It’s just north of the roadside pond and creek flowing towards the west. A large flat parking area is southwest of the trailhead.
Continuing on the road, the saplings growing in and beside the road and bent over by snow create an obstacle course for ½ mile. It’s not as challenging as several years ago, but this section could use some clearing.
The winter connector trail departs the road shortly after a turn toward the northwest. Look for a blue triangle marker on a tree set back 20 ft from the road, and maybe some flagging tape. The blue triangle markers are sporadic going westbound and non-existent eastbound, but some flagging tape leads the way to the connection with the Ashland lake trail.
Even with all the recent rain, the snow is 4 feet deep at the Ashland Lake Trailhead. It’s nicely consolidated, so I barely sank in 2” with snowshoes, and Yeti wasn’t too deterred from breaking his own trail while sinking in 4 inches.
Continuing down road 4021, we encountered only one blow down that was easy to walk around before arriving at the junction with road 4020 and retracing the road down to the highway.
Moving at a slow pace, but with few breaks since the views from the rock quarry were obscured by low clouds, it was a 5 ½ hour trip. The forest service web site calls it a 10.5 mile loop, so in deep powder snow this could be an exhausting trip. The rock quarry would be a good turn around for a shorter out-and-back trip with a view. The big draw to this trip is zero avalanche danger. Many other winter trips on the Mt Loop cross avalanche gullies, including some that novices flock to unaware of the danger.
http://www.fs.fed.us/[…]/schweitzer_ski_route.htm
Now it’s only available on the way-back machine. Plug the URL in here:
http://www.archive.org/index.php
It’s also shown on the green trails map.
I’d done this loop trip in previous light snow years when it was possible to drive up forest road 4020 to a wide switchback, thus cutting a large chunk of the elevation gain out. This year, only daring 4 wheel enthusiast groups are attempting to drive the road. I parked at the road junction with the Mt Loop and hiked without snowshoes all the way to the road junction with forest road 4021, walking on compacted snow in wheel tracks. Here, I strapped on the snowshoes and proceeded eastbound on road 4020 another mile and a half to the gravel pit. There are no pesky blow downs on the road this year. After a quick snack, my dog Yeti and I continued up the road passing the trails toward Evans and Boardman lakes. The trailhead marker is still visible beside the road, sticking up a foot above the snow. Look for the trailhead just after the road turns south and climbs a short bit. It’s just north of the roadside pond and creek flowing towards the west. A large flat parking area is southwest of the trailhead.
Continuing on the road, the saplings growing in and beside the road and bent over by snow create an obstacle course for ½ mile. It’s not as challenging as several years ago, but this section could use some clearing.
The winter connector trail departs the road shortly after a turn toward the northwest. Look for a blue triangle marker on a tree set back 20 ft from the road, and maybe some flagging tape. The blue triangle markers are sporadic going westbound and non-existent eastbound, but some flagging tape leads the way to the connection with the Ashland lake trail.
Even with all the recent rain, the snow is 4 feet deep at the Ashland Lake Trailhead. It’s nicely consolidated, so I barely sank in 2” with snowshoes, and Yeti wasn’t too deterred from breaking his own trail while sinking in 4 inches.
Continuing down road 4021, we encountered only one blow down that was easy to walk around before arriving at the junction with road 4020 and retracing the road down to the highway.
Moving at a slow pace, but with few breaks since the views from the rock quarry were obscured by low clouds, it was a 5 ½ hour trip. The forest service web site calls it a 10.5 mile loop, so in deep powder snow this could be an exhausting trip. The rock quarry would be a good turn around for a shorter out-and-back trip with a view. The big draw to this trip is zero avalanche danger. Many other winter trips on the Mt Loop cross avalanche gullies, including some that novices flock to unaware of the danger.
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Road conditions 4020/4021