Church Mountain
Jul 01, 2009
by
Whidbey Walker
—
last modified
Jul 01, 2009 09:19 PM
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Church Mountain
- Region: North Cascades -- Mount Baker Highway
- Agency: Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, Mount Baker Ranger District
- Trails: Church Mountain (#671)
- Avg Rating: 3.73
- Be Aware Of
- Snow on trail
Church Mt. from the snow filled basin. The trail goes up and to the left (NW) and then switchbacks the upper slopes to the top.
Two trips to Church in one week! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) This was my first time up the Church Mountain Trail and it certainly is a very good workout with great views to match. The approach road is rough but short with a wash out at 1.6 miles. This adds .7 miles of road walking to the official trailhead but not a real deterent by any means. Many switchbacks up a steep and wooded hillside get you to a very large snow filled basin at approximately 5000' elevation. (The first serious snow encountered.) I crossed the basin traveling up and to the NW where I spotted the trail cutting across the hillside. Above the basin the slopes were mostly snow free and the trail was relocated and followed to the top. The trail finishes at the former site of an old lookout with cables and boards here and there. The true summit lies about 100 yards to the west and is slightly higher. (see pic below) Hiking alone today put the climb up to the true summit out of my comfort zone so I had lunch at the site of the old lookout and headed down after about 45 minutes. Car to car was 7 hours.
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Trail approaching site of former lookout.
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Actual Church Mt. summit from trails end.
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Twin Sisters Range from Church Mt. Trail
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