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Easton Ridge

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass
47.2672, -121.1737 Map & Directions
Length
6.0 miles, roundtrip
Elevation Gain
2,270 feet
Highest Point
4,470 feet
Calculated Difficulty About Calculated Difficulty
Moderate/Hard
View from the top of Easton Ridge. Photo by Yas Obara. Full-size image
  • Wildlife

Parking Pass/Entry Fee

None
Saved to My Backpack

Easton Ridge is a hiker’s friend. Located on the east side of Cascades, hikers will often find drier weather here than on the west side, and with a relatively low peak elevation (4462 feet), snow melts out earlier than other nearby summits at higher elevation. Continue reading

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Hiking Easton Ridge

From Easton Ridge on a clear day you can see Mount Rainier and Mount Stuart. Views also include Kachess Lake and Cle Elum Lake. In spring and early summer, there are abundant wildflowers. In late summer, ripe huckleberries await you. In fall huckleberries and vine maples put on a fall color show.

But to enjoy this trail you need to be in fairly good physical condition. It is not for couch potatoes. The trail is steep but smooth, there are none of the typical roots and rocks you often see on other trails.

You start at a small, unimproved trailhead for two trails: Easton Ridge and Kachess Ridge trail. Walk a short access trail to where the two trails split. A sign there indicates Kachess Ridge Trail, but not the Easton Ridge Trail. Take a right and head downhill to Silver Creek, then upstream to a dam and a foot bridge. Take the foot bridge, crossing the creek. In spring you may be lucky enough to spot a small delicate flower, calypso orchids. They are hard to find, and a sighting is a special occurrence. 

From here, the trail starts climbing steep uphill with many switchbacks in a forest. In spring and early summer, you will see many flowers along the way: paintbrush, Hooker's fairybell, penstemon, ceanothus, serviceberry, vanilla leaf, lupine, starflower, trillium, Olympic onion, spreading phlox, silver crown, Columbia lewisia, desert parsley, etc.

You can see Kachess Lake along the way. You will reach the trail junction with the Domerie Divide Trail at about 1.3 miles and 1,100 feet of elevation gain. Turn right here and climb steeply up along the spine of the ridge. On a clear day you will be able to see Mount Rainier beyond nearby mountains on your right.

About 2 miles from the trailhead, the trail flattens and continues on ridgetop through forests and open hillsides. In spring there are flowers along the trail: smooth Douglasia, glacier lily, Oregon anemone, larkspur, arnica, Sitka valerian, balsamroot, etc.

Be careful when you traverse on a narrow section of the trail on a steep slope. You arrive at the rocky summit after a little over 3 miles. There is a large rock and remnants of a cabin that once stood there. Enjoy the views of Mount Stuart and Cle Elum Lake.

Most hikers turn around here but the original trail goes to the north of the high point down along the base of the rocky summit. From the high elevation, the trail drops gradually, following the ridgeline, to its eastern terminus at a primitive road on private land.

Hike Description Written by
Yas Obara, WTA Correspondent

Easton Ridge

Map & Directions

Trailhead
Co-ordinates: 47.2672, -121.1737 Open in Google Maps

Before You Go

See weather forecast

Parking Pass/Entry Fee

None

WTA Pro Tip: Save a copy of our directions before you leave! App-based driving directions aren't always accurate and data connections may be unreliable as you drive to the trailhead.

Getting There

From Seattle, drive east on I-90 to exit 70, signed for Lake Easton State Park. At the end of the ramp, turn left over the freeway. At the ‘T’, go left on Kachess Dam Road for one half mile, then right to stay on Kachess Dam Road (FR 4818). Travel another 0.8 mile, mostly on gravel, then turn right onto an unmarked one-lane dirt road. The road is rutted but driveable by most vehicles. At 0.6 mile, the dirt road ends at the trailhead. There is parking for about 10 vehicles, including along the shoulder. There are no amenities and no parking pass is required.

More Hike Details

Trailhead

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

Easton Ridge (#1212)

Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Cle Elum Ranger District

Guidebooks & Maps

Day Hiking: Snoqualmie Pass ed. II (Nelson and Bauer - Mountaineers Books)

Buy the Green Trails Kachess Lake No. 208 map

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Easton Ridge

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