Green Mountain — Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020

Our family of 4 spent two nights camping at the ponds at Green Mountain. Haven't seen many trip reports for camping there so thought I would add ours.

First - getting there. Forest Road 26 is in great condition. Well maintained and wide enough in most places to easily accommodate two cars. Forest Road 2680 gets a bit rough in places and is pretty narrow. On our drive up we met two cars coming down and one of us had to back up a ways to find a place to pull off. Having a high clearance vehicle made the road more manageable, but didn't seem necessary. We arrived at the trailhead at 2pm on a Tuesday and there were 4 cars there. 

First part of the hike climbs at a decent pace through the woods, covering about 1,000' in elevation gain over 1.25 miles. Coming out of the trees in to the meadows the views and the wildflowers are gorgeous, but the trail is fairly overgrown. The trail is still easy to follow but you're brushing up against chest high bushes and plants for most of the way up. It is also out in the open so the sun beats down on you on warm days. I recommend bringing more water than you'll think you'll need.Through the meadows the trail climbs another 900' or so from 1.25 to 2.6 miles before flattening out and dropping down to the ponds at 3 miles.

We spent two nights camping at these ponds and while we saw a handful of day hikers each day we were the only ones there overnight. The bugs were awful - mostly mosquitoes but also deer flies. We were thankful we had headnets, but any exposed skin (and some unexposed) was bitten. There is a small stream from the ponds that made for a great water source and we were able to use the nearby trees to hang food. (we didn't see any bear, but on our hike out we met two bear hunters hiking in who go every year and see 10+ bear each year so they are out there).

We did a day hike up to the lookout which was another 1.2 miles and 1,200' in elevation from our campsite. The wildflowers up the mountain were amazing, and the marmot whistled to us most of the way up. This section is again in the full sun so it could be very warm later in the day. Once again make sure you have enough water (and refill from the stream at the ponds if needed).

The views from the top are incredible, from Glacier Peak to the south to Mt. Baker to the north and all in between. The lookout was closed, and part of the catwalk around the lookout was broken so you couldn't walk all the way around. We got to the top around 9:30am and had it to ourselves for the entire hour we were up there. The mosquitoes were almost non existent at the summit, and the flies were still annoying but not nearly as bothersome as near the lakes.

Overall I recommend this as an easy backpack, but be prepared for bugs.