Devil's Dome Loop — Friday, Aug. 30, 2024

My group of three (plus dog) hiked Devils Dome loop counterclockwise over three days, starting from the East Bank trailhead.

We stopped by the Marblemount ranger station on our way out to grab walk-up permits for Devils Creek on Saturday night (there are only three hiker sites available and it sounds like they fill up fast, so I’m really glad we were able to snag some!) and made it to the East Bank TH just after noon. Parking lot still had plenty of spots available.

Our first day was 11ish miles from the TH to Devils Park. The first three miles along the river are a nice warm up before the biiiig climb up to Devils Park. I thought the fallen tree near the Canyon Creek turnoff was pretty simple to maneuver (I’m quite small though). We took the upper-middle route which others recommended. After that it’s a steep ascent up 60-ish switchbacks until you hit a reprieve around 5,000 feet. Once you get up to 5,000 feet, the berries start to really pop off. There are blankets and blankets of berries surrounding the trail all the way to Devils Park and beyond. It was a really nice reward after all that ascent! We camped at Devils Camp for night one along with a few other groups. There are several nice sites just past the shelter.

Day two we traveled from Devils Camp to Devils Creek. The scree field below Jackita seemed fine. The lower half is quite built out with well defined switchbacks. The upper half is a bit of a mess but I didn’t find it dangerous at all. The worst that could happen is falling on your butt (which I did at one point). After that is a bit of ups and downs until the final ascent to Devils Dome. One thing to note here is that it’s entirely dry between N. Fork Devils Creek and just west of Devils Dome. The ranger at Marblemount noted a water source about 900 ft. off the PNT turnoff, but when we checked it was all dried up. Devils Dome is gorgeous and absolutely the highlight of this trip. Devils Creek campground was honestly a bit of let down. I didn’t realize the hiker camp was so far from the lake — we couldn’t see it at all. Even the creek to get water was a bit of a walk.

Day three was pretty short, just an easy riverside ramble from Devils Creek to the trailhead. However, everyone in my group got stung by wasps on this section!! I got stung at Devils Creek and the other two got stung while walking along the trail. I think there must be a nest pretty close to the trail tread (I didn’t mark exactly where it was but probably about 5 miles south of Devils Creek). We made it back to our car right at noon.