Summary: This is an outstanding hike offering excellent views of Glacier Peak and the surrounding mountains, with almost total solitude. Wildflowers are putting on a lovely show and you are treated to views of vibrant green meadows.
Trail conditions: The trail switchbacks steeply through a burn zone then follows a narrow ridge all the way to Poe Mountain. A decent portion of the hike is among burned trees, which means lots of peakaboo views and minimal shade. The trail is narrow in places and can can be steep, but it never felt overly difficult. There were at least a dozen blowdowns, but none that were too difficult. I never felt that navigation was an issue or that I was at risk of losing the trail. Even so, downloading the he route will be useful. Poe Mountain looks daunting from this approach but the trail winds around it and remains a walk up.
Road: Little Wenatchee River road (NF 65) is in pretty good shape, but there is a mandatory detour onto Devil’s Club Road. Once on Devil’s Club Rd you steeply ascend some switchbacks up to Irving Pass TH. You should be fine on this road as long as you have decent clearance and 4WD/AWD. The road is narrow (1 lane) and steep, so take it slow. It is overgrown in places and my car scraped several bushes. There were three cars at the TH when we arrived at 11am. We saw one couple over the whole the hike.
Bugs: There were lots of butterflies and bees along the wildflowers. Mosquitos and flies didn’t seem too bad except for at the summit of Poe. It helped that there was a nice breeze along the ridge.
Stats:
- Roundtrip distance: 5.83 miles
- Elevation gain: 2,100ft
- Total elapsed time: 3:15:00
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