My husband and I took our daughter up to Cascade Pass in the North Cascades and over to Basin Creek Campground for a 2-day backpacking trip. Totals using AllTrails were 14.5 miles and 5000’ for the two days.
PERMITS:
The original plan was to camp at the high camp on Sahale Arm, second choice Pelton Camp. My husband drove up two days ahead of time, camped in the car overnight so he could get the earliest ticket possible for walk-ups reservations, and was second called Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, the rangers were unable to tell him on the phone how many spots had been taken by multiple-day permits, so Sahale Arm and Pelton were both full. Lucky for us, however, there was a spot available for the three of us at Basin Creek, so we decided to go for it.
And boy, so glad we did. We reached the Cascade Pass parking lot -- full at 9:30 on a September Thursday – after what felt like forever driving in high dust and gravel, not terrible but definitely better coming down it than going up. Others had posted about how bad overflow parking was, but maybe not so much in September. We saw lots of out-of-state license plates (one of our family’s pastimes on vacation is seeing how many states we can find. Twelve!) We talked to people from as far as Tennessee and Chicago coming in for the beautiful scenery.
AIR QUALITY:
AQI was in the yellow from the Ross Dam, Olympic, and Rainier fires, so we definitely got some ethereal photos – I’ve been up to the North Cascades before in my climbing days, but it’s been over two decades. We were excited to share the beauty with our daughter. Turns out the mid-70’s we experienced were GOOD compared to the 144/orange we returned to in Seattle Friday evening.
BUGS:
For anyone with issues - never once used spray or head nets, though we had them. We never actually noticed bugs until morning (more of a nuisance, non-biters but they got in our face more than we would have liked) and at noon on day 2 flies were prevalent at the Pass despite the breeze.
CRITTERS:
There is a particularly bold chipmuk with a distinct teardrop shaped patch on its back - pregnant female? or just well-fed? at Sahale Pass. It seems very comfortable with humans. We spotted at least 2 marmots and heard a dozen picas during our two-day visit. We did not go up to Sahale Arm/Doubtful Lake so no goats, bears, or ptarmigan shots this trip. We stored all our scented stuff in the bear vault and had zero issues with intruders at camp.
THE TRIP:
We headed up the 37 switchbacks on the dry, dusty trail. There is NO running water anywhere this time of year on the approach, until about mile 2.5 when little rivulets drop off the granite, just enough to wet a bandana or collect water in a filter. We each had 3 liters apiece which got us the 7.25 miles to camp.
During our 45 minutes at the Pass for lunch, we heard day hikers talking about Doubtful Lake and ptarmigan and goats, but we had another 3.5 miles to go beyond the Pass. Rangers were on toilet duty, with a chopper bringing in new buckets to both Cascade Pass and Pelton Campgrounds, dangling on a wire. Cool to watch.
About an hour later, once we went past Pelton Camp and crested the next ridge (delayed due to blueberry and huckleberry picking – once you get past the Pass the crowds thin way out making it a much more enjoyable solitary experience) we got our first look at the jaw-dropping scenery of Basin Creek as well as the peak and Quien Sabe glacier under Sahale. There were just a few downed trees to cross, nothing too serious, and a bit overgrown in places left it feeling humid and jungle-like in spots. We could see the whole trail into the Campground. 2300' gain and 2700' loss on Day 1 meant the opposite on day 2.
DOUBTFUL FALLS: Our very favorite place was Doubtful Falls, about 2.5 miles beyond Cascade Pass. Cool, inviting glacier-fed spillover water from Doubtful Lake captivated us for a good hour before we continued the final mile to our campsite. We all agreed the single highlight between Basin Creek Campground and Sahale Pass is Doubtful Falls, well worth the visit especially if the Doubtful Lake treacherous footing is not your cup of tea.
CAMPGROUND: Basin Creek Campground is an out-of-the-way spot for most, unless you’re coming from Stehekin, but it was perfect for us. We arrived a little after 4 p.m. and had our pick of the 3 tent areas. We did a quick survey of the area, including cook area, bear vault, and pit toilet. We chose the one closest to the stream and farthest from the cook area/Bear vault.
We didn’t see our neighbors until sundown, four coming from Sahale Arm and one female soloing from Stehekin. No bears, no critters in our open-air campsite, and relatively few birds – on the two days, we saw an American dipper, some cedar waxwings, and some woodpeckers as highlights. The air quality made for some hazy shots of what is otherwise beautiful, remote, rugged mountain scenery.
DAY 2: We got up with the sun around 6 a.m. and cooked breakfast/filtered water for the day and started walking by 8 after hearing a fox sparrow, seeing an American dipper at the creek, listening to a pair of hairy woodpeckers call back and forth, and spotting a flock of 15-20 cedar waxwings. We spent another hour at the waterfall getting some more great photos and soaking our feet before the climb up the numerous switchbacks pack up to the ridge, cresting around 10:45.
We could hear rumbling (calving glaciers) above us during our 20-minute snack and berry break. I’m guessing the ridge must have had a few campsites at one point as there is evidence of decommissioned social trails – the lack of running water probably made it less viable but maybe when there’s still snow? Anyway, we continued to the rocky slope above Pelton Camp where we got a look at some picas and a sunbathing marmot and soaked our bandanas in the final stream about half a mile below Cascade Pass.
Once at the pass we made the call NOT to go higher up to see Doubtful Lake/Sahale Arm so I put that on my “next year” list. A ranger was checking backpacker permits and asked us about conditions at Basin Creek Campground. After a half hour at the Pass, we continued down the dusty trail to the cars by 2:45 without incident other than a few stretch breaks. The parking lot had spaces available but some of the hikers were continuing well below to get to their cars so there must have been a ton of early day hikers Friday.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip (our only backpack of the season) and a beautiful gem of a find in Doubtful Falls. I asked my daughter if she’d be interested in backpacking again sometime and she said SURE, the sign of a winning experience. Lots of effort, but the payoffs are huge.
#Hikethestate
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