Stegosaurus Butte — Monday, Mar. 15, 2010

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

I have wanted to do this hike for quite a while so today was the day. First the Middle Fork road was in excellent shape. Other than potholes it was as good as I have ever seen it. We parked at the Middle fork trailhead and immediately out the back of the parking lot found the bridge. We took a right turn on the north side of the river and after a couple hundred yards stated to see flagging tape. It looks like plans are afoot to move the trail a bit higher above the river. Just past the toe of the ridge you will see several way trails heading up. Anyone works as the all converge and the trail starts up in earnest. After about 300' vertical you reach a flattish section and then the trail drops a bit to the right to cross a gully and then starts up again. This is the steep part. We found the trail easy to follow but it was steep. Finally we reached the summit ridge after about 1000' of total gain. Once on to we wandered along a bit until we found a clear spot. Basically this is the top. You can continue along dropping a bit and then climbing more through salal but the actual summit is not much higher and does not have the views of the first summit. And the views are terrific. Rarely do you get to see Mt. Garfield this close. A note of caution. At the first summit be careful of the edges of the ridge. On both sides it cliffs out rather dramatically. One would not want to make a misstep here. This is an interesting little summit and makes for a great little hike with views you don't often see.