Thunder Knob — Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013

North Cascades > North Cascades Highway - Hwy 20

Nice weekend to go camping so we headed up to Colonial Creek Campground along Diablo Lake just off Highway 20 in The North Cascades. We got the one of the last two camp sites available at 4:00pm. This place fills up every weekend between Memorial and Labor Day and it is first come first serve. One of the best campsite off Highway 20. Next morning I headed across the Highway 20 to hike the Thunder Knob Trail that has some great views of Diablo Lake. The trail 3.6 miles roundtrip with a gain of only 635 feet. It starts off right through the middle of the camping area on the north side of the highway but quickly crosses several creeks before getting into a bunch of switchbacks. It is not that steep but lots of sun along this trail and little to no water so bring sunscreen and all the water you can handle. No bugs along the trail but lots of people hiking from the campground so you will not be alone for very long. A lot of the trees have no branches the first 30 to 40 feet up the trees so the sun shine directly on you. You can see videos of this hike or over 300 other hikes I have done in Washington on my youtube channel at "lmm3181". As always get and see this beautiful state and enjoy your hiking. Take Care, Mike