Dock Butte — Sunday, Jul. 27, 2014

North Cascades > Mount Baker Area

This was a great hike on a clear, hot day with gorgeous views at the top. Most sites list this hike as "moderately difficult" or "more difficult", but the one I read prior to our hike listed it as "easy" for some reason. We were a little surprised at the steep rocky scrambles near the top, but the biggest annoyance was the constant presence of bugs! From the trailhead to the top, we had flies and bees buzzing around our heads constantly. While we didn't get bitten, you can imagine what a nuisance it is to be surrounded by bugs for 4 hours straight. Anyway, the snow patches were not hard to cross until we got to the switchbacks. We still didn't have much of a problem, but poles would have been helpful. We felt a little wimpy when a dog came along and scampered easily across the steep snowy areas :) The amazing views of Mt Baker surrounded by a cloudless sky were our reward after we scrambled to the top. We rested for about 20 minutes and headed back down. FYI: another hiker pointed out a more direct route down that avoided the snowy switchbacks. We were very grateful because we weren't looking forward to navigating those on the way back down. You can also take this direct route up, but we didn't notice it on the way up. It's fairly obvious on the way down - just past the rocky scramble part. Overall, it took us about 4 hours total, including our break at the top.