After passing the Neiderprum TH on my way to visit the mine and valley at the end of mine road, I decided to satisfy my curiosity about the trail going up Whitehorse Mountain.
Those who write the trail descriptions in the hiking guides must have written them years ago, because this trail is so badly overgrown starting at 2.5 miles that it probably won't be accessible much longer.
From the closed bridge at the end of mine road off Hwy 530, it is 1.2 miles to the Neiderprum TH. From there I hiked 1.7 miles up Whitehorse and gained 1,800' of elevation. I was hoping to reach the meadow where Neiderprum, a prospector, had his cabin. The destination was at an altitude of 3,200', but I was only able to follow the trail to 2,600' before it disappeared into thick, wet brush. My GPS said the trail continued in the direction I was going, but there was no sign of it whatsoever.
At least I had a good workout...
Comments
Jon Lee on Neiderprum Trail
Glad you had a go at it. I have been fascinated by this trail for a while, and had been thinking about scouting it out too.
Posted by:
Jon Lee on May 15, 2015 10:07 PM
Neiderprum
Hi Geezer- while I write guidebooks I did not include this trail in my Day Hiking North Cascades Book-but I will include it in the second edition. I hiked it last fall and did make it all the way to the cabin site meadows. In fact-the tread-while steep and eroded in sections is actually easy to follow-I know exactly where you called it quits. The trail dupes you into going into a brushy avy slope where it actually turns right and follows along the edge of the brushy chute for a short distance before turning right back into big old growth and steeply climbing up the ridge. I posted pictures on my FB site last November-give it another shot!
Posted by:
Craig Romano on May 16, 2015 10:20 AM
chrisburke on Neiderprum Trail
There is more interest lately in this trail. I've been planning to hike it for at least ten years. According to Spring and Manning you used to be able to attain the ridge and this was a route to climb Whitehorse. They didn't even call it Neiderprum Trail--it was Lone Tree Pass to them.
Posted by:
chrisburke on May 16, 2015 03:34 PM
Whitehorse Mtn
Hope it's not too late to add a comment. I hiked this trail with a friend in August 1987; had to look through my photo catalog to find the date. I knew it as Whitehorse Mtn from an old 100 Hikes book, where it was a featured trail; by the 1985 edition (North Cascades) it was relegated to the "additional hikes" at the back of the book. I always liked the Hwy 530 drive and wanted to get a view of the valley from above. I remember the trail petered out, but there were pink ribbons tied to some of the trees and bushes, so we were able to hack our way through to a more open area by following those. The view from the pass wasn't as spectacular as I imagined, but it was pretty. And after the trouble we had getting up there, I was determined to use every camera lens I'd dragged with me!
Posted by:
Ballard Ambler on May 18, 2015 12:49 AM
Whitehorse
My family had a cabin across the valley with a great view of Whitehorse, so one summer in the mid eighties my brother and I, although inexperienced, resolved to climb the peak. After one dead end attempt where we followed the ridge east from Lone Tree pass (I recall there was one very large tree right on the pass ridge line which I assume is the origin of the name), our journey ended staring down a 2 or 3 hundred foot cliff. From this dead end however, we were able to spot a more appropriate route.
A couple of weeks later we headed up again, this time by hiking straight down from Lone Tree and then east across a snow covered bowl below the ridge and cliffs mentioned above. After a couple miles we could see another pass above us so we hiked up and over onto another snow field on the north side of the mountain ridge. From there it was an obvious navigation to the summit with only a three foot crevasse to jump across forty or fifty feet below the summit.
Great day. Great memory.
Posted by:
McDawg on May 19, 2015 11:07 AM