Sulphur Mountain — Tuesday, Jun. 13, 2006

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

The last two miles of FS Road #26 is not driveable, but the trail head is still easily accessible (by foot) from the road end. We left the Sulphur MOuntain trailhead (#794) at 11:00 AM in hopes of summitting the mountain and dropping down to make camp for the night at Sulphur Mt. Lake. There is still a lot of brush and windfall, but the trail is relatively easy to follow until the snowline is reached. This happens after what I'd estimate to be about 3 miles. From then on, the routefinding begins in earnest. We managed to follow the trail for about another 1/4 mile by means of trail markers that had been cut into the sides of trees many years ago. (Look for twin notches at about chest height.) At this point we reached a ridge and scrambled up that for about another 1/2 mile to a saddle that presumably overlooks the lake and leads up to mountain. We could not see either due to heavy fog. Lack of a view and the prospect of bad weather caused us opt to head back down to camp on the Suiattle River instead of following the original plan. On a nice day this hike should be an enjoyable trip. You may want bring along an ice axe, an altimeter, and a camera to take pictures of Glacier Peak. (If you're lucky enought to be able to see it!)