A Vision for the Future of the South Mountain Loop Highway

After 5 years of work, WTA and a cadre of regional experts have completed the south Mountain Loop Highway Trails Vision. The work is part of WTA's Trails Rebooted campaign, which is working to support popular trails and hiking areas. This report sets out a vision for the future of this beloved recreation area that is within a one hour drive to 4 million people. It makes suggestions for maintaining key access roads, increasing wheelchair-friendly trail options, maintaining currently inaccessible trails and more. Read the trails vision to see how WTA and the Forest Service are thinking about the future of your favorite trails in this area!

Sunrise from Mount Pilchuck lookout, one of the most popular hikes on the Mountain Loop Highway. © Alex Pollitt

The southern half of the Mountain Loop Highway stretches from just outside of the town of Granite Falls to the Barlow Pass area. It is home to popular trails like Lake 22, Mount Pilchuck, Heather Lake and the Big Four Ice Caves, which can attract hundreds of visitors on nice days during the summer season. It also houses destinations like the Monte Cristo Townsite or Three Fingers, which are just as loved by hikers, but are much less accessible due to lack of maintenance and a need for sustainable site planning.

It’s a well-loved area, and it’s also an area that needs a lot of work. Deferred maintenance needs are more than $42 million for the Forest Service lands of the full Mountain Loop Highway. With such a pressing need for work in the area, WTA and our partners knew we needed to be thoughtful and prioritize what to focus on. What unrealized potential does the Mountain Loop Highway offer that can better meet hikers’ needs?

The south Mountain Loop Highway Trails Vision is that strategy to better meet hikers’ needs. The report makes high-level recommendations for trails, roads, bridges and more. It takes a holistic look at the south Mountain Loop and suggests a strategy for better caring for places.

• A plan for the future
• “Nature, deep cultural connection, history and recreation define the character of the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River Valley, a key part of the landscape on the Mountain Loop Highway. A robust, well-maintained trail system here will continue to provide a way for people to sustain and grow connections to the landscape in a way that is sensitive to and respects the land itself and all who live here.”
  
  — South Mountain Loop Highway Trails Report Vision Statement

So many voices and years of work have created this report, which will now inform Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest as they plan for the future. Having a region-wide report to attach to grant applications demonstrates community support for projects, which makes the forest a more competitive applicant for federal funding. The trails vision also offers the forest concrete recommendations that can be useful to reference when talking about the future of the Mountain Loop Highway with tribes and other partners. Both of these things turn the wheel on changes that improve your trail experience.

Here are some of the key priorities for the south Mountain Loop Highway that the vision sets out:

• Complete all critical trail maintenance, trailhead and road improvements on the most visited trails on the Mountain Loop (Big Four Ice Caves, Lake 22, Heather Lake and Mount Pilchuck).
• Add more wheelchair-friendly trails and improve those that are already available.
• Improve trails and roads in the Coal Creek drainage, including the area around forest road 4060, which accesses Coal, Independence and North lakes.
• Re-establish creek crossings to enhance trail access to the Monte Cristo Townsite and trail complex.
• Evaluate options for improved access to the Three Fingers trail complex. 
• Focus on improving forest roads that access multiple trails, such as the 4060 and 4020 roads.
• Establish regional county partnerships that can support the funding needs highlighted in the report.

Trails and recreation sites need to be re-designed, enhanced and expanded to steward natural resources and meet demand along the south Mountain Loop Highway. Map by Lisa Homes of Yulan Studio.

At WTA, we know that looking holistically at a trail system’s needs can help land managers make decisions that improve recreation opportunities and protect resources. Since 2019, WTA has been working in close coordination with the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest to consider how the south Mountain Loop Highway is loved and used, and what this means for the next decade of caring for its trail systems. The five-year effort to understand the needs of current and future visitors included convening a 10+ member cadre that included representatives from the Granite Falls Historical Society, the Access Fund, Pilchuck Audubon, The Mountaineers, and multiple community members. The work incorporated a visitor survey led by the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station and a visitor preferences modeling study done by the University of Washington’s Outdoor Recreation and Data Lab. Tribes provided invaluable input to the process.

Members of the cadre gathered to celebrate the completion of the report on November 8, 2023 at the Verlot Public Service Center. Photo by WTA staff member. 

The Mountain Loop Highway is just one area where we are working to create sustainable trail systems for years to come. We believe that sustainable trails are accessible, well-built and maintained, adequately funded and welcoming. Work like this is part of our Trails Rebooted campaign. We have done similar trail planning work for the Teanaway Community Forest and in the Southwest area. 

If you’d like to learn more, you can read the vision. To stay informed as work continues on the Mountain Loop Highway and other areas, sign up for WTA’s Trail Action Network.