Recently reopened after an 11 year closure,Green Mountain outside of Darrington is a beautiful and verdant hike. It offers sublime vistas from a historic lookout and beautiful wildflowers to provide some diversion from the steep climb to the top.
The hike begins right off of Forest Service (FS) Road 2680, which is 19 miles of mostly gravel from the Hwy 530 via FS Road 26. As of the summer of 2015, most passenger cars shouldn't have a problem with the surface, but always check with the ranger station. My altimeter read just under 3500 feet at the trailhead, and the summit is listed at 6500. With some simple math, the fours miles of trail climb about 3100 feet, but it plays longer. Just before the last mile or so to the summit, the path drops at least 100 feet to a couple of spring-fed tarns. While the change in pitch might be appreciated, the elevation debt will need to be made up. After the spring, a few long, aggressive switchbacks through open mountain meadow takes you to the top.
The trail is in good shape, and suitable for hiking shoes or sandals. Heavy boots weren't needed when we hiked the trail. Once you leave the forest, the brush and fern edge over the path. As a mid-50s hiker, who likes the knee-cushioning benefit of poles, I found the overgrowth along the trail made it too narrow in places to use them.
The bugs arrived early to Green Mountain. When I hiked Green Mountain with my friend, Ernie, in the second week of July, we ran into an Egyptian plague of flies. Barely noticeable through the first mile or so as we hiked through the woods, the bugs became an increasing nuisance as we ascended into dense meadow of fern and wildflowers below the springs.
At the springs and above, the flies became a pestilence. Perhaps a few hundred meters from the top, we saw a strange apparition hiking towards us. Coming down off the summit of Green Mountain seem to be a bee keeper in a netted hood, but it was in fact only "Pink Sushi," the intrepid Cascade hiker who proved better prepared than Ernie or I. The deerflies and blackflies were out in force on a warm and hazy 9th of July. Pink keeps careful records of such things, and he said he thought the flies on Green Mountain were clouding at least two weeks early this year. Typically, they don't achieve this level of nastiness until later in July. Moreover, by Mid-August they will have had their fill of human blood, and begin to wane. Little consolation that served on the 9th. We suffered through bite after bite on the lush and verdant hillside. To make matters worst, we hoped the restored lookout my provide some shelter from the attack. Instead it was padlocked. If anything, the flies owned the summit more than the meadow.
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| Glacier Peak through the Haze |
We didn't stay long on top. The flies were relentless, and some British boys were chanting about a ritualistic killing of a pig--no, sorry, see my South Pacific blog. The early fires created an opaque filter to our panoramic views. Even Glacier Peak, though nearby, was almost mirage-like in such conditions. In compensation, a riot of wildflowers was blooming along the way.
Another older hiker, working his way up the hill as we hiked down, pointed out to us that bug juice won't stop the ravenous deerfly, only long sleeve shirts and pants offered any protection. It was too hot for that. Mercifully, the trail is fast going down hill, and the flies couldn't keep up. We made it to Ernie's SUV in good time, killing one or two flies that followed us into the car. We both agreed Green Mountain is a beautiful hike, worthy of a return trip, after the flies are gone.
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| A glimpse of the Restored 1933 Lookout |
Accurate directions for the hike can be found here on the Washington Trail Association website:
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/green-mountain
Information about the road reopening can be found here:
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20141023/NEWS01/141029578
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