Hidden Lake Lookout: Worth the Distance Traveled

The vast majority of the folks who hike the Hidden Lake Trail never actually make it to the lake. Instead, they look down on it like a jeweler looks at a sapphire, appreciating its color, brilliance, and setting.  No, the real destination for those who trudge up the trail is the historic lookout hundreds of feet above the lake.  From there, a great range of perspectives is revealed, an uncommon vista for most Seattle day hikers.  Glaciers from  Sahalee and Boston shimmer in the sunlight.   For me, it was wonderful seeing Glacier Peak from another side.

Sunrise over the Cascades from Snohomish

Hidden Lake Lookout requires an early start from the greater Seattle area.  While it is promoted as a great hike done in a day, the trailhead lies 15 miles out of Marblemount.  I left my house before 7 AM, and wasn't actually moving up the trail until almost 10 AM.  The trailhead is out there.   Over 70 miles from my place, and nearly 100 miles from Seattle. This is probably why some Seattle hikers turn it in to a short backpack trip or camp nearby, along the Cascade River.

Be careful about the directions in guide books and websites.  I wasn't, and added at least a half hour to my initial drive.  Without GPS on my phone, I jotted down the directions on the back of an envelope. Here's a direct quote from the WTA website directions "From Marblemount on Hwy 20, drive the Cascade River Road just short of 10 miles to the junction with FS 1540."  Those directions actually work provided you don't assume you'll be staying on Hwy 20, the main road through town, like I did. At the crucial intersection, just before the bridge, the highway banks due east, and heads towards Winthrop.

 If I had gone straight across the bridge, I would have been on the Cascade River Road, but I took the road everyone else was taking, and that put me at least a half hour behind schedule.   In my defense, the sign for the Cascade River Road, (and I admit my eyes are not what they used to be) didn't appear until I was 1/2 mile down the road.  In fact the sign by the bridge says, "Hatchery Road."  To add to my doubts, after doubling back and finding the right road, the first sign after the bridge points right and it says "Cascade River-Rockport Road" which of course is also not the Cascade River Road.  Don't be deceived.  Stay the course straight out of Marblemount.

Hidden Lake

Of course, travelers with modern GPS face none of the adventures and existential delights as old schoolers like myself who scribbled down directions on the back of envelopes.  I might add, you can indeed find a dirt road ten miles out of town on Hwy 20.  I did,  but it was unsigned and takes you no where.  Paranoia enters into your head: whose taking down all the signs?  Fortunately, I figured out I had made the wrong turn in Marblemount.

Around 9:15 AM or so,  after 9.7 miles on the Cascade River Road,  I was finally turning up the dirt road (FS 1540) to the trailhead,   It is steep and narrow, and a sign reminds you of this fact as you proceed, wondering if your spine will remain straight enough to hike today.   On the lower half of the road, my old pickup shook like the Millennium Falcon  refusing to go into hyper-space, which was okay by me since the five miles of gravel road to the trailhead offer maybe ten places where you can pull over to let a car coming down the hill pass.  Moreover, brush encroaches the road reducing visibility and obscuring any small shoulder that might provide refuge from speeding hiking-hipsters in their Suburus.

The trailhead is just a bulge at the end of the road without even a pit-toilet.  A scolding sign at the trailhead alerts hikers that a Backcountry Pass is required for overnight stays, and can only be obtained back at the Ranger Station.  The trail begins outside of the national park, enters the park, but the Lookout is outside of the park, so overnighting at the lookout doesn't require a pass.

Boardwalks through the woods.

The first part of the hike takes you through a forest of mud and small streams. On the day I hiked, the creeks had been  recharged by weekend  rains, but the day was mild and mostly sunny.  Regardless, a nice boardwalk keeps your boots dry through the longest sections of mud.  As I worked through the woods, a couple of backpackers coming off the hill reported no bugs, but they had spent a cold and foggy night at the lookout.  Another group, higher up on trail said they hadn't actually seen the hike until this morning.

Acres of Fireweed

After the woods, you enter a long verdant avalanche zone that continues to climb aggressively.  After all, the climb to the top requires an acquisition of 3300 feet or so.  The lower part this section is overgrown with alder, solomon seal, and red elderberry.  This part of the trail could give you a soaking on a dewy morning that might warrant rain gear if the day were cooler.

On the upper half of the slide, an impressive swath of fireweed stretches from the upper slopes of the mountain all the way to the creek nearly a mile below.    Bees and butterflies flutter and tumble about drunk on pollen.  In the morning, I encountered no biting flies.  That afternoon, on my way down, deerflies began to cluster in wetter sections of the trail waiting in ambush.  Since the vegetation holds in humidity, and the warming afternoon rouses pestilence from its slumber, I think it's a good idea to get through this part of the trip in the morning.

The Scramble Begins (note the hiker right of the notch)

By 11 AM I was hiking in the open aspen zone of heather.  As noted, the year of 2015 set records for a lack of snow.  In some years, snow can be an issue, but here the trail is good and easy to follow. The first views of Boston Mountain open up along with other peaks.  I passed a couple of hikers who wondered about the distance to the top.  It might have been disheartening, but I noted we still had another 1000 ' of elevation to gain. Still, everyone soldiered on even as Nick, a trim 50 year old, from South Seattle ran past us all.

In the section just below  the lookout, the trail becomes somewhat ambiguous with up slanting slabs of  granite and a great pile of boulders.  I followed the line of one cairn only to double back when I discovered the route led over the edge.  Instead, I moved west (left) and recovered the trail.  Here I ran into Larry and John, two intrepid retirees from Anacortes, discussing the best route.  Larry found a way up, and he his friend followed.  We all arrived at the lookout nearly together.  Nick had been there awhile.  Next up, was young Drew Martin, a musician from Maui.  We opened up the lookout, and investigated.

Built in the 1930s, it was part of the Forest Service vigilant fire suppression policies of the day.  No doubt the building and manning of the lookouts served as some small stimulus for the economy during the Great Depression because there were hundreds of them once upon a time.   In fact, across the valley, through binoculars, Larry was able to make out the lookout on Lookout Mountain.  Outside of going into town occasionally, I wondered if the firewatchers manning the lookouts flashed messages by mirrors across the chasm to communicate with someone besides the marmots.

Glacier Peak from the Northeast

After lunch, some good conversation about music and mountains, and an ill-advised little bouldering on some slanting slabs that marked the high point of the peak, I made my way back down.  Apparently, the force was not with me that day, because, I followed a false path through the rocks.  I ended up too far down, and  missed the merger with the trail again, adding some work and a bit of danger to my afternoon.  A couple of marmots whistled at my ineptitude, then proved camera shy.  Fortunately, avoiding a falling rock kicked up by climbers higher on the hill, I traverse some slippery rock and gravel to regain the trail.  The guide book advises to look for blazes and cairns, and they appeared in a random fashion.

The rest of way down proved relatively unremarkable.  I would occasional stop to drink in more scenery and sip water.   College kids I never saw at the lookout went flying down past me.  A young couple with a 6-month old baby was working their way up the trail.  I couldn't help but wonder how the mother was going to scramble with a baby slung to her chest.

More backpackers in longsleeves, pants, and hats came up the trail.  While it wasn't especially hot, it seemed warm enough to wear short sleeves and zip off the legs of the hiking pants.   Deerflies ahead, I thought.   So here's the advantage of the early start:  Get going before the bugs do.  The drudge up the hill offers them plenty of time to land and dine at their leisure.  Fortunately, gravity was my friend.  While I saw the flies congregating knee high on the jungle trail, I was going fast enough to avoid being bitten.

The stream at the bottom of the slide let me cool down with a few splashes.  By 3:45 PM,  I was back at the trailhead.  Normally, I change into a dry shirt and socks, sitting on the tailgate of my truck. However, enough flies followed me out of the woods to make me decide to wait until I was back on the infamous Cascade River Road before attending to all of my normal post-hike rituals.  I might add that I also wanted to be clear of the Forest Road 1540 before any late travelers came bombing up the road when I was trying to get down it.

On the way home, not caught up in following scribbled directions, I enjoyed the beauty of the region,
the hills and mountains.   With as little rainfall as we've had, I was impressed with the milky green power of the Skagit River.  By 6 PM, I was walking through my front door, thinking about supper.  My wife asked me to please shower first.  Fair enough.

Directions:
From Marblemount, proceed south over the bridge onto the Cascade River Road. In 9.7 miles, past the  Lookout Mountain trailhead,  turn left on to FS 1540.  The sign says Hidden Lake Trail.  Follow the rough road to its bitter end, about 5.4 miles.

North Cascades National Park: http://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/wilderness-trip-planner.htm