A Hike into Nostalgia: Monte Cristo and Silver Lake

This week, my best friend from the Paleolithic era, Russ, was back in town.   He and I grew up exploring the Cascade Mountains back in the day of the canvas ruck sacks and Sierra cups.  We had planned to hike on Wednesday, but cloudy weather discouraged any peak bagging.  Instead we decided to take in a little history at Monte Cristo and some awesome scenery at Silver Lake. The hike also provided relative solitude as we encountered only a few folks on the trail to Monte Cristo, and no one hiking to Silver Lake.

In the last decade of the 19^th Century, a couple of miners found a tantalizing strike along 76 and Glacier creeks.  It didn’t take long for the cycle of boom and bust to turn a full revolution in a town named after Dumas’ fictional count.   There was an attempt, after the industrial dreams of the Rockefeller and his cronies dwindled, to turn Monte Cristo into a wilderness resort.  The Great Depression ran a sword through that hopeful notion, too.  Railroad access ceased.  In the end, rustic campsites sprouted up like mushrooms after a rain, providing  some  recreation for the working families of Everett in the decades following WWII.  Eventually though, Cascade storms destroyed the easy road in and Monte Cristo became a ghost town.  For more information on the history of the town, check out the Monte Cristo Preservation Association website: http://mc-pa.org

"Stink Currants"  
Note the maple-like leaves.  Blueberry leaves are oval.

The hike begins at Barlow Pass, 30 miles down the Mountain Loop Highway from Granite Falls.  To make the drive a little longer, one patch of road was reduced to one lane traffic.  Because of its relative isolation, prominent signs warn of break ins, so leave nothing to entice methheads.  I just leave my old dry cloth on the backseat and not in a bag.  A Northwest Forest Pass is required and a privy is provided in the parking area, but BYO-TP. 

The old road to Monte Cristo is still the hiker’s path to the town.  It's an easy grade up, and well-shaded.  Not very long ago bicycles outnumbered hikers on the road to the town site, but monstrous winter storms washed out access to the first bridge, and ate at least a quarter mile of road away, so the teams of  families and kids on bicycles have disappeared. 

The washout creates the only real challenge of hike below the town.  We found the best place to cross the river was behind the privy right before the trail to Gothic Basin begins.  A little rock ramp and a log carries you across a small channel of the stream and onto a dry bed of boulders to navigate before hopping onto the old bridge to get back on track. The second bridge is just ahead.  The two bridges carry you over the deeper channels of the river, but I imagine earlier in the summer, when the water is high, the safer route would be walking up the new road that starts just past Barlow Pass.

 

The washed-out first bridge

The walk to the town didn’t seem to take much time even with Russ taking a lot of photographs along the way.  He has an artistic eye and moved away long ago, so he enjoyed  the chance to reconnect with the flora of his youth.   The old road is pleasant with occasional views of the river and a nearby mountains.  In August, we found some thimbleberries, and two types of currants (red and stink) fully ripe.  Russ sampled the thimbleberries. The stink currant looks a little like a big blueberry, but its pungent, medicinal smell should discourage consumption.  At any rate, I waited until we came up to the huckleberries for my Euell Gibbons moment.

Three young school teachers passed us on the road to picnic among Monte Cristo's relics rusting into oblivion. The few people we met at the townsite seemed to know that Frederick Trump once owned a hotel in town when gold fever was in the air. 

     

Steep switch backs to Silver Lake,
1300 ft of elevation gain in  couple of miles

From Monte Cristo, the trail to Silver Lake goes up in earnest. As 50-something hikers, we were glad to have our trekking poles for the second half of the hike. Most of the 2000 feet of elevation gain occurs ascending the ridge. It had rained the night before, and a myriad of mushrooms were emerging. Red, then blue huckleberries made for better snacking along the way up. 

             

Silver Lake 

After working up the switchbacks, we crested the ridge, and dropped down to the lake. The long, slander waterfall against the red rocks of the mountain, with mist drifting down from Silver Peak, created a picturesque scene. The solitude was also nice. When we were there, only one group was camping overnight at the lake. We ran into them as we were leaving. They had ventured to Twin Lakes that morning.

Lower half of the town site

The same pitches that worked the heart on the way up, worked the knees on the way down.  Again, we were thankful to have our trekking poles with us.  Our solitude was interrupted by three dudes with speakers blaring gangsta rap.  They complained about the steepness of the trail.  I bit my lip about the noise. In a switch back or two we could enjoy the quiet of the forest again.  Of course, I might have been less philosophical about it if I were camping by the lake next to them. 

Vandalized Guide Cabin

We we made it back into Monte Cristo and explored the other side of town, across the bridge and up Dumas Street.  A few cabins remain.  Keep Out signs try to protect the town from vandals.  Most of the buildings are gone, but other signs indicate where once stood the school house, assay office, black smith's shop, and hotels.

We were just about to call it a day, and head down the road, when a father and his twenty something sons came towards us for a little show and tell.  They were mining enthusiasts from 100 miles away, and had hiked up to the abandoned mines on the other side of the creek.  On one of the picnic tables, they laid out maps and photographs they had found on the internet.  They had a real Treasure Island excitement about their trip.  Much as we enjoyed the history lesson, we wanted to get back to our car before dark. 

Even though it was easy going heading back down the road, the distance seemed longer.  We met a couple of young women only a mile or so from the trailhead.  It was 6 PM, and they told us they were heading up to Gothic Basin.  They had a lot of work ahead of them, and would be pitching their tent in darkness. 

Old Monte Cristo Road

When we got back to the car, we were happy to see everything intact.  After the long road back. we stopped in Granite Falls for some tasty Mexican food at Playa Bonita and rehashed a great hike.  We decided it was worth the distance and effort.  While further down the Mountain Loop Highway, and certainly a longer hike compared to crowed Lake 22, Silver Lake is a great alternative with history, vistas, and a degree of solitude.