Mt Pilchuck Snowy Hike

​I hiked Mt Pilchuck in the Cascade Mountains a few weeks ago and was delighted by the beauty the PNW has to offer. The hike was wet and snowy towards the top, but once we cleared the tree lines we saw beautiful sweeping views of the Cascades and Mt Baker. There was also a treacherous fire lookout tower at the peak that looked epic and eerie against the thick clouds and snow. Despite me being slightly under prepared for mid-October weather, it was a pleasant and moderately challenging hike with amazing views of the mountains.

​We left Seattle area around 6:30 in the morning and Google Maps estimated just under two hours. However, the last 6 miles or so
were extremely pothole-y, worse than what you probably have in mind, and added about 30 minutes to our trip. We managed in my Subaru Impreza but it was challenging and I had to go extremely slow.

The trail started on a pebble path with a steady flow of snowmelt, as if we were hiking up a small stream. It meandered through dense trees, over wooden footbridges, and eventually emerged over the tree lines as the trail turned from wet and muddy to snowy and rocky. The landscape changed from being amongst the trees to trekking on the mountain side with expansive views of the valley. The majority of the hike was like this with snowy mountain peaks to our right and the lush green valley to our left.

River crossing!

​A layer of snow blanketed most of the mountainside and pine trees blown lopsided by the wind with branches covered in icicles. As we looked towards the distance, we saw sparse layers of clouds hovering over the valley and a dense cloud cover looming over the peak. We also had a clear view of the mountain peaks ahead of us and could faintly make out the lookout tower we were hiking towards. It looked pretty far and high up and was definite a bit daunting.

The lookout tower is at the peak.

​The last portion of the hike to the lookout tower was a short rock scramble, but the hard part was that all the rocks were icy with a layer of snow on them. We cautiously scaled the rocks and eventually climbed the icy cold ladder up to the lookout platform. Unluckily for us, the clouds were thick with low visibility, but it was still cool being on the platform perched on one of the peaks in the Cascades. We didn’t stay too long because we were freezing our butts off.

The final scramble to the lookout tower.

After a quick lunch and water break, we began our journey back down to the parking lot. The trail was noticeably wetter with snow and ice that melted into water.
 
I really enjoyed the hike and got a taste of the PNW outdoors. The mountain ranges are vast and maybe even look intimidating with the snow cover, but that’s also what makes the hikes interesting and the views more rewarding. I got to say though, the hike was longer than what WTA website stated and more challenging than what I had expected, but it was still a great hike with beautiful sceneries.