Hiking Washington: Mt. Pilchuck area

Eric and I just returned from a three week trip in Washington hiking the Cascades regions of Mt. Pilchuck and Mt. Baker, followed by a jaunt to the Hoh Rainforest and Olympic National Park. At times epic, blissfully boring, and downright hilarious, this trip will take me a few posts to divulge. It starts with an auspiciously bad travel day in which…

I left my e-reader on the plane

In my defense, it was a red eye flight and I’d had very little sleep. I was just grateful it wasn’t my phone or wallet. It was humbling because I consider myself a seasoned traveler who knows better than to ever put something in the seat storage of an airplane. Rookie mistake, but I adapted. We found a Best Buy store in Bellingham and I upgraded to a tablet with keyboard which was perfect because I actually had time to write on this trip. No worries.

And then Eric got sick

It could have been the stress of picking up our car rental at the Seattle Airport or Seattle’s hellish traffic or the nearly 1 hour wait for Chick-fil-A (yeah, bad decision). Whatever it was, Eric started feeling really sick by the time we left city limits and I ended up driving the rest of the way to Bellingham. He spent that evening in bed unable to eat or move. I spent the evening searching for Urgent Cares, wondering if our innkeepers would evict us if he had COVID, and raiding our hiking food provisions. Thankfully he woke up the next day feeling bright as a daisy and our journey officially began!

If renting a car in Seattle, sign up for the agency’s loyalty program before booking your rental. Something like Budget’s Fast Break that allows you to skip the lines. Otherwise, you could be waiting in line for an hour. You also have to take a shuttle to get to the rental vendors, so give yourself at least 30-45 minutes to pick up a car at SEA-TAC. And for heaven’s sake, don’t arrive on a weekend unless you plan to stay in the city. There is a mass exodus from the city every weekend and few routes out, so save yourself the headache and arrive during the week.

Hiking Mt. Pilchuck area

Let’s skip the first part of our trip which I already covered in Bellingham a Walking Paradise and jump straight to the hiking! There are several trails in the Mt. Pilchuck area, accessible from the Mountain Loop Scenic Byway which takes you through old mining and logging towns with rushing rivers and snow-peaked mountains. It’s one of the most beautiful drives we’ve ever done.

We hiked to Heather Lake, an alpine lake with jagged mountains and peaceful meadows. It was similar to something we hiked in Austria. The beginning of the trail was fun with a lot of varied terrain and old growth forest with gnarly roots. Like most hikes in the Cascades, it’s got some elevation gains and is meant for people with good knees and sturdy shoes. Even when the trail notes say “easy to moderate” it doesn’t mean it’s going to be flat. We saw one woman who looked to be in her late 60s have to turn around because the ascent was too steep.

Conquering the steep climb and treacherous roots gained us a postcard view. With crystal clear water, 360 degree mountain views, wildflowers and giant boulder fields, Heather Lake is a dream hike! We had a picnic and sunbathed on a rock for awhile at this point, neither of us wanting to leave.

Word of warning, the drive to Heather Lake is rough. The sign at the beginning of the road says 4×4 “recommended” but that road was pockmarked with giant craters (picture the moon’s surface). We had some close calls even in our Toyota 4Runner Off-Road edition, but don’t let it stop you from doing this hike. Just take it slow and don’t drive it in the rain.

Other day hikes in Mt. Pilchuck area:

• Lake 22 (5.4 mi / 1350′ gain)
• Ashland Lake (5.4 mi / 800′ gain)
• Mt. Pilchuck (5.4 mi / 2300′ gain)
• Verlot Nature Trail (.5 mi / 13′ gain) – Verlot Campground is a gem!
• Lime Kiln (7 mi / 625′ gain)

Hiking Wallace Falls

This trail is south of Mt. Pilchuck and not in the general vicinity, but we were heading to Darrington later in the trip and wanted to save some trails for those days. So we headed to Wallace Falls State Park near Gold Bar, just off Hwy. 2 which is the SUPER popular route to Leavenworth and Lake Chelan (something you don’t want to drive on a sunny weekend). We timed it so we were there during a weekday. I was doubting the trail at first because it starts under huge power lines, but the real trail begins at this Wordsworth quote:

Like Heather Lake, the Wallace Falls trail had steep ascents with crazy roots. The ascent is broken up with bridges and several viewpoints of the falls, one of which had a covered picnic area. We had lunch there with several chipmunks who got real friendly once the food appeared.

Staying in a Treehouse

Our base for this part of the trip was on Lake Stevens. Not remote enough for our taste but what sold us on the location was finding this Airbnb treehouse. We love quirky places and this one didn’t disappoint. Designed by the owner’s father who was a ship captain/carpenter, the treehouse was built around two large cedars which moved in the wind. It created a creaking effect, much like the sound of a  wooden ship at sea, which was exactly the builder’s intent. I loved it! What I didn’t love was watching spiders build nests in the bark while I was sitting on the toilet or the fact that my bare ass sometimes rubbed against the tree while taking a shower. That’s taking tree hugging a little too far for me.

shower

Eric didn’t seem to mind any of this but he did have issues with the narrow ladder leading up to the bedroom loft — all I can say is Santa wouldn’t fit through that hole. The views of Lake Stevens, the comfortable bed, and the fully-stocked kitchen made Eric happy. Finding a market with fresh scallops and beautiful chanterelles also helped and when the chef is happy, I’m happy.

wild mushroom soup with scallops & tomatos