Since darkness comes a little earlier this time of year we agreed to meet at the park and ride before dawn. I hadn't slept well the night before because I was anxious about hiking after having what seemed like a long absence from hiking in the mountains. The day promised to be beautiful so I enjoyed the long drive up Highway 20 into the North Cascades.
We arrived at the Bridge Creek trailhead, which is part of the PCT, just before 9:00. The few cars in the parking lot that had spent at least one night had a thick frost covering. We each started out wearing jackets, knowing that once the trail started uphill we'd have to stop and take them off. However for the first mile or so the trail goes downhill for about 500'. At two point log bridges crossed streams. We worried that they'd be slippery and treacherous from frost but surprisingly they weren't.
The first trail junction arrived quickly. We went left toward Stiletto Peak. The second junction came shortly after. The left fork went to Copper Pass, which is an unmaintained trail. A couple friends had hiked it earlier in the week and reported that there were several places with blowdown to go around so we opted for the right fork, which follows Bridge Creek on the east side then forks again (left) up to a former lookout site.
At that point the trail switchbacks many many times to climb the slope. In places the trail was slippery where 1-2" of hoar frost pushed up the top layer of soil and degraded rock. The grade between switchbacks is very reasonable and the elevation is gained quickly. The maintained trail climbs a little over 2000' in a little over a couple miles. At treeline the trail peters out but there are plenty of rock cairns showing the way up through the meadow, rocks, and scrub. The Beckey guide states that the former lookout is at 7223', which is over 3000' above the junction where we started up the hill. Mark's altimeter basically verified the vertical distance we had gained.
Even though the sun was out, the temperature had not climbed above freezing so we ate lunch behind the old stone foundation of the lookout, which provided a fabulous 360 degree view and little protection from the chilly breeze. We pondered scrambling the peak but we were on the opposite side of what Beckey describes as the "proven route" to the summit and thought that it might take a couple hours to traverse cross country to the other side then up the route. Then a couple hours back. Then we'd be trying to negotiated the bottom part of the trail in the dark. Which isn't a bad thing but the slippery bridges might be trouble. We settled with the fabulous view and potential plans to hike it from the Twisp River side in the future.
We started back down the trail when it was too cold and uncomfortable to sit with the view any longer. Off the top, the cold breeze subsided and I was able to remove a couple layers of jackets. The hike down went quickly. We came across another party near the junction of the creek trail. They were backpackers who were taking a side trip. We saw their packs stashed alongside the trail further down.
At the junction it was a bit of a trudge back up the 500' to the trailhead. Usually I like to be able to just roll to the car when it's all over but this last mile or so of uphill wasn't bad at all. And it took the pressure off my quads and toes from the relentless descent. It was close to 4:00 p.m. when we got to the car and realized that Mark hadn't put his forest pass in the window. A ranger vehicle was parked in the lot but no ticket was on Mark's windshield. We wondered whether he'd get one in the mail later on.
It was a great hike and I hope the weather holds another week so I can get up high for another great view somewhere else. Here are the pictures.
Stats: Elevation gain ~3500', RT mileage 10-11 (including the summit would likely be 13-15 miles), no special gear required.