Cascade Pass and Sahale Glacier

Back to the mountains we went on Thursday, August 4th.  Donna wanted to do a long hike and chose Cascade Pass trail after hearing the park ranger tell her that was his favorite ‘wow’ hike of the park.  We researched the hike and the description sounded like something we could not miss doing.  I knew I could not hike/walk 7.5 miles, but the ranger said that the views from the trailhead alone was not to be missed.

Cascade Pass Trail Information

We carefully planned Donna’s day hike, outfitting her with a camel-back water system, backpack, she planned what food she was going to take, and the necessary clothing to wear and take.  We headed off by 8:15 to get to the trailhead, knowing that our drive would take about 2 hours to get there.  We were heading back towards the Cascades and eventually onto a gravel Forest Service road that wound up and into the North Cascades Park.

These numbers are one way only! 

Donna had to traverse 36 switchbacks, climbing up 1800 feet to get to the top of the mountains and then another 45 minutes of level hiking to get to the Pass.  She thought that she would be back down to the trailhead by 6pm.  Got her off by 10:15 and then Dave and I decided to go as far as we could just to say we tried.  We managed 7 1/2 switchbacks, probably gained about 500 feet elevation, then turned back.  We got back to the car by 12:30 and rested and took pictures and had a leisure day at the trailhead. One of the things I remember from being at the trailhead - the sound of all the waterfalls just roaring down from above, from the melting glaciers.  Awesome.

The view from the parking lot at trailhead

We had brought our E-readers and did some reading but mostly just chilled out.  We had no concept as to how long it really would take Donna to achieve her goal of the Pass, we started conversations with people who came down and they said that it was very doable to do the hike in 5 hours.

Glaciers got bigger the farther we climbed up

One of the switchbacks

And another

Awesome

During the afternoon a busload of seniors came and disembarked and we were stunned!  They are going hiking??  Some of them could not walk without assistance, are they really going to hike?  No, just came to the trailhead for the views.  But - whoever was sitting in the back of the bus must have had a great ride - bouncing along over the wash-board road and there were a lot of chuck-holes to maneuver.  Wonder how many broken hips they had?

We were stunned at first - they are going to climb that trail??

About 5pm some hikes coming down said that Donna is on her way, have heart - the call of the wild was calling to her to continue on.  At 6pm Dave put his hiking boots on again, donned his over shirt and hat, put on bug spray and decided to hike back up to meet up with Donna. They emerged at 6:30 back to the car, got on the road back to the RV by 9pm.

Donna's pic - at Cascade Pass

Donna's pic - looking down at Doubtful Lake

Donna's pic - at Sahale Arm

Donna's pic - near Sahale Glacier

We got back to the main road in Marblemount and headed westbound on Route 20, heading for Burlington.  “Warning Elk” signs everywhere.  In the small town of Concrete we stopped at a wildlife viewing area where we saw a huge herd of North Cascade Elks lounging around.  They are huge!!!

Donna’s hike was all and then more than she dreamed it would be.  She said she kept turning around and hearing “the hills are alive” song over and over.  Breathtaking, peaceful, serene, she said she never felt more small than being on top of the mountain in that area.