![]() ![]() We soon made it to the turnoff and trudged the few miles up the road before turning off the road to begin the steep and deep winter route up. There was so much untouched, fresh powder on the road to the trailhead and it was relatively flat so we were able to make good time. So out the car we went, strapped on our gear and started skinning towards the road that would take us to the trailhead. We were able to power through until we were approximately 1.7 miles away from the turnoff to FS 1540 before we could plod on no more. The next morning, we woke up bright and early at 4:00am (okay, maybe it was closer to 4:20am because the snooze button is sometimes just too nice), got some food in us, and piled ourselves and our gear into Tate’s Cherokee (he had chains and good clearance) to try to get further down the road. Luckily we were able to find some climbing rope in one of the cars (because #dirtbaglife) and were able to MacGyver our way out of the snow and park enough of the way out of the road to set up camp for the night. We slid around for a few seconds, got ourselves stuck, and decided to have Tate give us a tow with his Cherokee…except for the rookie mistake of not bringing a tow strap with us. We were able to make it about 6.4 miles down this road before the snow piled up and the Sequoia could make it no further. The weather and avalanche conditions kept fluctuating all week so we committed to making a last minute decision on Friday…because Nature is just gonna do its thing.īy Friday morning, avalanche conditions in the Hidden Lake Lookout area had dropped to moderate, the skies looked clear and Aaron, Michael, Tate and I were packed up to head out to camp out at the trailhead that evening so we could have an early morning start Saturday morning.Īfter picking up the backcountry permit from the Marblemount Ranger Station, we were on our way down the Cascade River Road. The trail was steep and had many switchbacks through the forest.I have some serious summit fever at this point in the winter and Aaron and I had been going back and forth all week on what sufferfest we wanted to do, weather and avalanche conditions permitting. The day was hot, in the high 70s and we supped on PB&J on a downed log as Latigo looked at us, drooling, with the hopes of a morsel. We were still in thick forests and were enjoying the shade that it brought with it. We stopped for lunch early on in the trail as it was already early afternoon and we were hungry. We would soon discover that our lack of gear would prevent us from going very far. I couldn’t help but notice that they were looking at us strangely. We passed another couple early on in the hike and wondered why they were carrying ice axes. With the footwear situation sort of figured out we set off not knowing what to expect from this steep trail. We brought my Chocos along so that, if need be, Bobby could take the socks for awhile and I could walk in my comfy sandals. The trailhead was about 40 minutes from our campsite and we didn’t want to turn back, so Bobby opted to go sock-less since my feet are more prone to blisters. I had shoved a pair of his socks into his hiking shoes before leaving home so he, luckily, had a pair along. We knew the day would prove to be interesting considering Bobby had moved our bag of clothes into the tent before leaving the campsite, effectively leaving my socks behind. Luckily the trailhead signage indicated that dogs were allowed on the trail up to the lookout. We were concerned about this because we had Latigo with us and we know that dogs aren’t allowed in the National Park. This hike begins in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest but eventually crosses into the Northern Cascades National Park. We had looked at the map of the area before setting out using our GAIA GPS app and could tell that this would be a difficult hike, and with the amount of snow we could see on the peaks around us we knew that the chances of making it all the way to the 6,890 foot summit would be minimal. We followed a 5 mile rough, steep, and switchbacked forest road that took us up to above 3,000 feet to the trailhead. We had passed the Hidden Lake Lookout trailhead on our way into the campground along the Cascade River Road and decided to backtrack and check it out. Time for a hike! We wouldn’t be able to hike the following day because Bobby had to be at the airport for a business trip to New York. We finished setting up our campsite in the nearby Mineral Park Campground and it was just noon. ![]()
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