WA section - Pacific Crest Trail

imported
#1

How long is the section from Snoqualmie to Stevens pass. I would love to do that section this summer. I did a great day hike last year up to gravel lake twice and loved it.

Aowens

#2

About 74 miles or so. Depending on your speed, it’s between 3 days for the speedy to 7 or 8 days for the leisurely. For someone in decent shape and with a reasonably light pack, 5 days is a good middle ground.

I suggest you do it SOBO. With the full pack at the start, the initial climb from Stevens Pass is much shorter than the climb up to Ridge and Gravel Lakes out of Snoqualmie. When you finish, you also have a nice comfortable place to hang out at the Pancake House until your ride home arrives.

IMO - this is the best ‘first section hike’ on the PCT in Washington. It’s a great combination of scenery, length, moderately difficult terrain (yeah, you’ll do a fair amount of climbing, but nothing like Stevens to Stehekin) and easy logistics to both ends of the hike. The only place ‘civilization’ intrudes are a few power lines and one gravel road crossing a few miles south of Stevens Pass, at the edge of the ski area. Spectacle Lake is truly a highlight on this section - plan your campsites if you can to include this gem just off the trail about 18 or so miles north of Snoqualmie Pass. Deep Lake is also a great camp site - plan on spending a night there as well.

Token Civilian

#3

This really is one of the great sections on the PCT. Too bad many thruhikers hit it in late September and see only rain. The Alpine Lakes Wilderness is magnificent and is a joy to play in. The climb out of Snoqualmie is pretty gentle and gets you to amazing scenery right away. If you go out of Stevens you have to wait for like 6 hours before you hit the great stuff. There is fantastic camping everywhere, especially if you give yourself a lot of time and take some side trips to some of the more remote lakes. Also, the huckleberries and blue berries are superb in August. To see some pics from the area, some of which are on the PCT, take a look at

http://cwillett.imathas.com/local/spade/index.html

http://cwillett.imathas.com/local/icicle/index.html

http://cwillett.imathas.com/local/kendall2/index.html

Suge

#4

I agree, this is a beautiful area and would make a great section hike, just try and wait a little later in the summer after the mosquitos have died down. The little pests made it absolute hell for us last August, far worse than anything I saw in the Sierra or anywhere else for that matter. It was kind of an odd year though with late snow melt in Washington so it seems we hit the hatch just right, or wrong, depending on how you look at it. Someone with more experience hiking here might be able to verify this, but it sounds like August is actually pretty pleasant most years.

Gesh

#5

I hiked that area in mid-August during my '05 thru hike. Didn’t have any problem with mosquitoes at all, but that was a light winter up there and an early melt. Oregon was skeeter hell for me. I did have a lot of fog and some rain, so even though your chances of good weather are probably better than in September, it’s not a guarantee. Even so, it was incredibly beautiful and I’d love to do it again.

Ducky

#6

A couple of Seattle-ites were saying when we were in southern Oregon still that it’s very common for WA to have rain in August and then hit a perfect Indian Summer for 2-3 weeks in September.

I’m sure it’s not always like that, but lo and behold, that’s EXACTLY what we got in 2008. Rain most days (and a little snow) in the 2nd half of August, and then perfect weather for the first half of September.

Skeeters sound like they depend entirely on the year’s snowpack. We had a few in WA in 2008, but nothing nearly as bad as in Central Oregon or Yosemite.

To add a couple other impressions of the section you asked about, i thought it was absolutely incredible in the middle, but neither end of it is as great. I know there is a really beautiful, rainforesty alternate route on the north end…Deception Creek Trail. I recommend it. I don’t know of any alternate for the south end…just expect to walk through a lot of mud and horse poop for about 15 miles. Then it thins out, the trail goes up, and it’s stunning for the next 50 miles.

markv

#7

thanks for all the info on this section, I am looking forwared to doing as soon as I get laid off some time this summer LOL,

Aowens