North Cascades Winter Hiking Trip


In February I went on a three day snowshoeing trip in the North Cascades with my brother Steve and his friend David. The goal was to hike along the West side of Ross Lake and then veer off the trail and proceed up to the summit of an unnamed peak. Supposidly the peak had never be summited in the winter. I did fine on the hike until we headed off the trail and up through the snow, brush and trees. My pack was very heavy since it contained three days worth of winter camping gear. I was rather wasted after eight miles of hiking and made them stop for camp earlier than planned.

The next day we strapped on our snowshoes and headed for the summit. Unfortunately it had snowed heavily a few days before. This slowed our progress as we had to claw our way up the loose deep snow - sometimes on slopes as steep as 50 degrees. We finally gave up with 2000 or so feet left to the summit. I didn't care much, but my brother was dissapointed and started going through a list of reasons why we didn't make it to the top.

The next day we returned home. I was happy with the trip. It was my first three day winter camping trip and I didn't freeze to death, which is always a bonus. The weather was decent and, when we weren't wandering through the trees, we were greeted with great views of the North Cascades. There was also a spectacular iced over waterfall along the trail, but unfortunately I couldn't capture it very well with my camera.


Colonial Peak Seen from Ross Lake

On the Trail to the Unnamed Peak

Off the Trail to the Unnamed Peak

Jack Mountain over Ross lake

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February 2001