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MOUNT PUGH
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Glacier Peak [237 Kb]
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Located in the North Central Cascades of Washington State,
Mount Pugh is a prominent 2195 meter rocky summit about
19 kilometers east of Glacier Peak.
I had read about this hike in my father's book 100 Hikes in the
Cascades, which I had given to him for Christmas.
The picture of Mount Pugh shown in the book looked impressive, so
two high school buddies and I decided to give it a try.
We ignored the bit in the book about the upper part of the
trail being "climbers' terrain", a category that definitely
did not include us. Borrowing the family car from my parents,
we drove up the I5 to Everett, then followed the Mountain Loop Highway
to the 580 meter trailhead along an old logging spur road
above the Sauk River. The date was 20 July 1969,
the same day Neil Armstrong took his first steps
on the moon.
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Stujack Pass [546 Kb]
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This is a long hike, about 17 kilometers return,
with an elevation gain of 1615 meters. The book rates it
as 10-12 hour hiking time, but we did it in much less.
The trail climbs initially through forest, passing tiny Lake Metan at
2.5 kilometers from which the first glimpses of Mount Pugh are seen.
Meadows are reached at five kilometers, where we stopped for a lunch break.
Stujack Pass, on route to the summit, was still 200 meters above.
These were the days of Trapper Nelson packs and army surplus
aluminum canteens. Not wanting to carry all this heavy stuff to the summit,
we ditched most of our gear in the meadows before ascending to the pass.
We passed a lone hiker coming down from the summit as we continued up
the faint trail.
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Descending from Mt. Pugh [312 Kb]
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Beyond 1750 meter Stujack pass, the trail turns into more of a scrambling
route, parts of which were blasted into the cliff face in order to provide
access to the fire lookout that once stood on the summit.
The trail ascends a precipitous knife-edge ridge, then picks its
way along a cliff face the final 100 vertical meters to the summit.
The views from the summit are excellent, extending to Mt. Baker to the
north, the Puget Sound lowlands to the west, and Glacier Peak close by
to the east. The were still a few relics left from the old fire lookout,
including a wood structure below the summit that was apparently part of
a tramway built to bring supplies to the fire lookout. The summit cairn
had a flag, presumably left by the hiker we passed on the way up.
We soaked in the views for about an hour before starting the
long descent.
Other stuff:
Other pictures
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