NORTH CASCADES NAT'L PARK
Adventure brief: Mountain road trip to break in the van.
After spending 10 weeks building out KOGAI van in Portland, we needed an escape AND we needed to test our build supporting a multi-day trip in the wilderness. Due to gnarly PNW summer fires, we hit the road bound for the North Cascades National Park where it was mostly clear. We know a few mountain runners [Hey David Laney!] who spend summers training on the trails of Mt. Baker wilderness so we’ve seen plenty of beautiful photos from the area, just neglected placing the location on my must-see list. I wish I’d planned a visit sooner! This National Park has it all…glaciers, mountains, alpine lakes, easily-accessible backcountry trail running and hiking, and stunning drives. Parts of the park reminded me of trails around Mont Blanc and Chamonix, France, without the hoards of tourists and infrastructure.
Mount Baker wilderness near Heliotrope Trailhead.
We drove from Portland to Bellingham to meet up with an old high school buddy of mine, Peter before we ventured into the wilderness. Bellingham is a rad little adventure town about 1.5 hours north of Seattle—situated on a bay with the Chuckanut trails nearby. It has a fantastic brewery scene and is a perfect base for adventures into the North Cascades. We chose to explore the northern portion of the park via HWY 542 for a few days and returned to Bellingham before heading back east on HWY 20 aka the North Cascades Highway.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Endless Trail Running and Hiking. Check out a few favorites: Heliotrope Ridge Trail, Chain Lakes to Ptarmigan Ridge, and Lake Ann
Dispersed Camping with Mountain Views
FAVORITE TRAILS FOR RUNNING/HIKING
HELIOTROPE RIDGE SCRAMBLE
We hit Heliotrope Trail our first day. Before beginning our hike, we scoped out a van camp spot a short distance beyond the trailhead parking area. There are 2 or 3 dispersed spots out Forest Service Road #39 which face Mt. Baker and though they’re right along the road, we didn’t experience any other cars the night we camped there. With a little strategic positioning of the van, our slider door opened up to stunning mountain views.
The trail itself is a beautiful mix of everything we love about the PNW. You’ll start off in old growth forest and progress your way gradually uphill about over the next 3 miles. There are numerous stream crossings, none too technical but your footwear WILL get wet. Views of Mt. Baker and Coleman Glacier open up and the trail sort of meanders from there. We opted to go slightly longer and scrambled up Hogsback Ridge until we hit the base of the glacier where we continued across and grabbed the Climbers Trail back down for a lollipop loop of 7 miles.
Mt. Baker alpenglow from our campsite
Chain Lakes to Ptarmigan Ridge Trail
Our second day of adventure combined two hikes into a 12.5 mile alpine scramble with glaciers, meadows, alpine lake swimming, and open ridge running with about 4000’ of elevation gain. Details around the two hikes can be found with links above. They’re awesome on their own if you prefer shorter hikes or more challenging when combined. Once we wrapped the day, we shuttled back to the van campsite. It’s super helpful having two vehicles so we could keep our spot with KOGAI and use Peter’s car to drive to the trailhead.
Dispersed camping with views of Mount Shuksan, North Cascades National Park.
LAKE ANN HIKE FROM AUSTIN PASS
Our third day in the park was spent casual hiking to an alpine lake and more glacier views. The Lake Ann hike from Austin Pass trailhead is 10.5 miles out-and-back and begins with a 1000’ descent down into lush meadows and a few stream crossings before climbing back up 1000’ to Lake Ann. After two days of running and scrambling, the hike and shuffle felt nice. Still ended up with a few thousand feet of elevation on the day. And a mild sunburn. The lake is cold and 100% worth a dip.
