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Cascade Pass/Sahale Arm Trail.....North Cascades National Park


We had prior plans to visit Cascade Pass Trail, but after the bad weather and closed roads we had to reschedule and lost our campsite in Newhalem, because we couldn't get to it. So August 24th we got up early, like 3:00 AM early and put our stuff in the rig and hit the road by 4:00 AM. Long drive to the trail head, made good time, only had to dodge a handful of deer that were playing chicken in the middle of the road. Got to the trail head by 7:30 AM, the road from Marblemount to the trail head is in decent shape. Only a few spots that the car sounds like it would like to fall apart at the seams. I would have loved to just sit in the rig and nap, but the trail was calling. We had low fog with patches of blue sky. I was really hoping for blue skies, but apparently I have great timing. We hit the trail made it to the pass in decent time, very few people on the trail only a couple groups coming and going. Spent a few minutes admiring the views from the rock patio at the pass by ourselves before we tackled the last climb up. The views were beautiful with the fog drifting in and out through the pass. The climb up from the pass is a little rough, a few spots where you almost have to pull yourself up, might have something to do with short legs. But over all it is just a great thigh burner to get to the top where you can look down on Doughtful Lake or back down to the pass. Took it slow and took lots of breaks to give the young ones plenty of breaks. Turned into a beautiful day, we never had clear views of any mountains, just short moments when the fog would drift in and out, still lots of flowers blooming up and down the trail. Shortly after lunch the trail starting to get busy with lots of hikers. Explored a little farther up the trail before we headed back down to the rig. Long drive home, good thing Winthrop has a decent Pizza joint we were hungry.
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Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 7, 2013 at 2:28 PM

    I was there the next day....first time there and it was incredibly beautiful.....Your photos are awesome.....what kind of camera are you using?

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 7, 2013 at 2:29 PM

    I was there the next day....first time there and we only went as far as the pass.....your photos are awesome.....what kind of camera are you using?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cascade Day HikerSeptember 7, 2013 at 5:41 PM

    Thank you, I use a Nikon D300s with a 18-300 mm lens while hiking, a little heavy but well worth it. Cascade Pass is a pretty incredible hike, lots of nice views of the mountains.

    ReplyDelete

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