Cascade Pass and Doubtful Lake 8.21.16

Aaron, Dan, and I were up by 7am after a colder than expected night. After packing up the car, the temperature read in the 40s. We drove west back along highway 20 to Marblemount. After a quick pit stop in town we started the long 23 mile trip down Cascade River Road, the last 12 or so miles on gravel. We met a couple cars but luckily timing was always good with a slight pullout nearby. The road itself was even in relatively good condition. There were some pot holes but nothing compared to what I've seen on other forest service roads. We arrived to a full trailhead and got the last parking spot, although several cars were already parked along the road nearby. We got ready and hit the trail around 10am.

I had last hiked to Cascade Pass in 2009 so it had been quite a while, and it was a new hike for both Aaron and Dan. I made sure Aaron knew how many switchbacks there would be (a lot), but he didn't let that bother him too much. Chatting along the trail made quick work of all the switchbacks. We did stop about half way up them, just under an hour into the hike, so I could grab a bit more food and rest for a couple of minutes. The hike was also mostly in the trees so that coupled with the cooler day made it pretty enjoyable hiking weather.

Quick view of nearby peaks from a break in the trees

We finally emerged on the final traverse over to the pass. The views of the valley along this section of trail are amazing and we stopped several times so I could take pictures of basically the same thing from slightly different angles. As we neared the pass the wind picked up. Despite the warmer temperatures we had all stuck a long sleeve shirt in our packs and were now happy we had.

180 degree view from the trail

After taking several panoramas I finally crossed over the pass at 5392' and joined the guys. There were many groups sitting among the rocks there enjoying the view and a break. Instead of resting I urged the group on to Doubtful Lake because in my memory it was just around the corner.

Hiking among the wildflowers as we make our way to see Doubtful Lake

As we started hiking along the trail up Sahale Arm I soon realized my memory was faulty. I had told Aaron and Dan to go on ahead thinking it wasn't too far but I caught their attention on the switchbacks when I realized my mistake, so they waited for me to slowly catch up. I consulted with my GPS and figured we had to gain another 900' from the pass. At this point we were already 400' up from the pass so the group consensus was to continue. They put me out front to set the pace and we trudged upwards. I finished the hike to Cascade Pass, all 1800' of gain just over 3 miles, in good spirits. The follow on hike to see Doubtful Lake brought me back to reality for what my current conditioning level is. Luckily we only had to gain about 700' before we made our way down through the meadow to get a good view of Doubtful Lake.

View down the Stehekin River valley

The lake was more blue than the turquoise that I remembered, but I had also done the hike in early July before and I already pointed out the other problems with my memory. The wind was fairly strong and cold so after I took some pictures Aaron tried to find a spot along the boot pack a bit more out of the wind. We ate snacks there and rested a bit before heading back up to the main trail to head down to the car. Dan had brought some Nutella while Aaron had Fritos - they certainly brought their best snack game.

Doubtful Lake nestled at the bottom of Sahale Mountain

Aaron and Dan with Sahale Mountain

I realized how steep the trail was on our way down to the pass. I was out front again and set a good pace down, as good of one as I could maintain without slipping. We stopped back at the pass and sat again since we hadn't spent much time there on the way through before. After another couple of pictures, we started back down. We could hear Pika's along the trail but didn't spot them. There were some chipmunks near the pass that we saw though.

Animals at Cascade Pass, trying to make friends with the hikers

Aaron and I at Cascade Pass (5392')

Almost half way down the switchbacks we stopped so I could put on my patellar bands as my knees were starting to ache a bit. After that we maintained a good pace. As we got down farther I started looking downhill in hopes of spotting the parking lot. Finally Aaron did and we knew we had completed the switchback gauntlet! It was a fun hike with amazing views as always, which is why this is one of my favorite hikes. There are just a ton of mountains to see and it was good to spend some time in my happy place as I ready myself for my last two quarters. We made it back out to highway 20 after spotting a few familiar faces in the parking lot near the Eldorado trail, and of course stopped at a very busy Cascadian Farm for ice cream before fighting the traffic home.

GPS Track

Trail to Cascade Pass and Doubtful Lake in the North Cascades

Hike up all of the switchbacks

Hike from Cascade Pass to Doubtful Lake