A popular scramble peak close to the Everett area, Pilchuck can easily be climbed car to car in one day by a fit party. Be mindful of extra routefinding challenges in low visibility.

Activity Notes

For the second day climb of our Mountain Loop Highway adventure, we'll do a scramble to a North Cascades lookout before returning to Portland. This is the more challenging of the two climbs. From the Bear Creek trailhead we will hike an easy trail to Bear Lake and a rocky trail to Pinnacle Lake. From there our scramble route will be off-trail, with two steep sections, gaining the Bathtub Lakes from Pinnacle Lake and reaching Mt Pilchuck from an overlook above the Bathtub Lakes. It's a 30 minute drive, much of it on epically bad gravel, from Turlo Campground to the Bear and Pinnacle Lake trailhead. Follow along at https://goo.gl/maps/uPBqgYYQiwbQ7V849. We will break camp and start our caravan at 6:30 am, lacing up our boots and starting the climb at 7:15 am. We will turn around if we haven't reached the summit by 1:30 pm. Find Activity Financial Aid Info here: https://mazamas.org/financialaid/
Other Information
Driving Distance from Portland 220 miles
Driving Time from Portland 4 hours
Expected Duration Car to car in one day
Relevant Books 75 Scrambles in Washington by Peggy Goldman Cascade Alpine Guide: Stevens Pass to Rainy Pass by Fred Beckey
Relevant Maps USGS 7 minute series, Verlot <href="http: maps.google.com="" maps?f="q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Mt.+Pilchuck&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=40.732051,93.164063&ie=UTF8&ll=48.058807,-121.795979&spn=0.016837,0.04549&t=p&z=15&iwloc=addr"" title="Google map">Google map</href="http:>
FIND AN UPCOMING ACTIVITY ON THE Calendar