Washington State Trip - Day3
North Cascades National Park
Thornton Lakes Trail and Trappers Peak
Tuesday, September 10th, 2019
View from Trappers Peak
I decided to head back into the North Cascades and hike the Thornton Lakes / Trappers Peak Trail. The trailhead is about a 2 hour drive from where we were staying in Anacortes. The parking area was empty when I arrived at around 7:30am and I was likely the only human within many miles for the majority of my hike!
The Thornton Lakes Trail starts with a long but gradual climb of about 2,500 feet in elevation over the first 4 miles. It is heavily forested and follows a well maintained wide track forest road along Thornton Creek.
Once the trail turns up and away from the creek, the it narrows to a single track trail and the grade gets a bit steeper. However, your efforts are soon rewarded as the views start to open up a bit (unless you are hiking in the fog).
At the junction to the Trappers Peak Trail, I decided to visit Lower Thornton Lake first, so I continued on the Thornton Lakes trail down to the Thornton Lake Campsite. In addition to the foggy lake views, I saw two Bears (or possibly the same Bear on two separate occasions) along this section of the Thornton Lakes Trail.
After exploring around Lower Thornton Lake, I backtracked a bit and then continued up the Trappers Peak Trail. From Lower Thornton Lake to the Summit of Trappers peak is another 1,500 feet of elevation gain over about 1.5 miles. This is a really cool stretch of trail in the Fog! I can only imagine what the views would be like on a clear day!
Wow! What an amazing summit! I loved this place in the fog, but if I ever make it back out this way, I would relish the opportunity to do this hike again on a clear day! Until then, here are some foggy views from Trappers Peak!
I had Trappers Peak all to myself except for dozens of these strange birds that inhabit the mountain!
Here are some views of Thronton Lakes from the hike back down. It never did clear up enough for me to see and photograph all (3) of the Thornton Lakes.
The return hike was almost all downhill and rather uneventful except for about 1.5 hours of pouring down rain! I ran into the only other two other humans of the day about a half mile from the trailhead.
Overall, I the hike is about 12 miles with a little over 4,000 feet of elevation gain. I experienced rain, sleet, snow, hail, and fog. This hike is on the top of my list of return visits for a clear day!
Here is the GPS Track from my hike:
My complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157711042970277
North Cascades National Park, Washington State USA
Thornton Lakes / Trappers Peak Trailhead
The Thornton Lakes Trail starts with a long but gradual climb of about 2,500 feet in elevation over the first 4 miles. It is heavily forested and follows a well maintained wide track forest road along Thornton Creek.
Once the trail turns up and away from the creek, the it narrows to a single track trail and the grade gets a bit steeper. However, your efforts are soon rewarded as the views start to open up a bit (unless you are hiking in the fog).
First view of the day from the Thornton Lakes Trail
At the junction to the Trappers Peak Trail, I decided to visit Lower Thornton Lake first, so I continued on the Thornton Lakes trail down to the Thornton Lake Campsite. In addition to the foggy lake views, I saw two Bears (or possibly the same Bear on two separate occasions) along this section of the Thornton Lakes Trail.
Along the Thornton Lakes Trail
(I called this spot Bear Rock)
One of Two Bear Sightings along the Thornton Lakes Trail
view of Lower Thornton Lake
Lower Thornton Lake
Lower Thornton Lake
Lower Thornton Lake
After exploring around Lower Thornton Lake, I backtracked a bit and then continued up the Trappers Peak Trail. From Lower Thornton Lake to the Summit of Trappers peak is another 1,500 feet of elevation gain over about 1.5 miles. This is a really cool stretch of trail in the Fog! I can only imagine what the views would be like on a clear day!
The sun trying to make an appearance. It never really succeeded!
Heading up Trappers Peak
Heading up Trappers Peak
I Love this type of Trail!
Heading up Trappers Peak
It actually started snowing at this point
At the Summit of Trappers Peak
Wow! What an amazing summit! I loved this place in the fog, but if I ever make it back out this way, I would relish the opportunity to do this hike again on a clear day! Until then, here are some foggy views from Trappers Peak!
View from Trappers Peak
Check out this Rock Wall!
At the Summit of Trappers Peak
view from Trappers Peak
view from Trappers Peak
I had Trappers Peak all to myself except for dozens of these strange birds that inhabit the mountain!
Not sure what kind of bird this is, but they were all over Trapper's Peak!
Big Bird on Trappers Peak
Big Bird on Trappers Peak
Big Bird on Trappers Peak
I was not the only one getting wet!
Big Bird on Trappers Peak
Here are some views of Thronton Lakes from the hike back down. It never did clear up enough for me to see and photograph all (3) of the Thornton Lakes.
In the upper right corner you can see just a little bit of Upper Thornton lake
Lower Thornton Lake
Lower Thornton Lake
On the hike back down
Looking back up at Trappers Peak (upper left corner)
The return hike was almost all downhill and rather uneventful except for about 1.5 hours of pouring down rain! I ran into the only other two other humans of the day about a half mile from the trailhead.
Overall, I the hike is about 12 miles with a little over 4,000 feet of elevation gain. I experienced rain, sleet, snow, hail, and fog. This hike is on the top of my list of return visits for a clear day!
Here is the GPS Track from my hike:
My complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157711042970277
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