Day Hikes on the Pacific Crest Trail
Location: Cascade Crest
Features: Many hiking opportunities
Pass Required: Varies by trailhead
Mirror Lake on the Pacific Crest Trail South of Snoqualmie Pass. This picture was taken on a hike in June before the lake had fully melted.
Adventure Report
Spectacular views
Gentle alpine hikes
Multiple access points
Heading south from Mirror Lake, the trail follows this waterfall.
If you are looking for a place to escape the crowds and experience the scenic beauty of Washington State, consider the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). This storied route, that stretches 2,650 miles from Southern California to the Canadian border, may call to mind the challenges and extreme adventures that Cheryl Strayed documented in her book Wild, but the trail offers amazing opportunities for day hikers looking to enjoy the high country of the Pacific Cascades, with many stretches offering both gentle grades and spectacular views. This time of year, the weather on the trail is warm but not too hot, the snow has melted off making streams easier to cross without the high spring flows. Some sections of the trail are more popular than others but most stretches offer a peaceful experience where you may pass an occasional hiker but are unlikely to find yourself in a crowd. To make the trip even sweeter, in August you can find huckleberry bushes full of berries in sunny areas along the trail. Grab a handful to eat while you are walking or pick some to take home.
The stretch south of Stampede Pass winds through peaceful forests and across open meadows.
Whether you want to start right on the PCT or climb up to it from another trail, there are many places to access the trail. Every highway in the state that runs W-E crosses the trail as do many USFS roads and you can generally park near the crossing and hike from there. If you want a bit of a climb before you get to the ridge, you can also access the trail from numerous short trails that climb up to the PCT. For people in Seattle, the closest access point is one of the two trailheads at Snoqualmie Pass. Head north into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and through the spectacular but nerve-wracking Kendal Katwalk, a narrow trail blasted out of the rock face. Or go south, climbing above the ski areas and into the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. If you want a less crowded section of the trail, don’t want as much of a climb, or just want to avoid paying the parking fee, drive a little farther east to Exit 62, Stampede Pass. If you stay on Stampede Pass Road, you can park on the south side of the road where the trail crosses and enjoy easy hikes in either direction. Or, if you like lakes, turn right onto Lost Lake Road at the end of the paved county road, and access the PCT from either the Stirrup Lake trail (up Meadow Creek Road) or the Mirror Lake Trail at the end of Lost Lake Road. Make sure to download the offline maps on the Discover WA app before setting out as the trailheads in this area are not well marked, and it can be easy to miss the trails. Stirrup Lake and Mirror Lake both require a short climb, less than a mile, to get up to the PCT trail, while the parking area at the top of Stampede Pass puts you right on the trail.
Hiking the trail in mid-August, we passed bushes loaded with huckleberries in every clearing. We grabbed handfuls to eat on the way out. We hadn’t brought any pails to pick the berries so we emptied one of our water bottles and filled it with berries on the way back. We were happy with our haul but it couldn’t compare with the buckets picked by a group that was passed on the trail.
