trip report for Pacific Northwest Trail in WA

[hikingjer]

I unexpectedly hiked a little bit of the Pacific Northwest Trail today. This is the part of the PNT near Mt Josephine southwest of Mt Baker, Washington. If thru-hiking I don't know if I'd hit this part. It may be worth bypassing. But, there are some amazing views of nearby mountains from this stretch of the PNT dominated by logging roads and timber country.

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7980825 is a link to the trip report

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewt...&highlight=PNT is a trip report on a newly constructed stretch of the PNT on Anderson Mountain near Alger, Washington. Lots of pics.

[garlic08]

...If thru-hiking I don't know if I'd hit this part. It may be worth bypassing.

Thanks for the post and this note. I hiked the PNT from Glacier NP, MT to Puget Sound in '09 and I did skip the logging area. I found a rail-trail from Concrete to Sedro-Wooley that worked pretty well.

[hikingjer]

Thanks for the post and this note. I hiked the PNT from Glacier NP, MT to Puget Sound in '09 and I did skip the logging area. I found a rail-trail from Concrete to Sedro-Wooley that worked pretty well.

The Hamilton Green Trails map calls that rail-to-trail route along SR 20 "The Cascade Trail". It seems like a good way for PNT thru-hikers to cover some ground. We want bike the Cascade Trail some day.

If I were thru-hiking the PNT, I would set up a bike (with touring gear) drop off at Hannegan trailhead and ride the bike down Mt Baker Hwy to Deming, then south on SR9 through Alger to Anacortes. Then the bike would go on the ferry. I'd arrange a bike pickup where the PNT becomes wilderness trail in the Olympics and start hiking again.

However, I'm tickled the PNTA has been building trail and working on a route through the timberlands from Mt Baker to Anderson Mountain. There's some decent snow-free winter dayhiking along this stretch.

Just ruminations and wishes follows...

It'd also be nice if there were trail from the Hannegan Trailhead to the Lake Ann-Swift Creek Trail. Walking on Mt Baker Hwy up to the ski area and Artist Point in summer as the official route goes, seems lame. I'd hate to walk that road. Too many cars. Beautiful alpine scenery though.

Walking down the Hannegan Road may not be too bad if wasn't dusty. Looking at the Mt Shuksan Green Trails map, if somebody walked down the Hannegan Road, they could walk the gravel roads (FR 3070 system) that are part of the Sno-Park. If a new trail were built up from FR 3070 to FR 3075 (right below White Salmon Lodge), that would cut out a lot of road walking. Such a trail would only be about 1/3 mile long horizontal distance, maybe a 1.5 miles long on the ground and it'd be steep.

Map at http://www.flickr.com/photos/74014145@N00/4289142093/

There is a trail that runs from FR 3075 to White Salmon Lodge. People snowshoe it in winter but it's too steep to XC ski. From White Salmon Lodge, a new trail could go through Mt Baker Ski Area and Panorama Dome. This would be very scenic. The Green Trails map says "Planned Trail" here. Lake Ann-Swift Creek Trail is not far from here. Then there's the problem of maintaining the trail and bridge down Swift Creek. That crossing looks pretty scary.

Sticking on the official PNT route as shown on the PNTA website makes resupply challenging for a thru-hiker. Thru-hikers would have to hitch a ride down to Glacier. Resupply on the Hannegan Road seems like it'd be necessary after hiking through the vast wildlands of the Pasayten and North Cascades National Park.

[sarbar]

The Cascade Trail is a nice one to ride. I used to bike it with my son when he was little quiet often (I lived up north at that time).

As well, if one walks the PNT and keeps going the section on Whidbey Island from Ebey State Park to Coupeville on the paved Kettle Trail is nice and easy - though walking the beach is very doable from the park to the ferry dock to cross to Port Townsend.

[sarbar]

Hannegan Road isn't bad overall - one thing is it isn't as heavily used as FS roads are down here off of say I-90. So yes, they can be dusty....but not bad overall.