It had been a goal of mine to sleep in the Three Fingers Lookout for years. It is an iconic and improbably place for a fire lookout with a rugged approach and an exciting finish on old wooden ladders.
Eric was in for an epic weekend so we set off early Saturday morning for the "trailhead." Most trips I do to the mountains involve long drives that have trailheads in relatively pristine wilderness areas...this was not the case for Three Fingers. It is a short drive from Seattle to just past Granite Falls and up a logging road that isn't too far from civilization. It has been recently logged and is not in a wilderness area, and boy do the locals like to shoot their guns back there. There were lots of unsightly areas filled with spent bullet casings and beer bottles and some surly looking people. It was an odd start to the trip.
Another thing that would be make our trip tougher was our lack of bikes. A bridge on the road to the Three Fingers Trailhead near Tupso Pass washed out a number of years ago, leaving hikers with the option of walking/biking 8ish miles to the original trailhead, or walking 2.5 miles on the road and taking the unmaintained Meadow Mountain Trail. This option cuts off distance but has more elevation gain and loss and is a bit overgrown. I would say the vast majority of people who attempt this peak take the bike approach to the trailhead, but we were stuck walking. Over Meadow Mountain was the choice!
We set out at the civilized hour of 8:30 am amidst a cacophony of gunshots from further down the road. It was a weird way to start a hike to say the least. The forest has begun to retake the road (it looks more like a wide trail than an old road at this point), and we saw several smaller washouts. I would think it is unlikely that this road will ever be repaired. After 2.5 miles of uneventful walking we reached the turn off to the Meadow Mountain Trail, marked by a nondescript pink ribbon. It would be easy to miss if you weren't looking for it.
The Meadow Mountain trail was in surprisingly good shape. It was overgrown in places and had a fair number of blowdowns, but overall it was much better than I was expecting and we were able to make pretty good time. It wasn't until we reached the top of Meadow Mountain, after a flattish traverse that we began to see some of its namesake meadows. Here the trail was often just matted down meadow grasses. Before long we were dropping the 600 or 700 feet down to Saddle Lake (and dreading this uphill on the way out). This lake is where the Meadow Mountain trail meets up with the standard Three Fingers/Goat Flats approach trail. We were surprised to see that we had already covered over 8 miles at this point. We were feeling good despite this and excited for what promised to be some beautiful country up ahead.
We were now on a better trail and quickly approaching the subalpine and Goat Flats. This area is a huge meadow where many people camp when attempting Three Fingers. It has great views of Baker and Shuksan in the distance, as well as some of the nearer peaks. Fall color was also beginning to pop here and the meadows were awash in yellows and reds.
The route beyond Goat Flats meanders along the south side of a big ridge emanating from Three Fingers and winds its way up to Tin Can Gap. It is all good trail up until this point, with scenic views to be had almost every step of the way. Tin Can Gap is where you get your first full on view of the rugged pinnacles of Three Fingers and the Queest-alb Glacier. This point is also where the simple hike ends and the slightly more technical mountain experience begins. In early season, proceeding forward can often involve precarious snowy side hilling with long, potentially deadly runouts. Crampons and ice axes are most definitely required and often times hikers use the moats between the snowfields and rock to offer some protection from the exposure. I had been a bit nervous about this whenever I had thought about attempting Three Fingers, so I made it my goal to go as late in the season as possible to try to avoid any steep, icy snow with bad runout.
As it turned out, we picked the perfect time to go! There was a snow-free path the entire way, and we never once had to even step on snow as we traversed the most dangerous parts. This section instantly went from a bit nerve-wracking to a total blast. The trail wound along steep cliffsides with big views down to the cracked and flowing glacier below.
Eventually we found ourselves winding our way up to the final summit snowfield before the scramble with ladders to the lookout. Here we found an epic water source that was gushing out of moss covered rocks. It was a perfect re-supply point to fuel our night at the lookout. The final snowfield went smoothly, I took out my ice axe just because I had it, but the snow was soft enough to kick good steps and the runout was almost nonexistent if one were to slip.
After a few class 2/3 rock scrambling moves we found ourselves at the infamous ladders! Before the trip I didn't really know what to expect when it came to the ladders. I know that people have quite mixed feelings about them, ranging from fun and chill to absolutely terrifying. I found myself more on the fun and chill side. They looked a bit precarious but were actually quite solid, and before you know it I was pulling myself up to the infamous lookout a little more than 6 hours after we started. Eric and I exchanged a congratulatory high five and were then faced with an unexpected dilemma. The lookout was already near capacity for the night! This was a situation we didn't anticipate, but it seemed like there were a few protected places amongst the summit rocks we could wedge ourselves if need be, and we also came prepared with a backup tent, so we resolved to stay. If attempting Three Fingers, don't bank on being able to stay inside the lookout. Always bring backup clothing and shelter just in case.
The lookout is an amazing piece of Pacific Northwest history, it is filled with old geographical instruments and books about the history of the structure. There is room to sleep quite a few people and even a sign warning us of the presence of Alpine Andy, the resident packrat. I have no idea how he got up there, because the lookout was surrounded by thousand foot plus drops on all sides. It is quite the feat of engineering and has a jaw dropping view of the almost the entire western Cascade Range, as well as Puget Sound the distant Olympic Mountains.
Eric and I settled into our new accommodations, making dinner and meeting our new roommates for the night, who were all very nice and stoked to be up in such a beautiful place. There was some smoke from the nearby Bolt Creek Fire filling some of the mountain valleys, but our air quality was good, and it made for an even more interesting view. I had a lot of fun picking out mountain peaks and naming as many as I could.
The sunset that night was spectacular and I feel honored to have witnessed it. I especially loved seeing the sun hitting the other "Fingers" and the pink clouds that formed over Glacier Peak. It was pretty special place to take it all in.
That night, Eric and I settled into our sleeping arrangements. He was directly outside the lookout on the north side on slightly sloping ground, and I was wedged between some rocks farther out with a 2 or 3 foot tall rock protecting me form a sheer cliff to my left. There were spare sleeping pads and bags left up there for visitors to use so we were really able to make some puffy mattresses to ensure a comfortable nights sleep. I was a bit worried about the cold, considering it was late September and we were cowboy camping, but it was an eerily windless night and we both ended up getting too hot! I was even visited by Alpine Andy once overnight, making me slightly worried he was going to chew through my backpack, but that wasn't the case and he left me alone for the rest of the night.
We rose about an hour before sunrise and watched the colors grow and change as the sun came up. It was another amazing show. I especially loved that distinct mountain layers we could see in all directions. After a long while of taking it all in, taking a bunch of photos, making breakfast, and helping our new friends close all the shutters, we regrettably left the beautiful lookout behind.
The ladders were no problem on the way down, although the transition from the first to the second ladder was a bit tight and awkward with a full pack on. Maybe it was all the Annie's Mac and Cheese I had eaten the night before. The summit snowfield was actually a little hard and icy so we paused to put traction on and take out our ice axes, despite the low consequence terrain.
Once the snow was handled we pumped some more water at our epic pump spot and navigated our way along the beautiful ridge line towards Tin Can Gap. On the way we saw a mountain goat on an improbable ledge just happily munching on some grass. They will always be fascinating creatures to me.
Past Tin Can Gap the trail was beautiful, with fall color popping. We savored it as best we could before plunging back into the woods bound for Saddle Lake. At the lake we were both feeling a bit gassed after the long trip and had to steel ourselves for the 8 miles out we had over Meadow Mountain.
The 700 feet back up was pretty killer and the Meadow Mountain trail seemed to be way more overgrown and blowdown filled this time. This was almost certainly due to our weary legs and mental states. After what seemed like forever we finally hit the road again and began the march back to the car, surrounded by more gunshots.
Not having a bike wasn't a big deal for the way up but I would recommend one for the way down. The last 8 miles up and over Meadow Mountain are a bit brutal especially knowing it could all be avoided with an hour long downhill bike ride. Nevertheless, this was an amazing trip and one of the most epic places I have ever had the honor of spending the night. I love the Cascades and all the adventure they have to offer!
Final Stats: 28.46 miles / 7,731 feet of gain
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