Hiking Trip Report: Bare Mountain

Hike Date: 07-19-2014
Distance (Roundtrip): 8 miles
Elevation Gain: 3250 ft
Highest Point: 5353 ft
Bare Mountain Hiking Guide



It's nice to get out of the city once in awhile. You don't have to go very far to enjoy a hike out in the Pacific Northwest. Finding solitude, however, requires a bit more travel time. While I enjoy going to Rattlesnake Ledge or West Tiger Mountain 3, sometimes I want to be as far away from the crowds as possible. Bare Mountain requires a 23 mile drive through USFS Road 57, which helps to deter most of the hikers who are looking for a fast day-hike. I had no plans for the day, so a 2 hour drive and an 8 mile hike up a mountain out in the Cascades sounded perfect!

Driving up to the trail-head is half of the fun! I threw my boots and day-pack into the Jeep and drove east on I-90. To summarize the directions on the WTA website:

• I-90 east, exit 31.
• Drive through downtown Northbend and onto Ballarat Street.
• Follow the road out of city limits, it turns into North Fork Road SE.
• Stay left at the junction and onto USFS Road 57.

USFS Road 57 is an unpaved service road with a few very deep potholes. I saw some cars and vans trudging along, but I would highly recommend a high-clearance vehicle. After crossing the bridge at Lennox Creek, I followed the sign for USFS Road 57 to the right. At mile 23, a small parking area appears on the side of the road. The trail-head sits right across from it with a sign that reads "Bare Mountain Trail #1037".

I arrived to the trail-head around 7am. There were only two other cars parked along the side of the road. Clouds were over head, but the sun was breaking through every once in awhile. The report called for rain, but I didn't get any at all. As soon as I opened my door, the bugs began their feast. They weren't bothersome the whole way, but every once in awhile there were spots on the trail with lots of bugs.

The hike starts off on a steady incline, completely covered by the forest canopy. It's pretty well-kept to start, but the trail gets much more rugged further up. Plenty of loose rocks and boulders make the trail feel more like a dry creek bed. I was very careful here, as a sprain from rolling over a loose rock can ruin an entire hiking trip. Aside from a small blow-down, there isn't it's pretty much smooth sailing. About half a mile in, there is a fairly wide creek crossing. The water isn't rushing too much this time of year, so cautiously crossing over log-bridge isn't too dangerous. It was nice to stop and look at the creek flowing down on a smooth rock surface. It looked kind of like a water slide.

Further along the trail, there is a constructed wooden bridge that crosses back over the same creek. I took some time to rest at the large opening just before the bridge. I even snapped some photos of a split boulder, which I found interesting (I'm easily amused). About a mile into the hike, the trail really opens up. I've never seen such a vast field filled with so many ferns! The trail is quite overgrown on this portion of the hike, I was constantly pushing leafs and twigs away from my face. I also had to be careful to watch where I stepped. Rocks, holes, and creek crossings are hard to see when it's covered up by ferns.

To the south of the trail is the Bear Creek Valley. To the north is the base of Bare Mountain, with the summit visible high up above.

At 2 miles, the trail switches back. This is where the climb to the top of the mountain begins. There is no sign, but a cairn was placed at this point telling hikers to switch back. Unfortunately, I missed it and found myself a couple of yards off the trail heading down towards Bear Creek. Realizing this, after I hit very heavy brush, I turned around and saw where I was supposed to go. Glad I didn't veer too far off!

The trail continues to switch back and forth all the way to the summit of Bare Mountain. I made sure to hydrate and rest frequently. There are spectacular views throughout the last 2 miles of the hike. I managed to snap plenty of photos of my ascent. It was cool to stop and look around at various levels of elevation. The weather was very cooperative, with the sun shining brightly through the clouds. The thick brush of the vast fern meadow down below is also more visible from up above.

In the final stretch of the trail, the switchbacks become less frequent and the incline gets a little steeper. At some point, the views open up to the other side of the mountain and down into the Alpine Lakes wilderness. The final climb before the summit is very narrow and steep. I made sure to use extreme caution here, as it is kind of a scramble to get up to the very top. One false step would have been disastrous. Up and over the last part of the trail, a 360-degree panoramic view of the Cascades was waiting to greet me! Remnants of an old watchtower can be found, but the tower itself is no longer. Few hikes offer such a spectacular open view of the surrounding Cascade mountains!

It took me about 2 1/2 hours to reach the summit from the trail-head. Heading back down took about 2 hours, I sat a bit longer at the creek. Though it is quite a climb, my thighs weren't burning as much as some of the other hikes I've done. Overall, this is one of the best hikes I've been on. Seclusion, mountain views, creek falls, and open meadows. You'll find all of this on the Bare Mountain trail!

Photos