Red Mountain Lookout Site─Feel the Pride from this old lookout site
Quick Facts
Location: Mountain Loop Highway near Darrington
Land Agency: Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Roundtrip: 2.0 miles
Elevation Gain: 800 feet
Green Trails Map: Sloan Peak, WA-No. 111
Access: From Darrington, follow Mountain Loop Highway for 16 miles (pavement ends at 9.0 miles) to a junction with FR 49 (signed for North Fork Sauk Trail). Turn left and follow FR 49 for 6.4 miles to a junction signed for Sloan Creek Trail. Turn left reaching trailhead in 0.1 mile.
Note: NW Forest Pass required.
Contact: Darrington Ranger District: Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest (360) 436-1155; www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs
Winter is fast approaching in the high country, but you still might be able to sneak a hike in or two into the Cascades before breaking out the snowshoes. While the North Fork Sauk River Trail often offers late season hiking, it travels beneath a dense canopy of old growth timber. If you’re seeking views, you’ll have to hike for miles on that trail before reaching high meadows—or you can opt for a little known short side trip up to the old Red Mountain Lookout Site.
From this little known and little visited site, you can savor a pretty decent view of Sloan Peak’s glistening glacier and enjoy nice glimpses too into the Pride Basin, an old mining district that once bustled with pick and bucket fortune seekers. While the hike to the Red Mountain Lookout site is only a mere mile, you’ll feel like you’re much farther into the backcountry. You’ll pass by ancient trees magnificent in girth and height. And you’ll hear the roar of both the North Fork Sauk River and Sloan Creek thunder through the arboreal columns. What you probably won’t see or hear are fellow hikers, for this short and interesting trail is overlooked by most hikers favoring the adjacent and longer North Fork Sauk Trail instead.
Begin your hike by heading up that popular trail. After a couple of hundred feet in a stand of ancient and impressive western red cedars, the Red Mountain Trail veers left. Take it following lightly-traveled but good tread. Enter the Glacier Peak Wilderness and up you go climbing 700 feet under a thick canopy of ancient firs and cedars. After a short but tough mile, reach the old site of the Red Mountain Lookout (el. 2,775-feet).
Built in the 1930s and removed in 1967, the old lookout site still provides excellent looking-out. Directly below is the confluence of the North Fork Sauk and Sloan Creek. Look south to the Cadets and Pride Basin; and north to Spring Mountain with Mount Pugh peeking behind it. But it’s Sloan Peak with its massive glacier and snowfields directly west that’ll be commanding most of your attention.
Beyond the lookout site, a primitive path continues higher up Red Mountain. Traversing ledge, it should only be attempted by experienced scramblers—and not considered this late in the season. But, with such good views before you at this point, there’s no need to travel farther.
For information on lodging and other attractions near the Red Mountain Lookout Site, visit www.snohomish.org.
