This is the story of my wife’s and my first-ever backpacking trip. We’d been wanting to backpack for a long time, so when the opportunity finally presented itself, we had to take it. We got lucky and snagged some North Cascades backcountry permits in the early-access lottery, and the plan was a two-night, three-day journey through bear country. Quite a lot for a first trip! To make matters worse, two more experienced friends who were supposed to join us (and show us the ropes) later backed out, which only fueled our anxiety.
Preparation Day: Green Mountain Trail
I’ve done day hikes before, but I have no experience staying in the wilderness overnight - not even car camping. To prepare, we camped at Sulphur Creek campground, tested out all the gear we’d bought: this included a Half Dome 2+ tent (quite snug for two tall people - sizing up would have been better), some Nemo inflatable sleeping pads and pillows, and nice down sleeping bags. I opted for a Big Agnes Sidewinder (sidesleepers unite!) while my wife went with an REI Magma. We also had to cram all the dehydrated food packs into a bear canister. The North Cascades has not just black bears, which are common in the PNW, but also Grizzlies, which had recently been reintroduced! All in all, the trial run went great - dinner was tasty and the sleep was comfortable.
The next morning, we hiked up to Green Mountain lookout with our packs. One of our friends joined us on this hike too! Here’s the WTA page for Green Mountain - around 8.5 miles round trip with just over 3000 feet of elevation gain. This would be good practice for our Easy Pass climb.
Green Mountain trail is a gorgeous route and a hidden gem of Washington hiking. The trail opens up to panoramic views of the rugged cascades and Glacier Peak (the most remote of Washington’s volcanoes). There are also so many marmots on the way, which greet you with their signature screeches!
With that hike done, we felt a wee bit more confident to commence our longer journey, which was the following week!
Day 1: Easy Pass Climb
We arrived at the Easy Pass trailhead and parked our car there. This route is point-to-point, and our car would remain here at the start. Our friends were going to meet us at the finish and drop us back to our car. We had a satellite communicator with us to send check-ins and coordinate this rendezvous on the last day - we brought a couple walkie talkies too for that last mile communication and agreed on frequencies beforehand.
Finally - the hike began! The first part of the trail is a steady climb through dense forest. This is the only day with any real elevation gain and we didn’t have too much distance to cover, so we took our time and made our way up the mossy forest bed. At some point the dense foliage cleared to reveal the saddle of Easy Pass in the distance. Switchbacks wound through the rocky pass all the way up. Views of the melting ice pack high above the tree line loomed in the distance. We saw only a few people on the trail, which happened to be very well maintained.
At the very top of the pass is when you actually enter the North Cascades National Park. The trail up to that point is located entirely in the National Forest. Views from the top of the saddle were stunning - the entire valley visible below, along with several high alpine glaciers that seemed suspended in the air. This was one of the most rewarding parts of the hike.
The next stage is the winding descent down into the river valley, where Fisher Creek campground - our stop for the night - awaited us. The long descent did a number on our knees, but we made it safely and set up camp for the night.
We had brought some lightweight camping chairs with us - probably the best purchase in our packs. A chair is invaluable both as a comfy seat to settle into at camp and as a staging area for clothes while changing and wiping down. We boiled water and ate dinner as the sun set behind the high glaciers. Cramming all the food and snacks, food waste, bug spray, sunscreen, etc. into the bear canister was difficult but doable. Setting up a tent in the wild for the first time was exciting! With some lingering bear anxiety, we hit the hay. The soft sounds of the creek in the distance serenaded us as we drifted off.
Day 2: Fisher Creek Valley
The feeling of waking up in the backcountry is indescribable. That crisp morning air is the reason why I want to go back! After stretching and cleaning up camp, we headed down to the creek to fill up our bottles. There, we met a group of 3 backpackers who sped up the process with their gravity filter (we had a crappy squeeze one, and it took forever to fill up the 5 liters we were carrying between the two of us). They were on day 4 of their 5-day traverse starting from the Sahale Arm, and were finishing at the Easy Pass trailhead where we started. With that, we set off!
Just 10 minutes into the day, we encountered a giant mound of bear scat in the middle of the trail, which freaked us out (to put it lightly). We would then “Hey Bear!” incessantly for the remainder of the day.
Day 2 was entirely about the distance and solitude, as we had around 14 miles to cover with very little elevation gain (AllTrails lied and said it was just 8 miles!). This is a beautiful trail that has been crafted with care, intersecting with the creek at various scenic spots and easy crossings, along with log bridges that blend in with the surrounding scenery. As we worked through our dehydrated meals for lunch, our bear canister and packs got noticeably lighter than on day 1, which was welcome.
We eventually reached Junction camp, the penultimate stop before Tricouni camp - our home for the night. At Junction camp the terrain changes notably - the trail switches from following Fisher Creek to a steep descent down into the Thunder Creek valley. This descent was especially difficult on our tired legs and knees. Our bodies longed for a night’s rest, and we finally made it to Tricouni camp with not much daylight to spare.
Tricouni camp was definitely the best campsite on the whole trail - each campsite sits on a cliff, overlooking the truly thunderous creek below. With just 3 or 4 campsites total in the campground which are well separated, it felt like we had our own private balcony. Unlike the quiet sounds of Fisher Creek the previous night, Thunder Creek was a solid roar. We had our meals and quickly fell asleep. At this point we were longing to go home!
Day 3: Thunder Creek Valley
The final day! We had around 8 miles to cover, again with little elevation gain. All we had to do was traverse the valley to the endpoint - Lake Diablo. Most of the day was uneventful, as we pushed through the remaining distance. Around halfway in, smoke began to roll in, hazing the air with a reddish-brown glow. A major fire had started farther north in Canada, and was drifting straight into the North Cascades. We were thankful to have not had this situation on prior days, as the smoke was still manageable. After stopping for lunch at Neve camp, we just had a couple hours to go. We had cut the food a little too close, and had just one meal left. Lesson learned: carry a bit more food than you think you need!
Friends had agreed to drive out to Diablo Lake to meet us there and take us back to the Easy Pass trailhead so we could get our car (this is a point-to-point trail). We had walkie talkies and made radio contact with them almost 2 miles out - the finish was in sight! This was better range on the walkies than we expected. The thickening smoke was unfortunate, but added a pretty glow to the late morning light.
With each passing hour, the raging river opened up wider and wider as it slowed down and merged into Lake Diablo. I constantly checked my GPS watch to see how far we had left, and the trail seemed to drag on and on. Finally, we could see it - thunder creek trailhead! I’ve never been so happy to see a parking lot before. We did it!
We had another hour before our friends finished up the short hike they were on at Lake Diablo, so we dipped our feet in the river while we waited. Red smoke hung over the lake, but the cold water felt oh so good. First ever backpacking trip - conquered!