Railroad Grade, Park Butte — Monday, Jul. 22, 2024

I'd give this railroad a grade of A+ 

Road: Mini van approved. 7/8 of the road is easy gravel then the last bit has some washboards and holes but it's definitely manageable.

TH: There are first come first serve campsites there. Parking fills up SUPER quickly. Pit toilets are available. There is a TH map that talks about camping and LNT along the routes.

Trail: The trail is a very well maintained and a steady grade. Additionally, it is well signed. The turn off from the Park Butte trail to Railroad is about 2 miles in and is denoted by a wooded post. Once you make that turn it gets step with stone steeps as you rise to a handful of platform campsites. The wildflowers start to pop around here and so does the sound of marmot metropolis! 

Eventually the trail hits the famous crest of the Easton glacier valley on your right and ridley creek valley on your left. You truly are walking a line on this divide. Unfortunately our ascent was in the clouds but can confirm Mt Baker is right there in plain view. The trail is clear, dusty, and lined with wildflowers. Following a straight path towards Mt Baker we eventually reached sandy camp. We mere day hikers were the outliers here among mainly mountaineers. Here the trail kind of peeters out but you are rewarded with stunning views of Baker, Lincoln peak, the twins, and easton glacier.

We decided to continue north and up by staying on the obvious rocky spine deviding the easton glacier and the deming. Eventually that terminated and we headed a .25 miles west to get a better view of Lincoln Peak and the deming glacier valley. It was truly stunning. We ate lunch and listened to rock fall. 

We retraced our steps and in total we went 11 miles with 3,700 feet of gain RT. 

Topped it off with a refreshing swim in Baker Lake! Couldn't recommend this hike any higher!

More Information on this Trip Report

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