We made it to the trailhead from Tacoma in about 3 hours, arriving around 10:15am with a quick stop in Sedro Wooley for coffee. The gravel portion of the road is a little bumpy, but any car can handle it if you take it slowly.
The trail starts off with a meander through a lovely meadow; Mt Baker just peeking through the trees. The rocky creek crossing has two parts, the first we navigated by skirting upstream a little way until there was a branch crossing the widest part, and rock hopped the rest. The 2nd section has a rickity metal bridge that makes the widest crossing very simple. Pink flagging marks the trail.
Then you head up through some switchbacks under forest canopy until you arrive at another lovely meadow FULL of ripe blueberries YUM! The mountain teased us in and out of clouds most of the day, but we caught glimpses of views in all directions as we hiked up. After a meadow of tarns, you reach a trail junction. There were several campsites to the right, however the lookout is left at the junction. Then you pass the lovely pothole lakes before the final climb to the lookout, which was crammed with folks on a Sunday.
We opted to take lunch a little below the lookout, and found a campsite below. We had in-your-face mountain views in the morning, and I recommend scouting campsites on your way up if you do want to spend the night, as the tower is quite small and also quite popular. Even if you did snag a spot, you'd be dealing with visitors nonstop. Our spot gave plenty of options for photographs, ripe berries, a water source, and complete solitude. Woke up to frost on the tent!
Great way to wrap up backpacking season!
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