Whitehorse Trail - Swede Heaven to Darrington — Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

This is a beautiful winter walk! While rummaging around in my backpack (the feature), I came across this hike written up by Kim Brown last winter. I had saved it hoping to use it for a good clear winter day, and today fit the bill. We started at the Fortson Mill site and hiked east toward Darrington. The trail is wide and flat with nice views of the river, the surrounding mtns visible thru the bare branches of the deciduous trees. This section of the trail is nice in that it heads away from the highway at the mill site and gets close to the river several times as the river bends around. We saw an eagle, heron, and several merganser ducks. Eventually it crosses the bluegrass festival site. As you cross, stay to the right of the row of trees and in front of the bleachers, it is easier to pick up the trail on the far side. We went past the Pipeline road for a ways then ate lunch, we didn't get quite to the end. As it was, we walked about 11 miles RT. This would be a good run or bike ride also. There are no loos anywhere, plan accordingly.