Cascade Pass and Sahale Arm — Thursday, Aug. 26, 1999

North Cascades > North Cascades Highway - Hwy 20

I arrived at the parking lot 11:30pm on 8/26 and slept next to my car under Mt.Johannesburg and a glorious full moon. There were about 15 vehicles in the lot. I started at 7:47am on 8/27 from the Cascade Pass trailhead. Even with such an early start I was the 7th person to hit the trail that morning. The trail to the arm crosses some snow on the long stretch past the switchbacks, just before the pass. There's no need for an ice ax here - just use the established footsteps. The bugs are at their worst at the pass - you literally cannot stand still for a second before you're covered with a variety of biting insects. Arrive before 9am to avoid most of them, but don't expect much of a view to the east - you'll be looking into the sun. Higher up, on the Sahale Arm, the bugs thin out and the wildflowers call for attention. Patches of white and pink are everywhere, accentuated by small waterfalls here and there. I saw two bucks, one brown and one cream-colored sitting side-by-side with Forbidden Peak in the background - excellent photo, can't wait to see it. Doubtful Lake is mostly melted out. Only one site was occupied at Sahale Camp when I arrived and they were packing up. On the way back however, I passed at least 6 groups planning to spend Friday night at the camp. The first arrived at about 4:00pm. The Sahale Glacier is tricky - about 2"" of loose slushy snow barely provides enough traction on the rock-hard ice of glacier. I definitely needed my ice ax and doubt it was sharp enough to stop an all-out free-fall. There is some minor crevassing that can easily be avoided. The summit of Sahale is difficult to reach without ropes but I managed. I headed to the south ridge and after a lot of scrambling and and some genuine technical free-climbing I got to the top. There's barely enough room at the top for 3 people and steep drops off every side if you lose your balance. A benchmark embedded in the rock lists the elevation as 8,484', about 4.5 hours and 4,884' above the parking lot. The views are spectacular in every direction but I was especially fascinated by the view to the south towards Glacier Peak - it's a shame that there are no high-elevation trails in the vicinity of Spire Point and Dome Peak. How is it that this area was not included in the National Park' Thankfully it has wilderness protection, and I'm headed there next. Total trip time was about 10 hours, allowing for several stops.