Scott Paul Trail — Saturday, Jul. 12, 2003

North Cascades > Mount Baker Area

My Dad and I decided to chance the weather and hike up to Park Butte on a Sunday. Not too many cars at the trailhead (probably overcast weather kept people back) and some bugs at the beginning, but for the most part we were bug free the entire trip! There is plenty of snow on the trail after the you get to the meadows. Enough people have walked in the snow you can pretty much follow footprints to the trails. I've been told the views from the Lookout are awesome but unfortunately Baker decided to be covered in clouds this day. Coming out we decided to use the Scott Paul trail as alternative route back to the parking lot. Highly recommend doing this hike as you get to cross numerous creeks and see awesome views of the glaciers. However, this section of trail was almost 50% covered in snow and there were some difficult creek crossings. A great alternative for shorter distance is to use the regular Park Butte trail for the entire hike but where the Scott Paul trail meets it hike about 3/4 mile to the bottom of railroad grade. From here you will have great views of some glaciers and can go down to the snowmelt coming from it. Definitely a great day to be outside, even though it rained a little bit!