Overview:
Region: Mount Baker Wilderness, Washington, USA
Date: August 11-12, 2020
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation Gain: 1300 ft.
Permit Required: Northwest Forest Pass (No reservation required)
This short hike has such a massive reward. It was a major highlight of our 10 day outdoor adventure tour of Washington. The 360 views at the top are incredible.
The road to the top is pretty rough, and got more inclined the higher we went. I’d definitely recommend a high clearance vehicle; we made it in our Nissan Pathfinder. There’s several nice campsites at the base of the trail too scattered around Twin lakes. The trail to the top is a constant elevation gain over about 1.7 miles, but since it’s short, it’s not too bad!
There is one sketchy section hiking to Winchester Mountain Lookout where there was a rock slide on the trail, so definitely use caution here.
Looking down at Twin Lakes from the trail
Hiking to Winchester Mountain Lookout, like all fire towers in the PNW, is first come first serve. We arrived at the top around 3PM and were the only ones there, so we got first dibs in sleeping in the fire lookout for the night. More people trickled in as the day went on but no one asked us to stay inside. I’m not sure if this is an unspoken rule with sleeping in the fire lookouts or what, but we weren’t complaining, especially the next morning when it got down into the 20’s.
We experienced a wide range of weather conditions while we were up there, starting with stormy skies.
But the sun poked out for dinner!
Mount Baker Sunrise
If you ever get the chance to some hiking to Winchester Mountain Lookout, just remember: Leave no Trace and leave the Fire Lookout better than you found it.
Cheers!
