To wrap up our Pacific Northwest trip we did a day hike to the summit of Vesper Peak. Our friends Sierra and Thomas happened to be in the Seattle area at the same time, so they joined us for the hike.
Vesper Peak is a popular hike in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, known for being a challenging hike with spectacular views. It’s 8 miles round trip with 4,000 feet of elevation gain with a half-mile rock scramble at the top.
We were a little slow getting out of the city in the morning, and we arrived the Sunrise Mine Trailhead a little after noon. On a Thursday it wasn’t too busy—about a half dozen other cars were there—but I’ve read that this trail gets very busy on weekends. It’s worth noting that there’s a massive pothole that makes the road nearly impassable about a quarter mile before the trailhead. We parked before the pothole and walked the extra quarter mile.
The first half mile of the trail is a nice, flat walk through the forest. From that point on, it’s nothing but uphill to the summit. The trail stays mostly in the woods for a little while, but opens up pretty quickly. Within a couple miles we reached a long, open stretch across a hill of small talus/large scree with great views up to the surrounding peaks. The trail was a little hard to follow at times here, so look out for small cairns.
At the end of the rocky section we turned sharply up towards Headlee Pass. The trail becomes a series of switchbacks here. In a few spots it’s very steep and loose. Watch your step, especially on the way back down.
At Headlee Pass we got our first view of Vesper Peak. It looks far and a little imposing from the pass, but it’s only about a mile away from there. Of course, the peak is also 1400 vertical feet higher, so it’s not an easy mile.
The first half mile from the pass goes back through some tree cover and is mostly easy. The trail passes a stream and a small lake, and we saw a half dozen tents and a large group of people there. It looked like they were using it as a base camp for a rock climbing excursion. A few people were practicing tying anchors on a boulder near the lake.
The last half mile to the summit is the most challenging, but (in my opinion) also the most fun. The trail disappears and it’s a choose-your-own-adventure rock scramble to the summit. It’s steep, but the rock is very grippy and it’s easy to find good footing the whole way.
The Washington Trails Association description says people report “feelings of sudden euphoria” upon reaching the summit of Vesper Peak. I can see why. The views from the summit are phenomenal in all directions. There are great views of the surrounding peaks and to the east on the way up, but it’s not until you reach the summit that the views open up to the west. The view over the steep west face of Vesper Peak is really spectacular, looking over a huge glacier leading down the valley towards Copper Lake. And in the other direction we had good enough visibility to see some huge peaks off in the distance (I assume the biggest one was Mt. Baker).
We had beautiful weather all day, but after spending about 15 minutes at the summit we heard a roll of thunder. It was way off in the distance and we never saw any lightning, but it was unsettling! We started heading down immediately. We continued to hear occasional distant thunder for the next hour, but the weather stayed nice and sunny the whole time.
The hike down was less tiring, but not significantly easier or faster than the hike up. It took us about 4 hours to get up, 3.5 hours to get down. Our legs were very relieved when we finally reached the trailhead.
All in all, an excellent day hike. I highly recommend Vesper Peak!
