Distance: 8.2 mi.
Elevation Gain: 4200 ft.
Ten years ago to the day, I climbed Bedal with a group of friends from the UW climbing club. We were all on snowshoes that day and I had only just learned to ski. The trip was fantastic and ever since I had wanted to get back to ski those beautiful upper slopes. Fast forward 10 years and into the age of COVID-19. Vanessa and I had barely left the house in the past two months and were excited for the first re-openings around the state. Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest still had day use and trailhead facilities closed, but the roads and land were not closed. Having only an unofficial fisherman/climber trail, it seemed like a place we could go and keep some social distance.
We left town at a leisurely 7:15 and drove the 80 miles to the trailhead making sure to fill up on fuel before leaving town so we wouldn’t have to stop anywhere on the way. We rendezvoused with Nancy in Darrington and followed each other to the trailhead. The mountain loop high way was a bit potholed and Bedal Creek Road was rough in places but not a problem for the little Fit. We geared up and were on our way at 9:40.
The trailhead is right at the middle of the 4th switchback (we parked at the wide spot just below this) but we walked right past it initially. I noticed that the gps tracks I had in my phone showed it below us so we went back and looked a little harder finally finding the faint trail. There is a cairn but it was covered in a fern and the trail was not obvious on the road. After hiking just a little ways off the road the trail was much more obvious under the large trees.
The trail starts off steep and carrying skis felt heavy after doing very little exercise for the past two months. After a few hundred feet the trail heads northeast on more of a traverse and it got worse through here, as there were a lot more blowdowns which were exceptionally annoying when we had to duck or crawl under trees with our skis on our backs. We finally encountered snow at around 3500′ but continued on foot until about 4300′ when we were confident snow was continuous and skinning would be easier than carrying. It felt good to have the skis off the back and our pace improved.
We reached the first open slopes above Nels Lake and could see the break in the cliff band at 5000′ that we needed to access the vast north face of Bedal. The snow was continuous here but steeper and we removed our skis to boot up this slope. It was only about 50 feet before we were able to put our skis back on and continue southeast to the summit. Here we finally met two people that were ahead of us whose steps we had been following and wished them well from a distance. The snow was getting pretty slushy in the afternoon heat and there were some signs of wet slides but we were able to stay on low angle terrain and out of terrain hazards the whole way.
We finally made our way to the summit by 3:30 and enjoyed the amazing views. We had a late lunch and headed back down to our skis, which we left just below the summit. We enjoyed some wide open and sometimes sticky turns quickly down to the 5000′ steep area. I was able to make a tricky ski traverse through trees and snow moats but Nancy ended up taking off her skis and booting back down before Vanessa followed my line.
We then generally followed our tracks back to where we had put on the skis and went a little bit further before deciding it was no longer easier to ski. Putting the skis back on the back was sad but necessary. We continued to retrace our steps back to the traverse portion of the trail. We slowly struggled through the various blowdowns and became quite exhausted. With varying levels of crankiness we eventually made it back to our vehicles by 7:30. I picked up a piece of downed flagging and tied it to a tree to make the entrance to the trail from the road more obvious.
Overall it was a fun and tiring day out after a lot of home isolation but I’m not sure it was worth carrying the skis all that way. We made it home uneventfully and are looking forward to some other outdoor adventures while trying to be socially distant.
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Recommended Brew: Ravenna/Big Time Perfect Distance IPA
Gear Used:
- Avalanche beacon/shovel/probe
- Backcountry boots/skis/skins
- Day pack
- Glacier glasses
- GPS
- Helmet
- Hiking Boots
- Trekking poles
- Whippet
Post may contain affiliated links