Favorite Summit Hikes in Washington?

Hey all! There're obviously an incredible number of world-class hikes in Washington, and frankly, I'm downright embarrassed by the riches here. But – if you had to pick 1-3 of your personal favorite summit hikes, what would they be? Please feel free to include hikes of any length, difficulty, and class up to class 3. Relevant tips would be greatly appreciated as well!

I would start this off but I haven't done enough summit hikes to have a favorite yet 😅, so I'll just say that the hike up to Camp Muir absolutely blew my mind a couple years ago.

in PNWhikingby wubbalubbadubdub24

84%

17d

greendemon42

17d

Dickermam holds a special place in my heart.

JustWastingTimeAgain

17d

Seriously, it's one of my favorites. Easy drive, I know it by heart and the views are hard to beat.

Bella_HeroOfTheHorn

17d

I really love granite mountain - it's hard but not technical, and has a lot of space for people to spread out at the summit. Beautiful red flowers later in summer.

ONE-EYE-OPTIC

17d

Seconded

PNW_Wolverine

17d

Mt. St. Helens.

mossywill

17d

Mt. Adams

BucksBrew

17d

Vesper Peak, Mount St Helens, Mount Dickerman, Trapper's Peak (though the exposure made me stop a bit short of the summit), Silver Peak, Shriner's Peak

LavenderGumes

17d

Seconding Mt Dickerman as a favorite.

Maltyballs

17d

Ellinor with a cloud inversion at sunset was one of my tops

gorillawhale08

17d

Earl Peak’s another stellar view, Mount Defiance is the best 360 you’ll see in the I-90 corridor, Thunder Mountain is pretty incredible

wubbalubbadubdub24

17d

Added them all to my to-hike list, thanks!

Medium_Grand_8182

17d

Thank you!

yelirdubs

17d

del campo all day

DerWichode

17d

Mount Pugh, Vesper Peak, and Summit Lake near Rainier

builtbyRain

17d

The view from Pugh !!

firestorm734

17d

Mt St Helens, Mt Adams, and Mt Storm King are all great.

insultingname

17d

Old Snowy in the Goat Rocks Wilderness is stellar!

Low_Bar9361

17d

Mt Pilchuck. Fairly easy with a fantastic lookout

90s_rap

17d

If you are in southwest Washington(close to portland), silver star mountain is a fairly easy but very rewarding day hike.

SendFoodPics

17d

Coldwater Peak - stunning 360deg multi-volcano view and one of the funnest trails I’ve hiked. Most densely clustered un-picked-over huckleberry & blueberry patches I’ve ever seen about 300’ shy of the summit in season.

connorcj12

17d

How about best early season summit?

VCTNR

15d

Personal favorite is Mount Watson. Never really see anyone up there early season and getting up it in snow is great.

SnoopJesus5820

17d

Mailbox peak is a fun one

boofcakin171

16d

With or without supplemental oxygen?

Perfect_Lunch_6669

17d

Vesper, Daniel

nplemel

17d

Black Peak… some will argue that it’s class 4 at times (or even a few moves of class 5). A buddy and I did it as a trail run/scramble last July and found it to be manageable with trail running shoes and trekking poles but everyone should consider their own experience and risk tolerance.

SupermouseDeadmouse

17d

Agreed! That hike/peak are amazing. Plus there’re nice places to camp at the lake below the peak.

erantsingularity

17d

Surprised no one has mentioned Buckhorn Mountain in the Burkhorn Wilderness. It has amazing views of the Olympics, Puget Sound, and Cascades.

Going to second the folks recommending Dickerman, Vesper, and Pugh as well.

Mt Ellinor is great too, especially the winter route if you're okay with an ice axe and crampons (you could probably use microspikes and be fine).

muzzakingmerk

16d

My Elinor when there’s snow and you go up the winter route (like right now)

cpeirce47

16d

Unicorn Peak? Or another in the Tatoosh Range.

VCTNR

15d

Sahale, and Hidden Lake Peak mid summer, Tomyhoi in fall. Best colors I’ve ever seen are on the way up to Tomyhoi. Recommend going on a weekday, weekend parking can add a mile or two and some unnecessary elevation to the hike, and it’s already a doozy climb wise.

wubbalubbadubdub24

15d

Tomyhoi looks amazing for the fall, thanks! Now planning on hiking it and maple pass for some colors.

VCTNR

15d

If you want another one with spectacular colors, I recommend hitting Blue Lake in September on a weekday. Its not a summit, and a really easy hike, but the Larches absolute pop out there! Great late season chill day type of hike.

wubbalubbadubdub24

15d

Added that one too, thanks!

AliveAndThenSome

17d

For hiking, Vesper, Granite Mt (I-90), Navaho Peak; they're popular, but each has its own challenges. Also, going up Sahale as far as you can/dare (some class 4 airy moves at the top from what I hear) yields some incredible views.

wubbalubbadubdub24

17d

Thanks for the recs, Vesper looks insanely pretty!

AliveAndThenSome

17d

Vesper is a heluva dayhike, and worth every step. You get a little bit of everything. Sadly, the day I did it with my dog, the summit was completely socked in. We couldn't see more than 20 ft. and route-finding was a joy with no cairns in sight, so we just headed up wherever we could. Still had a fantastic time.

wubbalubbadubdub24

17d

Was the offline map necessary? Also sounds like a bit of a scramble at the top - did you wear helmets?

Geodoodie

17d

No helmets needed up top but people do sometimes kick rocks down the switchbacks on Headlee Pass. It’s good to have one there, though most people don’t.

Yes you’ll want the offline map. But be aware one of the maps (can’t remember if we were following Gaia or my inreach) shows the trail going up the gully before Headlee pass. Don’t do that. It was rough. The real trail up to Headlee pass is all the way in the back of the Wirtz basin

(Another vote for vesper!)

onlyoneaal

17d

Kaleetan Peak, accessed from Denny Creek (1014) to Melakwa Lake then follows an unmaintained trail that splits off from the toilet path at Melakwa. It's probably the most fun I think I've had on a hike with great views. Class 3 scrambling to summit, but it's not too bad, helmet required due to rockfall. Can be done in one day if you're quick enough.

Gaia gps does have the trails.

wubbalubbadubdub24

17d

Thanks, it looks awesome but is apparently closed atm according to alltrails. I saved it for the future!

onlyoneaal

17d

Hmm, it's hopefully just due to snow and not due to a trail closure. WTA.org might have more info. I will say that because of the elevation of Kaleetan, you might want to wait till the peak itself is snow-free. There's various hikes where you can see Kaleetan from (Granite Mtn, Pratt Lake, even Silver Peak) to gauge snow cover.

I hope you get to hike it cause it's freaking sweet.

wubbalubbadubdub24

17d

Yeah the forest service website says Denny Creek Trail is closed. Hopefully it’ll be open again soon. I’ll check again in a couple months.

snafu-1104

17d

It was closed last Summer for a parking lot expansion. Should be good to go this year.

onlyoneaal

17d

I did not know this! Thanks for the info.

moreisay

16d

There's some confusing info out rn about that forest road. The Denny Creek trailhead is accessible, I was there last weekend. Denny Creek was too high to cross for my team so we weren't able to make it to Melakwa Lakes, but the TH is very much accessible and the campground in use. There's a massive parking area and it was more than half full last weekend.

onlyoneaal

16d

So the original parking lot/trailhead IS open then? Or are you just saying you can park at the closed section and still get to the trailhead?

moreisay

16d

Parking is totally open, trailhead open and accessible! There is about a quarter mile of gravel road that is closed for cars leading up to the trailhead from the parking lot.

SignorVince

17d

+1 on this, super fun

mathcriminalrecord

17d

Absolutely mount constance, south chute.

Sleazy4you2say

17d

Glacier. Great glissade down and then hot spring soak

alligatorsmyfriend

16d

Gamma springs??

Sleazy4you2say

15d

Oh crap! I just learned Kennedy hot springs was washed away. Obviously been a long time since I’ve been there. Well at least the views and glissade are still there and worth it.

alligatorsmyfriend

15d

presumably the geothermal structure is still there, so if 1000 thru hikers bring 1000 trowels, maybe we can restore its former glory

N8DOE

17d

Bare Mountain. Longest I think I’ve driven on dirt to get to a trailhead.

pash1k

NW Washington

17d

Church Mountain and Hidden Lakes Peak (North is better, but go to lookout if you're uncomfortable with the scramble)

Jklivin509

17d

Bear Creek Mountain has epic views of Adams and Rainier, on a clear day Hood and St. Helens are easily spotted.

CODENAMEDERPY

17d

I’ve only good things about Adam’s.

Seascout2467

17d

Scorpion Mountain. Rock Mountain. Alta. And Granite Peak

BackwerdsMan

17d

My favorites are Tower Mountain, Baring, and Pugh.

They call Tower class 3 but it's borderline class 4 in some spots on the gully route(or maybe I'm just a baby). Have a video of it you can look at if you are interested in climbing it.

goddamnpancakes

16d

does oyster dome count? :) hey it's early season

Firstcounselor

17d

Favorite summits are Rainier, Baker, and Shuksan. Mt Ellinor gets honorable mention for how short it is.

_pyracantha

SW Washington

17d

Burroughs mountain @sunrise

_NKD2_

17d

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