We walked into the dining room and were seated at a small table at the back of the dining area by a window. The waitress brought out our OJ and coffee. She then brought out the 1st course...yes, I said first course...of our breakfast. Our first course was a fresh berry parfait made with local berries and a thick piece of chocolate chip pumpkin bread. Both were delicious.
After we finished our first course, our bubbly waitress brought out our second course, a ham and spinach frittata with vegetable Bearnaise. It was A-mazing. We had SOOOO much food, but somehow, Zack and I cleaned our plates.
After breakfast, we packed our car and checked out. We met the owners of the B&B as we were checking out. they were a sweet couple, and they run a really nice B&B. We would definitely go back there to stay if given the chance.
Before Zack and I had left home, we had made plans on the main areas of Washington that we wanted to visit and we had some very rough ideas of hikes or activities that we wanted to do in each area. All of the hiking guides and people that we had talked to about the North Cascades had suggested a hike at Cascade Pass.
Zack and I had a 2 hour drive over to the North Cascades. We made it to Marble Mount which is really the only town with lodgings on the North Western side of the North Cascades. We crossed a bridge and headed down a LONG gravel road heading out of Marble Mount toward Cascade Pass parking area. The road was narrow and there was a drop off on one side. I was getting a little nervous as Zack would careen around the curves at speeds that I thought were a little excessive (I think that I must be getting old!). We finally made it to the parking area and we were met by beautiful views. We were in a little valley surrounded by 360 degree views of mountains with beautiful glaciers tucked into the sides of them.
We started out on our hike at about 12:30 p.m. The beginning of the hike was a series of switch backs until you reached the tree line (about 36). We took a few breaks on the way up to take some pictures of the spectacular views. Zack also had to run back down a few switchbacks to retrieve his hat and sunglasses that he had laid down when we stopped to take a picture.
We eventually made it out of the trees and we started to follow a ridge along the mountains. There were several places where there was still snow over the trail and we had to trek across snow. The views along the hike were absolutely breathtaking.
We eventually made it to Cascade Pass. We sat there for a few minutes enjoying the view and eating a small snack while trying to fend off a very bold chipmunk. At one point he came up and touched the bottom of my leg, which freaked me out.
Zack and I decided to go on beyond the pass to see how close to the Sohale Glacier we could get before having to turn around. In order to continue on our hike, we had to climb up and over the snowy hill. As we started our ascent, we quickly came to snow covered trail, part of this was covering a steam and the snow had started to cave in. Zack and I looked under the snow and decided that if we worked our way down the hillside just a little we would be on thick enough snow to be able to traverse the trail successfully. Zack and I were wearing hiking shoes and there was a significant drop off on one side of the trail...so, this was a little disconcerting. However, we felt that since other people had successfully made it across that we could. I LEANED into the side of the mountain and punched my fist into the snow to try to gain extra stability as we crossed the snow.
Shortly after the first snow covered section, we came to another snowy pass with part of the snow trail caving in....we again assessed the trail safety and decided to risk it. We made it successfully and began again to hike up a series of switchbacks up the side of a mountain. As we climbed, this time out in the open, Zack and I were able to enjoy looking out to see wild flowers and snow along the hillside. We also did see a marmot or two.
We made it up to an overlook for a small lake called doubtful lake. The lake was down at the foot of a mountain and there was a small melting glacier that was feeding it. the lake was a beautiful teal color. We stopped and took a couple pictures at the overlook before heading on.
We noticed some large red patches of snow as we hiked up further. This was a little disconcerting for me as I imagined that it was the blood of some animal that some bear had killed and eaten...i was very thankful to later learn that it was actually a type of algae called watermelon algae that was coloring the snow.
We continued heading up...up...up..., but time was starting to become our enemy and we were going to have to turn around soon if we wanted to make it back down to our car before it was dark out, because at that point we had been hiking for about 4 hours. We had reached about 6500 ft at the highest point of our hike. we set up the tripod to take a picture of our selves at the highest point on our hike. As we posed, a gust of wind came rushing through the mountain pass and blew our tripod over. I thought that I might get sick right there as I watched our camera land lens first on the rocks. I thought that there was no possible way that our camera lens had survived unscathed, but by some miracle it did!
Instead of trying our luck again, we asked a couple that was up there with us to take a picture of us instead. after getting our picture taken, we headed down as a group. I struck up a conversation with the couple that we were hiking with. They were a middle aged couple from the Seattle area who often came to the North Cascades to hike. As we were talking, they mentioned that they made it onto the trail later than they had expected because they had to stop at the ranger station to get a hiking permit before they came to Cascade Pass....my mind went into panic mode. "Hiking permit, we needed a hiking permit?!" my mind screamed. My heart started beating faster and my palms were sweating. No where in anything that Zack and I had read was there any mention of needing a hiking permit, but here was a couple that was familiar with the area telling us that they had done just that....I was terrified that we would get back to the parking area to find a.) a huge fine written on a ticket and plastered to the windshield of our rental car b.) our car would be missing after being towed away, or c.) our car would be immovable because it had a boot on it. I was too embarrassed to say anything to the couple that we were hiking with, but I was going through internal torture as we headed down the mountain. It absolutely took the joy out of the return trip for me and I was keeping a very brisk pace. Zack was absolutely not worried and he was snapping pictures with his cell phone as if he had not a care in the world. Our return trip took us 2.5 hours compared to the 4 hours it took us to hike out. we made it back to the parking area at about 7 o'clock.
We charged out of the woods and I was relieved to see that our rental car was still where we left it, but I was afraid to see a ticket flapping on the windshield. Once I saw that there was nothing there, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and felt satisfaction in our days activities. Zack and I agreed that this hike probably rivaled our favorite hike in glacier for the all time best hike that we have done.
As we packed our hiking gear into the car, the sun was starting to set behind the mountains and it was the perfect end to our hike. We changed out of our hiking shoes and put our weary bodies into our car and headed back toward Marble Mount and our Hotel.
The hotel, The Buffalo Run Inn, was really the only lodging in Marble Mount.It was directly across the street from a restaurant, Buffalo Run Restaurant, which was owned by the same people. Since Zack and I had had a HUGE breakfast at Wild Iris Inn, we had not really eaten anything else all day. So, we were pretty hungry. we had to go over to the restaurant to check into our hotel. So, we decided to go ahead and have some dinner there.
We were seated at a table near a door to the patio. The door and windows were open allowing the brisk night air into the restaurant. I was FREEZING despite my long sleeve shirt. We perused the menu and Zack ended up ordering an Elk burger with grilled onions and fries and I had citrus glazed chicken with baked potato and fresh veggies. The food was....ok.
While we were eating an older gentleman at the table next to us stood up and started to pass out. He recovered quickly, but his family was very concerned. I am always hesitant to get involved when things like that happen. People in the restraunt were asking his family if he had any health problems and his daughter said no. I asked her if he had been drinking very many fluids that day, as he might be somewhat dehydrated. I remembered passing the gentleman and his family on our hike earlier that day. Her husband asked the man if he had been drinking very much that day and he admitted that he had not had much to drink. It was a warm day and they had hiked 7 miles. He was probably a little dehydrated. The family got their food to go and the daughter said that she would make sure that her father had plenty to drink that night.
After dinner, Zack and I headed over to our hotel. the room was nicer than I had anticipated, but it was much more sterile and hotel like than where we had stayed our previous nights. The main room light burned out about 30 minutes after we got into the room and so Zack and I decided just to go to bed for the night rather than figure out how to fix it. We had another full day ahead of us and we really needed to get to sleep anyway.
