Church Mountain

Location: North Cascades - Mt. Baker HWY SR 542

Length: 8.5 miles roundtrip 

Elevation: Gain/3750 ft. Highest/6100 ft.

Difficulty: Slightly Severe

Time: 6 hours

I guess that's the "real" summit. Whatevs.

I’m conflicted as to whether I should trust my Fitbit over Craig Romano—I mean he is the hiking god of the PNW after all… The WTA uses stats from his legendary books but it just FEELS off at times! My Fitbit tells me I went 9.7 miles and gained 4040 ft. in elevation on this hike. I’m sure variance may have something to do with my amount of exploratory lollygagging.

Anyways…HOLY SHIT! Do this hike. What I like about ones like these is the mental process you go through. Two-thirds of the trail is in forested switchbacks that gain serious elevation. I had to take a breather every 30 ft., yes. Just when I thought I was killin’ it, one guy sashayed by me on my way up and he was already descending when I still had a mile left to go.

Mountain stream.

Kidney Lakes.

Eventually the trail evens out for a little bit once you break out of the forest into the insanely gorgeous meadows and yeah, you’ll be tempted to stop and have lunch here, but you must push to the top. Be warned, you’ve got about another 30 minutes of legit incline after the meadows. The top isn’t really the tippy top unless you want to scramble down and up to the “real” summit. The seasoned hikers I had lunch across from recommended I only try that with a partner. According to their favorites, I must do Yellow Aster Butte next. This hike is no nonsense. Neither pictures nor video does it justice. It was really cool seeing all sorts of weird bugs and wildflowers you don’t see every day. Be careful on your way down. Jogging the way down is fun until you slip on your ass...annnndddd it doesn’t matter how expensive your shoes are.

Shuksan on the right.

Head up Mt. Baker HWY and soon before the speed limit dives to 35 mph up to the resort, take a left on East Church Mountain Rd. The gravel road is lame but you only drive about 2 miles before the trailhead. Stay to the left on that gravel road.