Scrambling Washington’s “Most Classic Scramble”

Well, ski season’s finally over, and after a few weekends of bailing on various attempts at big objectives and some fun trail runs/swims, I was ready for a good ol' cascadian adventure. I’d known about this scramble for a while, but I didn’t know until recently that you could bike the approach. I had noticed how cool the sisters range was on my recent trip up Baker via the Easton glacier, so I was excited to make the trip up to the north cascades. I recruited my buddy Neal, we tossed two gravel bikes in his car at 4am and hit the road.

The route is a ~2000ft class 4 scramble with a 6 mile, 3000ft approach along a privately owned logging road. We biked up to the gate fully loaded with ice axes in case enough snow remained on the north slope to glissade down it and avoid downclimbing the entire ridge. At the gate, there was an orange sign delaring the land closed to the public due to fire risk. We discussed it for a bit, but the sign was dated from 2018 so we decided to duck under the gate and continue on. We’d later learn that sign has been there for years and the gate was unlocked the whole time.

We attempted to ride our bikes in, but didn’t make it too far. The grade was steep, and it would take an absolute to be able to bike the sustained 6 miles in. So we pushed our bikes in and made it to the base of the wooded ridge in around 2 hours. We headed straight uphill and eventually popped out of the trees onto an increasingly rocky ridge that we both noted didn’t seem to feel like Washington at all.

The scrambling early on was easy and came in short sections. Eventually, as we stuck to the ridge and the movements got more difficult, we slowed down and moved carefully through the blocky terrain. The rock here on this ridge was incredibly grippy, more textured than any rock I’d seen before. The grippy red rock mixed with the dry, sandy, and shrubby environment was very non-PNW and resembled more of something out of Colorado or Utah. It was a nice breath of fresh air, and the grippy rock made every hold feel secure.

Routefinding was admittedly difficult, but it didn’t really matter. We stuck to the ridge mostly on the way up and dropped occasionally down to the south side periodically to traverse below more difficult terrain.

In one section, I noticed that a large microwave-sized block that I was standing on was loose. It was too large to have any business moving, so I told Neal to go around it and not use it. As I stepped off of it, it surprised me by dislodging under my foot and sailing down the gulley below us. A close call, but that’s why we always keep 3 points of contact.

The rest of the climb when just about as well as it could. Rock quality seemed to deteriorate as we continued past the 2 or 3 false summits, so we slowed way down and made sure to carefully choose our holds after the rockfall earlier on. We weren’t on the true ridgeline for this section, so maybe the rock is better along the ridge crest. We found our way traversing through chossy gulleys, eventually running into another party on their way up.

We eventually made our way to the summit and chatted with the party on top. We learned that the sign at the gate is always there, and that the gate was even open this morning. We had execellent views of Canada, the picket range, the north cascades, and of course, Mt. Baker.

The way down was slow and grueling. We dropped a little too low in certain sections, so between that and the loose nature of the route we didn’t break any speed records getting back to the bikes. The rigid frame gravel bikes weren’t the best tool for the section of singletrack getting back to the forest road, but once we were on gravel we were able to enjoy the fun cruisey miles - all downhill.

Along the way, at a stop, I finally earned a badge every cyclist earns when they’re new to clipless pedals - I tipped over like a cow when I couldn’t release my foot. With my ego gone, I was able to enjoy the sunshine of the afternoon and the great views of Baker as we flew back to the car. Another great summer day, and about as much fun as you can have without ski boots on.