Cascade Pass Trail

Cascade Pass has served as a trade route across the North Cascades for at least 9,000 years, and the 3.7-mile climb from the Cascade River trailhead to the 5,392-foot pass makes clear why it was prized — the switchbacking trail gains 1,800 feet through progressively spectacular terrain, breaking out of Engelmann spruce forest into broad alpine meadows where Sahale, Johannesburg, and Magic mountains rise on three sides. Dozens of glaciers are visible from the pass, their crevasse fields gleaming blue-white above the moraine rubble. Hoary marmots colonize the boulder fields in large numbers and are so habituated to hikers that they will approach within a few feet. Cascade Pass is also one of the most reliable places in the contiguous United States to spot mountain goats navigating near-vertical cliff faces. The optional side trip along the Sahale Arm extends the adventure another mile and 600 feet to an elevated ridge with views down the Stehekin Valley. The road to the trailhead is unpaved, narrow, and can be rough for low-clearance vehicles in early season before maintenance crews have graded it.