McGregor Mountain

McGregor Mountain (8,122ft)

Looking southwest from McGregor

Eric Gilbertson

Sept 14, 2021, 3am – 9:30pm

46 miles, 11,400ft gain

McGregor Mountain is one of only a handful of 8,000ft peaks in Washington with a trail to the summit. It is a remote peak on the washington top 200 list, and is generally hiked from stehekin, where it makes a reasonable day trip with a good summit view. However, accessing stehekin generally requires taking a ferry, which adds a lot of time. Some hikers (like Eric E, Fred, and Fletcher) have recently climbed McGregor from the north side, hiking in from Highway 20 and climbing the Sandalee Glacier. This makes sense early season, but by September the glacier is likely in sketchy icy late-season conditions that don’t sound appealing.

The route

I hadn’t done a long hike since early June and McGregor seemed to fit the bill if I started from Highway 20 but took the south side trail. The route would mostly follow the PCT, which I knew was well-graded and clear of blowdowns, then wrap around to the south side. It would be about 46 miles but wouldn’t require any bushwhacking or tricky navigation, so I figured it should make a decent day trip if I could average at least 2.5mph.

Monday evening I drove to the Bridge Creek trailhead on Highway 20 and pulled into one of the last available spots around 9:30pm. I was amazed it was so crowded on a weekday night, but maybe this is from people hiking on the PCT. The weather Tuesday was supposed to deteriorate mid afternoon, so I wanted to start early enough to be off the summit by then.

I slept in the car and got moving a bit before 3am Tuesday morning. This trip reminded me a lot of climbing Reynolds Peak in early October 2018 from Bridge Creek, where I’d needed to come in from the backside in a 57-mile hike to avoid fire closures.

Nice colors on the hike up

Hiking was fast an easy, with a gentle downhill grade. Unfortunately this would mean ascending at the end of the day, though. I hiked through the dark for a few hours, then by sunrise I passed by a dozen or so PCT hikers going northbound. I bet they were excited to be nearly finished. The skies started out clear and I had great views to the south of Mt Leconte, Dome, Sinister and Agnes.

By 9am I reached the McGregor trail junction and stopped for a break near Coon Lake. I had been descending for the first 6 hours, but now I would pay the price, having to climb all the way from 2100ft to 8100ft. The trail was gradual, though, and I made good time. At one nice overlook I came across a mother bear and cub, that quickly scurried into the woods. As I got higher the foliage got more colorful, and by 6000ft I was seeing bright red blueberry bushes and larches starting to turn yellow.

On the summit, with Lake Chelan in the background

I eventually broke out above the trees around 7500ft at the base of a talus and scree field. The trail ended here, but I went straight up until I found a red arrow painted on a rock at the base of the summit cliffs. From there I followed the red arrows and cairns on a route that weaved up along narrow and exposed ledges. It was actually a little sketchy with kitty litter on the slabs at points near steep dropoffs, but the navigation was easy.

I eventually crossed through a notch to the north side, then finished with an easy hike up to the summit by 12:45pm. The views were great to Lake Chelan to the southeast and the Chikamin Glacier on Dome and Sinister to the southwest. I think there used to be a fire lookout tower on the top, which is the reason for the trail, but the tower is long gone. However, there is a big metal structure with a solar panel and antenna that I think is some sort of repeater. It must have been helicoptered up there.

Summit panorama

As I was resting I noticed Glacier Peak and nearby peaks get engulfed in clouds, and rain start falling across the valley. I

Looking back up to the summit

didn’t want to be scrambling down wet slabs, so I packed up and headed down. Luckily I made it down just below treeline by the time the rain hit. I made quick progress down the trail as the rain intensified, and I was soon hiking back up the PCT. It would continue raining for most of the hike out, and I was kind of happy to be hiking uphill so I could stay warm.

I needed to hike a bit in the dark, but emerged back at the trailhead by 9:30pm. I later heard some cars had gotten broken into that day at Bridge Creek, but luckily mine was spared. I’m very careful to leave nothing visible or valuable in the car now after getting broken into on Highway 20 in May at the swamp creek pullout.

I drove back that night and got home around 1am.