A Long Time Coming

Growing up in Snohomish County, I have spent my whole life looking at Three Fingers. It is remarkably prominent and sticks out of the Cascades as one of the furthest west large peaks – like Mt. Si but nearly 3000 ft taller. I have long wanted to climb it, but I usually prioritized more remote objectives with less of an approach. But with one day of nice weather on Labor Day Weekend, I felt it was finally the time to head up there.

Before the bridge washed out in the 2000s, Three Fingers used to be a straightforward day hike. Now, there are a few different options:

1. Hike 8.5 miles up the closed road, then the old trail. This route is 16 miles and 6k ft gain one way.
2. Hike 2 miles up the road, then take the Meadow Mountain Trail. 12 miles and 6400 ft gain one way.
3. Take the super steep route directly up to Goat Flats. 6 miles and 5500 ft gain one way. This route is not recommended unless you are a very experienced mountaineer. The “longer” routes will be much quicker, pleasant, and safer for majority of people.

Many years ago, I made a half ass attempt to ski Three Fingers and took the 3rd option, turning around at snow line. This time, my plan was to bring an e-bike for the closed road, using option 1. However, the day before I discovered that my friend Christian was also planning Three Fingers with his friend Rick. With three people, we felt that it was simpler to just do everything on foot. So we planned to take the steep route (3) up, and moderate route (2) down.

There were dozens of cars at the closed bridge for the holiday weekend. The Three Fingers Lookout has gone viral multiple times on Instagram, getting millions of views as influencers fly drones around the lookout. As a result, it is very competitive to stay the night in the lookout. As much as I would love to do that one day, a holiday weekend would not be the time to do that.

We began with a mile or so of an old overgrown logging road. It was easy to move through, but very brushy and wet. The turnoff to head uphill is well flagged.

This uphill path heads straight up a steep hillside, gaining over 2000 ft per mile! I’ve done a lot of steep approaches in the Cascades and this one is up there with any of them. There were many fixed lines, a few actually were helpful as our feet slipped in the loose dirt. Later on, we learned that this approach is infamously nicknamed the “Search and Rescue Trail”. I would not recommend this route unless you are very experienced with steep ascents and routefinding. If you are unsure, take one of the longer routes – there apparently have been far too many rescues on this route.

Near 4k, it begins to level out, but this is where is gets a bit brushy. Never truly bad, but more annoying than expected until we suddenly broke out into open meadows near Goat Flats.

Goat Flats is a beautiful spot, with wind stunted trees and nice views of Puget Sound. The flat tree line plateau reminded me a lot of my recent trip to Vancouver Island.

Past Goat Flats, the trail gets really good. It traverses steep hillsides with views to the south of the Mountain Loop peaks, then winds its way across north side cliffs, with views of the dying Queest Alb Glacier below.

Other than one dirty gully, where I am guessing the trail used to traverse the edge of the glacier, the trail was a marvel of engineering, windy its way around vertical cliffs up towards the final summit.

Fortunately, there were a few nice running water sources just below the final snowfield. This south facing snowfield used to be a small glacier itself, but not much is left these days. Everyone was trying to avoid the snow by scrambling on choss around, but once they saw us go on the snow, we gave “permission” to everyone else to follow. There was no bare ice and the snow was decently soft for early September.

Almost as famous as the lookout itself are the final ladders, which grant access to the otherwise 5th class summit block. The ladders had just been replaced by the Friends of the Three Fingers Lookout – thanks!

The Three Fingers Lookout is truly a precarious perch – set on a summit block with hundreds of feet of exposure to the northwest, and thousands of feet to the east. This summit, the southern most of the three summits, actually was the highest originally – until it was blasted to make a platform for the fire lookout in 1930. Of all fire lookouts in Washington, it definitely has the most incredible position.

While clouds and a distant haze blocked our view to the west, the view to the north and east was stunning. The east face of Three Fingers drops two thousand feet nearly vertically, and almost four thousand feet in about a mile, although somehow a skiable ramp cuts through the face, the East Face Couloir. Below us, the Boulder River Big Walls looked tiny, yet I knew how big those features were up close!

I could see Squire Creek Wall and Whitehorse, where I combined extensive slab climbing with adventurous alpine climbing in the Darrington Rodeo many years ago – still one of my more creative and technical endeavors.

It was chilly on the summit, with fresh clumps of hail from the day before. We left just as clouds were building on the summit.

Once we got below Goat Flats, the trail got quite rocky and muddy, despite the dry summer. After the Meadow Mountain turnoff, it didn’t get much better. Meadow Mountain, despite its name, has no open meadows or views, but plenty of meadows in the trees and mud!

With the sloppy overgrown trail, it was slow jogging until we finally hit the road and could cruise back down to the car.

Compared to my typical high routes, Three Fingers is a substantial effort for relatively few miles in the alpine, but it felt really satisfying to finally climb an iconic peak of my childhood. The summit itself has an incredible position, and it would be amazing someday to stay in the lookout.

Notes:

• Our route was 19 miles and 7k ft gain. It took us just over 7 hours. It definitely felt more difficult than the stats would suggest because of the slow, rugged trails. For most people, it would take much longer than this – we are generally in the top few percent for speed on these sorts of adventures. Goat Flats is a nice area to camp if you want to break it up!
• Which is the best approach for Three Fingers? They all have their pros and cons. Taking an e-bike up the road might make for less trail time, but I did read that the road is overgrown further up so the brush can get you wet. Meadow Mountain is never very steep, but slow going – a good option for people without a bike. The Search and Rescue Trail should only be attempted by experienced mountaineers – it is more challenging than something like the Eldorado’s Climber Trail, and completely a different class than classic steep trails like Mailbox.
• The summit block had a small amount of class 3. The snow was avoidable at this time of year, but we felt it was pretty low angle (<30 degrees).
• The only good water source up high was in the section beneath the snowfield.
• The lookout supposedly can hold 8 people overnight. There were supposedly also a few tent sites below the summit block, although I didn’t notice them personally. After that, there would be no good camping until Goat Flats. So trying to overnight at the lookout on a weekend is risky.
• I wouldn’t attempt this before mid summer because I would expect a lot of steep, exposed snow.