One of our favorite hikes in the Cascades is Mount Frosty.   The trailhead is at the east end of Lightning Lake.   It switchbacks up through dense forest for about an hour.   A few views of the lakes chain below can be seen.   At 7km there is a wilderness campsite (Frosty Creek).   The next half hour of hiking is through larch trees which makes this an excellent choice for a fall hike.   Views over to the Hozameen Range start at this elevation.   The forest thins and the views become more wide-open.    Frosty is just north of the border and a range of North Cascades border peaks makes an impressive backdrop.  A junction over to Windy Joe is met just below the peak.   It is possible to return by this trail, creating a  loop of 27.5km, but we have found this route too long for a day trip.  For a backpack trip, there is a wilderness campsite about 200m down the Pacific Crest Trail.

The final route up Frosty is a bit of a scramble, but a good hike among the boulders.   Frosty is the highest point in the park, but lower than Hozameen and the larger North Cascade Peaks. If you can go up the mountain on a clear day, the view alone is reason to make it to the top.   One of the best features of this trail is to go through several forest zones with their varied vegetation, then into sub-alpine forest, sub-alpine meadows, then into the alpine with snow-melt tarns below.   Snow lingers at the 2400m summit until August.    A snow-free attempt may not be possible until late summer this year.

At the top, it is possible to do some scrambling across ridges, but the rock is very loose, so show caution.   The return trip is much quicker and a swim in the lake may be a fitting end to a 22km hike.

(source – Wikimedia Commons) (view from the south)