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Trip Report    

Day Hike: Jim Whittaker Wilderness Peak Trailhead to Shy Bear Pass to Doughty Falls

8 of us enjoyed a magical snowy hike from Whittaker Wilderness Trailhead to Whittaker Peak (via Gombu Cliffs), looped to Shy Bear Pass, and over Deceiver to Doughty Falls. We had a good 3-5 inches of fresh snow for over 90% of the hike. Slick in places and snow-laden trees are shedding their snow - be prepared for ice and wet.

  • Road suitable for all vehicles
  • With the cold temperatures and thaw/freeze the trails could be pretty treacherous in the next few days. On the drive through Issaquah, I hit one patch of black ice that slowed me down about 20 mph. Please drive safely. 

    Portapotty is stocked with toilet paper. We only saw two other individuals on the trail in our five-hour trip.

    We had a good 3-5 inches of fresh snow for over 90% of the hike. On the way back much of it was either melting from sunshine or falling from the treetops - most of us put on shells since our down coats were getting wet. What a wonderful adventure. 

    We encountered several snow-downs (over-under branches on the trail-at least five, two are shown) which made for some fun Par Kour-type obstacles. untitled-7.jpg

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We all had poles, waterproof footwear, gaiters, and traction devices. About half of our party members chose to use traction; I only needed one pole on the descent and did not use traction.

AllTrails had us at roughly 7.9 miles and 1608 gain cars-to-cars 5 hours with 3-4 sensory pauses, 10 minutes at the summit register, and 20 minutes at the Falls. With the blow-downs, heavy snow-laden limbs, and slick trail in places, our pace was about what I'd expect for 8 hikers, early season, in unexpected snow.

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We had one person slip (no injury) and one scary moment when, behind us and off about 40 feet, a massive tree split in two and crashed to the forest floor. Overladen by snow. It sounded like a gunshot from which we quickly recovered. Be aware and ready to react.

We enjoyed 12 bird species including a hairy woodpecker, northern flicker, stellar's jay, kinglets, and chickadees. Beautiful snow photo opportunities. We only saw two other humans all morning, and plenty of critter tracks in the snow including raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, birds, and coyotes.

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