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Day Hike - Mount Fremont Lookout

Seattle branch double-summit hike to Skyscraper Mountain and Mount Fremont on July 16 with a group of 7 hikers.

David Bradley David Bradley
July 17, 2016
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • The trail up Skyscraper Mountain itself is free of snow, but the section of the Wonderland Trail between the Northern Loop Trail and the Skyscraper spur still contains about five patches of snow about 50’ to 100’ long, including one that is sloped with a nontrivial runout.  The trip leader required all to use poles along this crossing, and our group of five active members of the Scrambling program and two confident hikers had no problem.  Other groups with less experienced/confident hikers may find this section of the trail to be a problem for the next week or two until the melt is complete.  

    The trail up Fremont is free of snow and in good shape.  There are some wildflowers blooming along the summit ridge.

There was a low cloud ceiling all day, and we had generally grey conditions with limited visibility.  The Mountain was not visible.  We had some dramatic through-the-clouds views from Skyscraper down to points below, but while we were lunching on Skyscraper the clouds closed in and views were lost.  The final mile of the ascent to Fremont was in total clouds, and though there were no views it was interesting to hike along the ridge inside a cloud tunnel as the clouds blew up the side of the mountain below us then passed over our heads as they crossed over the crest of the ridge.

10.6 miles, 3300’ gain.  Trip time approx 6.5 hours including two summit lunches (Hobbit style: “first lunch” and “second lunch”).