Green Mountain

Great hike.    The views are amazing.  The last part will get your thighs burning but it is well worth the work.

Green mountain kicked my butt last year and it did it again this year.   Stunning views all around once you get out in the open.  The trail is completely snow free all the way up to the summit.... we made it there after 2 hours.  Parts of the trail were very over-grown on our way up, but the WTA work party was hard at work and by the time we came down the trail was looking real good.  WTA folks- thank you so much for all your work!  Lots and lots of bugs this time.... probably due to the hot weather and 0 mph wind factor.  Awesome view of Glacier Peak and Mt. Baker at the summit.  We spent about an hour enjoying the view up there, then 1.5 hours to get back to the car.  Great hike, still one of my favorite!

great views throughout the hike. the panaromic view on top of the mountain is amazing! towards the end the trail gets fairly steep. took us 4 hours total for the hike. i highly recommend this one, it's well worth the climb! one of my favorite this year! you can see everything up there.... cascades, baker.... no water on trail except one small pond. some bugs, but not too bad :-)

We made this hike yesterday. The weather was gorgeous, sky was blue. Lots of blueberry and huckleberry on the way up. Very nice first slope, nice valley with 2 ponds of milky-green water, not too deep to swim though. Second slope was more challenging. Saw 2 marmots. At the very top of Green Mountain hill some of us felf quite weak, maybe due to the fact that there was not enough air or the elevation was quite high. But after taking a rest we got to the very top and enjoyed a spectacular 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains. Mount Baker and Glacier Peak views were so amazing. Great hike, very picturesque and perfect for a long summer day.

Don't go without bug spray in late summer.  The flies are really bad and won't leave you alone.  If you do have insect repellant, it works great and makes this a wonderfull hike.

(copied from my website) The day started off with the weather a nice 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I decided to make the best of the beautiful day and go for a scenic hike. Opting for something a little toned down on the difficulty scale, as I just wanted to have a scenic hike, not so much a hard work out. What I got was the best of both! I sent a link to Nesse, with a ton of pictures from different trails all over the northwest and asked her to choose one. She chose a few, but finally decided on Green Mountain. Now, the pictures that I saw from Green Mountain were taken on a cloudy day with lots of fog. It still looked very interesting and I had always wanted to do that hike, so this gave me a little more incentive! Well the journey starts off with trying to find directions to the place. As its not exactly your standard mountain loop highway trail. After writting down the 15 step directions, I headed off in the truck. 54.2 miles later, I reach Darrington. From Darrington (which is the middle of nowhere) I drive another 30 miles north, into the mountains. As I approach my 30 mile mark I keep an eye out for the next turn. Whats that? Oh it looks like a side road... made of dirt... and it has my street name. Great. I take the turn, now im off road wondering where this is going to take me and just how deep I go. Just as that thought passes through my mind, I see a nicely carved sign that says "Green mountain: 23 miles" So 23 miles off road, along side a really spectacular river, deep into the bush, I spot a new sign! "Green Mountain Trail head: 6 miles" with an arror point to an even more offroad, road. I take this little branch off trail, and it goes up, and up, and up. Picture this, a road barely wide enough for 1 car, doing steep switch backs up the sound of a mountain with a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains and a nice big river below. The drive to the trail head was an amazing trip in itself. Its also noteworthy that in my time from leaving the "main" road, I didnt see one other person or car for the entire 30 miles to the trail head. And I saw a only a handful of cars the previous 30 miles. So now I get to the trail head, where I park and get ready to start hiking. The trail starts off by going into a large pine forest. Tall trees all around, but spread out enough to have a great view of the forest floor. It reminded me of a background for a bad early 90's japanese ninja movie... or another bad sequal to the mortal combat line up. After hiking just over one mile in the trees, you see a fox hole style exit. There is a hill, so all you see is a tunnel and the trail ends at the sky. Rather cool way to exit the forest, I thought. Leaving the trees behind, you are immediately welcomed by the lush, bright green meadows of the hill side. With a wonderful view of the near by mountains and a single, large, ice capped mountain. From this point on, the hike takes place all through meadows. Hiking up not too difficult switch backs, along side this green hill. You finally make it to the top, then you drop down on the other side, into a valley. Wild flowers, eagles, frogs, marmonts, florescent green ferns, crystal clear ponds, creeks, and brilliant rock formations all greeted you at once. After making your way down into the valley, you can see the summit of green mountain. The cute trail running all up the side, welcoming you to hike it. This is where the hike gets a bit more difficult. From here you have a 1 1/2 mile trek of heavy inclines. But rest assure, its not in vain! After passing through the low land meadows and frollicking with the wildlife, I made my way up the inclines. Every time I stopped and looked back over the valley and the surrounding mountains I just had to take a picture! It was so pretty, yet words nor pictures can discribe its size and its overwhelming force it has on you. Another few switch backs and you've reached some cool rock ledges that you can climb out on and rest for awhile, taking in the north cascade view. Go up a bit more and you're almost at the summit! Then when youre legs are just about to say stop and rest, you see a peak. So you go a bit further, and then you see a nother little peak, so you go even further! Sure enough, there you have it, the peak of Green Mountain. A 360 degree view of the cascade mountain range. With Mt. Pilchuck, Mt. Baker and many others right at your finger tips. The peak is actually really narrow, and you could easily fall off. It was a great place to finish my hike up and have a picnic! After eating and taking in the view, with a few great pictures I decided to try to go into a giant bowl that was made from loose sand/ash and big rocks. There was snow at the bottom and I was determined to get to it! When I started causing relativly large avalanches of medium sized boulders and my feet started sinking into the ash up to my ankles, I thought it might not have been a good idea. However I kept on! Making it to the bottom where I played in the snow for a few minutes then headed back up the steep, ashy, bowl! From there I headed back down Green Mountain and back home. Overall it was a spectacular hike, and I recommend it to anyone that likes the pacific north west and likes the out doors. It wasnt that tough and it deffinatly had its pay off, the entire way! --Travis!

I did this hike earlier in year when there was still too much snow to make it to the summit.It felt great to get up there and finish what we started months ago. The hard work paid off with wonderful 360 degree views at the top. The hike has a pretty decent elevation gain, but it's broken up nicely. The first few miles through the woods gain elevation swiftly, but once out of the woods the switchbacks are long and pretty easy. The last stretch to the summit really kicked my butt, but was well worth it. We saw 7 marmots while there. Looked just like the gophers on caddyshack. Views of the suittle river valley and cascades were priceless. I went on sunday (the 19th) and the weather was perfect. Visability was great, blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Probably around 70-75 degrees out. The stream crossings were a blessing, I drenched my bandana in them to cool off for a bit. Wildflowers just starting to poke up, I'd like to come back in a few weeks and see them really take off. A few snow patches right before you hit the lake, nothing difficult or ugly about them. Forest Service road in pretty good shape, a little rocky for the last stretch to the trailhead for my civic. Not bad if I drove 10 miles an hour. Someday I'll own a 4x4....Pretty uncrowed for such a nice sunny day. Maybe the gravel road keeps the crowds away. Not that I'm complaining! I'll be back to this one for sure.

With high temperatures and clear skies in the forecast, I took my chances with this hike so early in the season. Road 2680 is a little rough for a low clearance vehicle, but it is in good condition. It was a gorgeous day for this hike. The forest makes for a nice warm-up and the views are outstanding past the first mile. Past the tarns there is consistent snow on the trail, but for the most part it is pretty soft. I would recommend poles and gaiters at this time. The bugs are out, but so are the marmots. Tread carefully and they will even pose for pictures.

I'd love to hit this hike again once the snow melts. Trail was clear up until the last third of it, where all the sudden there was quite a bit of snow and keeping the trail was difficult. Some day I'll have the equipment to be able to fly up the trail with or without snow, but not today. We just stopped and had lunch before we got lost in the snow, then headed down. Views heading up the switchbacks were awsome, I can't wait to go back and make it to the summit. I was a little dissapointed I didn't see any marmots. Maybe not their time of year? Road getting up to the trail head was in better shape than I expected. We were able to cruise along without any real trouble. The trail starts out pretty steep, but once you come out of the woods and out into the meadows it gets better. The views are worth the work!

I had to give this one a 4 hiker. Maybe because of the wide open areas with sun beating down, maybe because of the bugs not allowing a moments rest, heck, driving up that 20 mile beat up road was a workout. Luckily, the views were so awesome, my wife and I were compelled to continue onward. The views from the top are excellent. Plenty of water spots for the dog. Great hike.