Sulphur Mountain by Green Mountain overlooks Suiattle River Road. It’s also a stone’s throw away from the notable Glacier Peak in Glacier Peak Wilderness. A lookout tower once occupied the ridge at the end of the official trail.
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Sulphur Mountain at a Glance
Access: Sulphur Mountain Trail
Round Trip: 11 miles
Elevation Range: 1560′-6735′
Gear: microspikes
Route Info: HikerJim
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: with guidance
Sulphur Mountain Trail
After years of anticipation, Suiattle River Road was open to the very end. So we went up to Sulphur Mountain that’s long been on my list. HikerJim on WTA wrote a detailed report of the hike last November. But the snow conditions didn’t seem to have changed much since then.
The trail instantly shot straight up the hill once we left the road. There were only a few flat areas along the way. We crossed one stream en route, and it was our only water source). But not before the path dipped downhill a short distance to a bridge.
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Through the Snowy Terrain
The snow level was around 5000’. Though, we soon lost the trail to continuous snow. Later we saw boot tracks at the 5200′ flat area, and so I put on microspikes there. But I began to wonder if it was a mistake to leave my snowshoes behind.
Glad I was able to use the old tracks to keep from sinking too much. Later we went above the trees at 5800’, where the landscape slowly formed. Up until now, we had no views in the trees for over 4000’. It was also hard to see anything through the dense forest.
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Sulphur Mountain Lookout Site
We followed the old boot tracks up to the ridge. Before long, we reached the old lookout site at just below 6200’. Then traversed southeast for another .1 mile to the higher ridge bump. We had unobstructed views there.
The summit ridge was another mile east. Plus, it’s another 500′ higher than the lookout site. Though, not able to see anything past the ridgeline was a bit annoying. It was still early in the day. So I decided to try going up to the summit.
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The Final Stretch
The tracks we had been following turned around at the lookout. And what do you know? The snow deepened right away as we began moving farther east. Meanwhile, I cursed myself for not bringing the snowshoes.
We stayed on and south of the crest. Then we carefully made our way around the two knobs. The terrain there was steep with lots of crusty snow. Microspikes did ok there. But crampons surely would’ve provided much better traction.
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Sulphur Mountain Summit Plus Outro
The east slope didn’t have as many trees. Plus, it also looked like avalanche terrain. So we stayed close to the ridge instead. Then we moseyed our way up to the top through trees.
Summit was still under the snow, except for a few exposed boulders. But we steered clear from the corniced west side, as it’s a sheer drop into Lookout Lake Basin. The pups and I enjoyed the panoramic view for over an hour. Then we slowly made our way down.
See more trip photos here.