Ebey Hill by Frailey Mountain near Arlington stands above North Fork Stillaguamish River. At the northern foothills lies Whitehorse Trail, spanning 27 miles along Highway 530 to Darrington.
See more trip photos here.
Ebey Hill at a Glance
Access: North Fork Stillaguamish River Bridge
Round Trip: 9.3 miles
Elevation Range: 120′-1780′
Gear: none
Route Info: Ken Russell
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: with guidance
The Preface
I remember seeing Ebey Hill from Frailey Mountain and thought it looked flat. So I looked online and found only a few reports. Then after digging, I realized the few visits were due to issues around private property.
During a recent hunt for a new place, I came across the hill again. But this time, a few more ascents have popped up in the past two years. So I thought perhaps the land ownership had changed at some point.
Private Property Boundary
Due to timber harvesting and murky private land ownership, exercise discretion when going cross-country.
See more trip photos here.
North Route Through Logging Terrain
From the highway pullout before Cicero Bridge, we crossed Whitehorse Trail and walked up the road. After making a right onto the grassy path, we reached the road’s end by a grass field. I looked around and soon noticed a roadway up higher.
We went over a small rock slide from the brushy upper path, followed by a water gully. Soon, we left the overgrowth and went uphill through lots of ferns. Then we reached the logging boundary at 900′ onto bulldozer tracks.
See more trip photos here.
The Final Stretch
Our route consisted of machine tracks, logging debris, blackberry vines, and old and new roads. Before long, we were northwest of Ebey Hill and dove into the trees through more ferns by a stream. Then we went onto an old roadway south of Point 1670.
Going straight south to the top meant going through the second-growth forest. Instead, we stayed on the brushy roadway and walked down to Ebey Mountain Road to go west. Then we made a right at the four-way and went left onto a brushy path.
See more trip photos here.
Ebey Hill Summit Views
After the path ended, we continued north in the trees to the summit ridge. Then a short traverse west took us through a few small clearings to the flat top with tree stumps. This indistinct summit had views to the north and west.
Frailey Mountain and Stimson Mountain, which we visited last year, sat to the north. Then to the west, the expansive Stillaguamish River flowed through the great plains. Despite the 1200’+ prominence, only a sliver of the river at the foothills was visible.
See more trip photos here.
Outro
A road below the summit took us down to the four-way through a quarry. We went west on Ebey Mountain Road to an unmapped roadway that ended in half a mile. Then it was an agonizing 500′ west through blackberry vines to the road. Sorry pups!
The road soon took us north back to the logging boundary. But this time, we stayed on the main path until we needed to scramble again. Then we stopped by the water gully before making our way down to the highway pullout.
See more trip photos here.