[TellimaChris]

I was always curious why the trail on High Divide north of Mt Baker doesn’t extend west beyond Excelsior Pass and connect up with the Church Mt trail 4 miles to the west. If it did that would enable a grand traverse of almost 10 miles of unbroken above treeline ridge-top rambling! But for some reason I’ve never heard of anyone doing it or read any reports.. though I have scouted both ends of the route previously and figured it quite doable. So I decided to give it a try. To make this a proper loop I drove up to the Church Mt trailhead and parked my truck, where I’ll hopefully end my day. Then I road my bike 2.5 miles and 1000’ down the forest road to Mt Baker Highway, which I followed east 8 miles and 1400’ UP to the welcome pass trailhead. The road to the trailhead was steep so I stashed my bike in the woods and started walking up, my legs already a bit rubbery from the bike ride. My pace to the pass was slow, both due to the aforementioned bike ride and also because the Welcome Pass trail is really steep, and relentless. 2700’ in 2.3 miles. Is there a steeper maintained trail in the North Cascades? Once on the ridge though, the going was easy and the views expansive. The trail meandered westward, through blueberry hillsides, wildflower meadows and the occasional patch of forest. There were lots of clouds around, obscuring the upper reaches of the higher mountains like Shuksan and Baker, and increasingly over the top of High Divide as well. Sun breaks were interrupted periodically by cold damp and breezy in-the-cloud spells. The wildflowers were truly fantastic.

It's steeper than it looks

First view of High Divide

Mt Shuksan peaking through the clouds and wildflowers

Mt Baker is in those clouds somewhere

Five miles west towards Excelsior Pass traffic picked up, including some campers, likely from the newly repaired Canyon Creek Road and the Damfino Lake trailhead. From here I continued west on the ridge via a use trail which remained fairly distinct for a mile or so up and down a few minor highpoints. Soon however, I began to notice this part of the ridge was much rockier, and the ridge crest much narrower than the rolling meadows of the trailed eastern part. When a particularly steep and cliffy knob rose above a narrow notch, the path which had taken me thusfar withered away as the casual ridge walkers were turned back. Keeping to the ridgeline looked difficult, so I took a slight trail around the knob to the south, across an unnervingly loose and rocky meadow. There wasn’t really a trail anymore, I saw a lot more evidence of mountain goats than humans by this point. I continued traversing on the sidehill hoping to intercept the next notch, which required some dicey moves on some really loose rock. Continuing on, the ridge crest was more or less followed, which got a lot more forested and brushy. Often I could find open meadows, but a lot was straight up bushwhaking. There were occasional glimpses of something resembling a path, but they were always short lived. Lots of goat tracks.

High Divide looking east

High Divide looking west

Crux of the divide. I ended up going around to the south (left) of the knob

Looking back over the untrailed western part of the divide

After several more ups and downs, one could see through the clouds the cliffs of the Church Mountain complex, where a mass of older volcanic rocks was thrust over the younger marine sedimentary rocks I’ve been traveling on all day. The day was wearing on and I had already traveled 22 miles (12 on foot), and I was getting tired. However, I couldn’t help one small diversion into a lovely basin on the north side, the headwaters of Canyon Creek. It was flat and expansive, with dramatic cliffs to the north, and definitely a place to visit again someday.

The final stretch, beyond that last ridge is Church meadows

Headwaters of Canyon Creek

Finally, Church basin meadows!

Up and over the divide and I was greeting by views of Church Basin, sunny and lush with high cliffs perched above. Looking especially beatific here in the late afternoon sun. But I still had to go down about 600’ to the trail, which was no easy task. The meadows were steep and slick, still wet from rains the day before, and I slipped and fell on my behind more than once. A kind of controlled sliding on all fours was the optimal descent method for the steeper portions. Then, finally, back on the trail! I was exhausted but high on adrenaline from a challenge met and I half walked/half jogged the 2.5 miles back down to my truck. It ended up being a total of 26 miles traveled, 16 of them on foot, in a little over 8 hours.

GPS track, 26 miles total

[olderthanIusedtobe]

That is really cool, thanks for the TR! I was just up there last week. I followed the boot track from Excelsior Pass toward Church Mtn. for maybe 1/2 mile. I thought it might continue all the way, but as you found it doesn't. On different outings I've followed High Divide from Excelsior Pass to Welcome Pass and also cruised along the ridge from Welcome Pass to the last knoll just above the Yellow Aster Butte lakes. That's all nice terrain up there.

[puzzlr]

Beautiful shots. I like your way of trip planning -- "If it goes it will be awesome". Only one way to find out.

[Eric Hansen]

Thanks! Been up there several times and often contemplated a thru hike but thought the view headed east might be the better of the two options. Either way High Divide is two thumbs up. I've done most of the way from Welcome to Yellow Aster ponds. I posted once, scanning the map of Gold Run Pass to Low Pass as a way to continue eastbound. Someone described it as unappealing.

[TellimaChris]

I've done that stretch east from Welcome Pass to the Yellow Aster tarns, Gold Run Pass, Low Pass, and Twin Lakes. The headwall going up to Low Pass is steep but manageable, and the basin below is quite beautiful. Other than that it's largely on trails, formal or otherwise. The views definitely get better and the terrain more alpine as you head east. Such a beautiful area! Now that I know I can hook it up to Church Mt Trail, there's an even grander traverse to be done from Church all the way to Twin Lakes Probably have that be an overnight though..

[Eric Hansen]

Would be nice to do Tomyhoi along the way. Nice sleep spots at tree line there. Is it possible to continue past Twin Lakes? Traverse Goat Mt., or too sketchy? Going east to Hannegan Peak/Pass could be nice but I remember some discussion of a crux near Mamie Pass. Memory has the tough spot as loose class 4, just east of the promontory east of Mamie Pass.

[James Wells]

[D. Inscho]

Nicely done, and beautiful. The ridge lines up on the Nooksack Crest can be brutal with stout and brush spruce growth. Of course the NE slopes can be open but they are steep. I usually end up doing more elevation gain/loss than desired in that area.