[Nancyann]

A couple of winters ago NWHikers Frank and I made it part way up Mineral Butte, which rises high above the Silver Creek Valley and the Mineral City ghost town site, which is becoming more inaccessible as time goes by. It was raining and the snow made it slow going amongst the downed trees and brambles covering the Mineral Butte logging road, so we turned around. I was able to talk Hiking Partner into giving it another try on Sunday, which is a day I never like to spend traveling on Highway 2, but since this was a last minute change in plans, we left late and planned on returning very late, hopefully missing the frustrating traffic nightmare that Sunday afternoon always promises. We arrived at the road end, on the other side of the Howard Creek Bridge at 1pm, a great alpine start for a challenging day. The first mile up the old road was quite pleasant, as it rises above the beautiful Salmon Creek which swirls and crashes through a rugged canyon below. As we progressed upwards though, the road became covered with a wide array of increasingly annoying vegetation, most notably the little berry vines I call "trippers". They were strewn everywhere across the road, quietly waiting for the right moment to cause me to fall flat on my face..

Mineral Butte Trail 10/15/17

Mineral Butte Trail 10/15/17

Mineral Butte Trail 10/15/17

Mineral Butte Trail 10/15/17

Every once in a while, for some inexplicable reason, the road would be free of vegetation, giving us false hope that the going would get easier as we gained elevation. That was not the case though, and when the trippers began to diminish, the slide alder took over with a vengeance, causing us to crawl on our hands and knees.

Mineral Butte Trail 10/15/17

However, at about 2800 feet, we began to get some peek-a-boo views, which enticed us to keep going. In addition, the vine maple was a brilliant scarlet, adding to the beautiful views.

Mineral Butte Trail 10/15/17

Gunn and Gunshy from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

In addition to Gunn and Gunshy, views began to open up towards rugged Spire Mountain to the south.

Spire Mountain from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

Spire Mountain from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

Spire Mountain from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

Spire Mountain from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

We were hoping to reach the 4,000 foot level and a rock outcropping for some promised phenomenal views, but the road became badly washed out, with a four foot deep gash running down the middle, followed by more slide alder tunnel crawling, so we turned around at 3,200 feet, about 4:30 in the afternoon. I was excited to get some views into the elusive Silver Creek Valley after scrambling up a rock outcropping.

Peaks above Silver Creek drainage from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

Peaks above Silver Creek drainage from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

Peaks above Silver Creek drainage from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

Peaks above Silver Creek drainage from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

Peaks above Silver Creek drainage from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

I don't really have a "bucket list", but getting to the old Mineral City historic site at the head of Silver Creek has been high on my list for several years, so at least I could look down on it. And what a rugged area it is! Hard to believe there used to be a couple of hotels, a brothel and a store in the late 1800's up there! The Mineral Butte logging road switchbacks above Silver Creek, which you can hear roaring through a deep gorge far below, and then crosses over to Salmon Creek, which tumbles out of the remote Ragged Ridge headwaters. We enjoyed some amazing views into the heart of the wild Sultan River and Elk Creek headwaters as the road switchbacked towards the west.

Elk Basin and headwaters of Elk Creek from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

Headwaters of Salmon Creek from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

And then back towards Gunn and south down the vast North Fork Sky drainage towards Index and Persis.

Gunn and Gunshy from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

Looking south down the North Fork Skykomish drainage from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

As the shadows fell, one more view westward toward one of my favorite areas, the peaks near Boulder and Greider Lakes.

Prospect and Static Peaks from Mineral Butte 10/15/17

We carefully made our way back down the old road as dusk fell, donning our headlamps at 7pm for the last half hour of hiking in the darkness. Listening to the entrancing music of Salmon Creek and stopping to look at the stars as they began to brighten was the frosting on the cake to a very fine day on a mountain not too many people visit! Footnote: It must have been our lucky day, because by the time we reached Highway 2, about 8:30pm, we had the whole road to ourselves all the way to Sultan.

[iron]

i think mineral butte is one of my few (<3) DNS summits that i need to go back and get. we stopped at 5k because of open slopes at the top with a ton of new snow and concerns over avi danger. https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7990729&view=next

[Nancyann]

I hope you can get this one, it's an interesting challenge and some unique views into some really wild and remote areas. What a mess the road is though, I'll be back with clippers!

[FiveNines]

Cool spot. Have fun exploring.

[Mike Collins]

I did the ascent on May 31st when snowcover helped us avoid some of the brush. But from car to summit took 3 hrs.

[Nancyann]

Mike, after reading Iron's TR and various replies to it, I wonder if you are one of the few who made it all the way to the summit in recent years. Three hours sounds pretty quick to me. After three hours of jungle warfare we only made it to 3200 feet. Being able to do the upper part in snow sounds like the way to go. Of course, timing it so you don't have to slog through the washed out trail around the Index-Galena Road washout helps too! On a related note, there was a gigantic crane parked at the Howard Creek Bridge, hopefully a step forward in the road repair..

[Mike Collins]

I didn't do the peak recently. Here is my trip report. http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/tripreport-2002053102 But I have also done it in winter. http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/tripreport-2004011803

[Nancyann]

Interesting to read your WTA reports, Mike. Now the road is gated shortly after it splits from the Silver Creek Road, so there is a longer road walk. Your comment about traversing over to Crested Butte is very intriguing!

[iron]

[Steve Erickson]

I have been up and over Mineral Butte many times. You can avoid quite a bit of the brushy road by going into the timber in a few different places. It is very steep, unless you want to zig zag, but I always opt for the direct route. You will have to cross the brushy road once near the old fork in the road and once again go into the timber. Rather than combat the brush, I take the timber route up to Mineral Butte.

[Nancyann]

Iron wrote: "keep in mind:mike collins is a machine, so his times are always ridiculous." After reading his recent trip NWHikers trip report, I had a suspicion that this was true.

[Nancyann]

Steve Erickson, PM sent!