Wenatchee Crest Snowshoe

Well it’s been a bit of a weird snow year. Warmer than normal temperatures and pineapple express rain storms has made for an unpredictable snow pack but there is snow up high. Wenatchee Crest is a good first of the season snowshoe hike as it doesn’t have a lot of elevation gain and the route has no avalanche risk. Depending on what condition the snow is in the day of our hike this could end up being a microspike hike so please bring both spikes and snowshoes. It might also be a hike were we use both during the day depending on trail conditions. The official Sno Park lot is on the south side of Highway 97 at Blewett Pass but we can usually find parking on the north side where our trail starts so look there first. The WTA hike description suggests going 3 miles in to a viewpoint and turnaround which we can do. In the past we’ve ventured past that point to a knoll, shown as 4885 on the Gaia base map, which has a really nice view of Mt. Rainier on a clear day. This extra bit adds about 2.5 miles round trip and 560 feet of elevation gain so we can decide at the time if the conditions warrant the extra effort and if there’s enough interest amongst our group that day.
Let’s plan to be at the trailhead by 9:30 AM, ready to hike after that when we’re all geared up.

-Distance: 6.0 miles (or 8.5 miles)
-Elevation Gain: 400 feet (or 960 feet)
-Pass required: Sno Park Permit
-WTA link: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/wenatchee-crest-snowshoe
-Trailhead privy: Yes, but on the south side of Highway 97 in the official Blewett Pass Sno Park lot. Otherwise 1.6 miles prior to the trailhead there’s the Pipe Creek Sno Park which also has a toilet.