Desolation Peak
When TAJ and I met (another story for another day), we found common ground in our mutual interest in both reading Jack Kerouac’s Desolation Angels and desire to hike up to the fire lookout tower Kerouac lived in during the summer of 1956. The following adventure within the North Cascades of Washington state unfolded as a result of our conversation.
Jack Mountain can be seen looking south from Desolation Peak
View of Ross Lake from the East side trail
As one of my goodbye-to-WA adventures, I chose to finally backpack into the North Cascades along Ross Lake and climb Desolation Peak. If you are familiar with the beatnik author Jack Kerouac, then you may know that he spent a summer as a fire lookout for the U.S. Forest Service, which inspired him to write the novel Desolation Angels.
You can access Desolation Peak trail on the northeast side of Ross Lake via boat just below the Canadian border. Or! You can hike the 20 miles East side trail that follows the shoreline of Ross Lake. Don’t worry, it’s flat. Then, hike the 9.3 miles of switchbacks up to the peak gaining roughly 4,500 feet of elevation.
Either way, the views are otherworldly and you won’t regret the experience. TAJ and I planned the long mileage for our 4th of July weekend in 2017. He drove two hours to pick me up after getting off work (at 7am) and drove us the two hours to the ranger station to pick up an overnight permit.
You may be working that math out and determining if I meant one night. If so, then yes you found my blunder already. At the time, I was confused whether the 20 miles included the hike up to the peak of Desolation. Spoiler alert: it did not.
It also was not the mileage for the whole round trip either. But at this point in the story, we didn’t know that. We were happily munching on bison burgers for lunch in a cute roadside cafe in the middle of nowhere excited to experience our first trek together.
The East side trail skirts the shoreline of Lake Ross
Soon though we pulled into the empty trailhead, organized our gear, took some pictures by the sign, and marched up the trail in good spirits. Despite the length of the trail, the flat easy walking kept us chatting and snapping pictures of the suspension bridge and beauty of the mountains and lake glistening in sunshine. The bluebird day and warm weather felt supportive of this epic expedition.
Arriving at our campsite in time to make dinner and settle in for the night, TAJ discovered he left the gas for our stoves in the bed of his truck. Without fuel to heat our dinner choices, we nibbled on snacks instead refusing to consider how that would affect our coffee situation in the morn.
The fire lookout Jack Kerouac lived in for the U.S. Forest Service during the summer of 1956 remains active today.
We woke up early and were able to set off quickly since we didn’t have a way to heat our coffee and simply ate more protein bars for sustenance. The mile to the start of the Desolation trail felt easy and full of promise for our day ahead. However, once we began the intense switchbacks towards the peak, I desperately wanted to eat my coffee grounds raw for a boost in energy. This trail is not for the feint of fitness.
There is a campground a mile from the summit. The holiday weekend and last-minute permits left zero availability there for us and after experiencing the massive climb we preferred the easy hike to the shoreside campsite. Otherwise, we would have arrived after dark. Although, maybe it would have broken the trek more evenly for us since we still needed to breakdown camp and hike out after enjoying the summit? Meh. It’s all the same mileage no matter how you split the climb.
Anyway, stepping onto the summit of Desolation brings one chills with its 360-degree views. Another bluebird morning that we had to ourselves. Except we found out the fire lookout was manned! The ranger had arrived just the day before as well and invited us in to admire the cabin, the views, the mementos of ode to Jack Kerouac, etc. He shared information about the tools he uses and a bit of what his life is like there every summer. We were enamored and grateful. In case you’re curious, there is a video documenting his life. It’s worth a watch: Ode to Desolation Peak short film.
View of Hozomeen Mountain from Desolation Peak looking north into Canada
Walking on the snow field at the top felt a bit like walking on the moon. It was glorious to admire Hozomeen Peak and the Canadian Cascades to the north as well as the Nohokomeen Glacier on Jack Mountain to the south. Otherworldly. Peaceful. Pristine. A top life experience for me. Not sure about TAJ but he seemed impressed and stirred by the moment too. The vastness of the area, the views, is a lot of what keeps me coming back to wild spaces. This adventure lives up to the hype.
After soaking it all in we knew a long day of hiking out was ahead of us so we thanked the ranger and returned to the trail. Down is faster but not necessarily easier. At the campsite we broke down camp and donned our heavy packs to slog our way along through the 20 miles of shoreline trail. If you didn’t do the math earlier, we are halfway into a 40-mile day.
We have a few crumbs of beef jerky left when TAJ takes a break to sit on a rock so I decide to feed them to him. I also mention that we cannot think about food until we are a mile from the trailhead. “Bad luck,” I say. Within site of the trailhead though, I mention that I could ingest an entire pie from the cafe we ate at the day before.
Treats left for Sprite after the adventure
Instead, TAJ whisked me away to the tourist town of Winthrop, which is dressed as an old western town. Our romance blossomed while sipping wine together relaxing sore muscles in a hot tub behind the cabin we stayed in. We explored the bookstore, selecting meaningful books to take home to memorialize our experience.
I recommend this trek to anyone and not just because it holds such a special spot in my heart for my burgeoning relationship with TAJ or the literary vibes or even the views. I recommend it because of its uniqueness. I’ve always aspired to book a night in an old fire lookout tower, yet I haven’t planned that adventure for myself. Maybe this fall will change that for me and I’ll get to hike up to a quaint little spot, stay the night in an old tower, and have another story to share with you. Have you taken a chance and overnighted in one? How was it? Do you recommend the experience? Please share the intel!