This weekend marks the first time the Mountain Loop Highway will be opened in it’s entirety since 2003. Ravaged by floods and heavy snowfall in years past, the roadway’s long-awaited opening provides access to some of the most scenic day hikes in the Seattle vicinity.

Barlow Pass is the headwaters for an assortment of great trails rising above the historic mining town of Monte Cristo. A four mile walk along the Sauk River and through the woods provides glimpses of the towering peaks above as the old roadway gradually climbs towards the town site. Monte Cristo is a former gold mining hot-spot-turned-ghost-town that’s slowly in the process of being reclaimed by the encroaching forest. Old signs, rotting cottages, and memorial trees planted for victims of WWI remind visitors that this once was a thriving mountain community. The town’s crumbling remains provide a glimpse of a frontier-life mining town and is a worthwhile destination in itself.

From Monte Cristo, several options for serious cardiovascular work present themselves, all much harder to get to than the relatively mellow stroll from the highway to the ghost town. Day hikers can head from here to Glacier Falls, backpackers can scramble the steep grade to Poodle Dog Pass and Silver Lake, but are advised to get an early start if not staying overnight.

Check trail conditions before tackling anything with serious elevation gain so you don’t end up schlepping through more late-melting snow than you can handle.

Directions: From Granite Falls go left on the Mountain Loop Highway and head East for 34 miles to Barlow Pass. Park here and proceed on foot past the gate on the Monte Cristo Road for 4.0 miles. Additional trails start from this point.

Photograph of unrelated highway courtesy of lachance from the Seattlest Flickr Pool