Mineral Butte
- Lucas Peterson
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
1/27/2026
Mineral Butte is a great winter climb that seems to be getting much more attention now that the Index-Galena Road has been repaired. The climb starts shortly after crossing the North Fork Skykomish River on Salmon Creek Road. The road is gated shortly after the crossing.
There is an old switchbacking logging road on the lower part of the mountain that is quickly being reclaimed by nature. These can be used to make a gentle ascent up to about 3800’, but with the increasing presence of alder and other vegetation encroaching on the road, it isn’t completely smooth sailing. Plus, the long switchbacks add significant distance, so I opted to just ignore the road entirely (except for maybe 1/3 of a mile from the car) and cut cross country straight up through second growth forest. It had been since the summer since I had done any significant off-trail travel, and it weirdly felt really good to be thrashing my way through dense salal bushes upon leaving the road.
The first switchback cut presented the most difficult terrain, with some fairly steep and bushy sections, but beyond the next road intersection the forest was mostly open and pleasant. I crossed the road many times, making consistent progress and saving lots of distance (and probably time) in the process. The first snow patches began to appear at about 3000’. Before long snow cover was consistent, but the cold temperatures and settled snowpack had created a very supportive crust, so snowshoes were not needed.
At about 3400’ the road finally began pointing in the direction of the route and I followed it and the snowshoe tracks of climbers before me for another half mile. Eventually the trees began to get bigger as I moved out of logging territory. The final 500 feet or so of the climb steepened significantly, and the forest began to open up to great views back to Spire, Gunn, and Index. I had put on snowshoes at this point even though they weren’t strictly necessary. They provided enough bite in the hard snow to make me feel secure but were a bit awkward on the steeper bits. I also brought out my ice axe here in an abundance of caution. Nothing is too steep on Mineral Butte, but the snow was crusty enough where a slide could happen if I were to slip.
The summit views from Mineral Butte are awesome. I particularly liked looking back toward Del Campo, Gothic Peak, and Sheep Gap Mountain. I tried my best to ignore the slightly alarming state of the late-January snowpack and enjoy the awesome place I was in.
To descend the steeper bits at the top I wore microspikes instead of snowshoes, which was definitely the right call. The snow was softening up a bit, and I could easily plunge step down, which made the descent really easy and fast. I never put on snowshoes at all for the entire descent. I retraced my steps and followed my ascent track as best I could through the woods. Overall, my roundtrip time was 5 hours and 18 minutes, including a good summit break. The supportive snow made for a pretty expeditious trip to this beautiful part of the Cascades.
Final Stats: 8.9 miles / 4241 feet of gain
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