Oakes Peak
- Mar 1
- 3 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
3/1/2026
Eric and I teamed up for a fun ascent of Oakes Peak, a summit that makes you work for the awesome views of the North Cascades from its summit.
Bacon Creek Road (FS 1060) had some potholes as usual, but we were able to drive to nearly the starting point without any problems before our progress was blocked by flood debris that had spilled over the concrete pad that crosses Oakes Creek. I think this jumble of rocks and logs came down during the atmospheric river events in late fall and early winter. It didn’t look like it would be too much effort to clear using some heavy machinery, but I’m not sure how much of a priority this road is.
We parked just short of this point, and crossed the creek, which necessitated a few rock hops. Beyond this point, we simply turned into the woods and began climbing uphill. The forest down low was draped in moss and had a primeval feel on this misty morning.
It wasn’t long before the slope noticeably steepened, and we were able to follow an in-and-out faint climber’s path through the salal underbrush. It was easy to lose, but we were generally able to stay on some semblance of a path for more time than I was expecting.
Snow began to appear around 3000’ and started in earnest at the first road crossing at about 3400’. We were able to go without snowshoes for a bit, but it became clear that they would be essential tools further up.
We continued up the relentless slope (with snowshoes on) and crossed the road several more times. There were a few sections of younger, denser, timber near the road crossings that were a bit annoying to move through. Somehow, the slope steepened even more for the final thousand feet to the summit, and we had to make slight route-finding decisions to avoid steeper areas or small cliff bands. When in doubt, just find the path of least resistance and keep moving up!
It was tough going in the heavy snow, but we eventually popped out to our first view of Triumph and the rest of the North Cascades near the summit. A final open snow slope brought us up to the top – Oakes is in an incredible location. Bacon, Hagan, Blum, and Baker dominate the western skyline, while Triumph rises sharply to the northeast. Meanwhile, the rest of the range is laid out to the east and south. It was t-shirt weather once again, and we took a good bit of time to relax on the hard-earned summit.
The way down was straightforward through the snow, which was perfect for plunge-stepping with our snowshoes. By the time we were back into the salal undergrowth on the ridge, I figured we would have no problem picking up the traces of climber’s path that we had followed on the way up. This was somehow not the case, and it was much harder to find on the descent. We found it here and there, but we would lose it just as quickly as we would find it. Still, there is only one way to go – down – and the footing was generally good, so we resorted to just striding through the undergrowth.
We were both relieved to reach Bacon Creek Road 8 hours and 15 minutes after we left it (which was slightly longer than I anticipated) and were thrilled with the awesome day in the North Cascades.
Final Stats: 5.9 miles / 4956 feet of ascent
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