Goode Ridge Trail

The southeast-facing trail climbs steeply through forest, with Bridge Creek below. The first broad views open in hillside meadows just beyond mile 2. Early in the season, look for wildflowers; huckleberries ripen in the middle and later parts of summer. A small seep is about a mile up, but it can be too weak to use by late summer, so don’t plan around finding water on the trail.

Near the ridge, the path crosses a short mountain-hemlock grove, then returns to open heather meadows. At 6,600 feet, the former lookout site looks across McGregor Mountain and the Park Creek and Bridge Creek drainages; Green View Lake lies far below, with the Cascades crest stretching north from Glacier Peak. The lookout is gone, though scattered glass remains among the rocks. The jagged ridge continues north, but this trail is not a climbing route to Mount Goode. For a photo, use the rocky ledges at the lookout to show the scale of the valley and peaks.

The signed junction is 0.3 mile upstream of Bridge Creek Camp on the north side of the old road, just west of the large Bridge Creek bridge. It’s reached on foot from SR 20 via Bridge Creek or Park Creek Pass, from Stehekin via the Old Wagon Trail, or from Cascade Pass via the Upper Stehekin Valley Trail. Those approaches add distance; the 10-mile figure here starts at the Goode Ridge junction. Goode Ridge is day-use only, with no camping along the trail. Backcountry permits are limited for overnight stays elsewhere, and pets aren’t allowed.

This is a dry, strenuous climb. The seep about a mile up may be unusable by late summer. High-elevation snow can hide the upper trail into late July in many years, and later after heavy-snow winters; early-season hikers need snow-travel experience and an ice axe if they plan to reach the ridge.