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Mountain Loop

Our Mountain Loop Auto Tour traces a 112-mile journey from the Puget Sound lowlands to the Cascade Range, all within the boundary of Snohomish County. The upper portion of the Mountain Loop between Silverton and Darrington is closed in winter, usually from late November or December into March or April, depending on winter snows. The route also includes 15 miles of gravel roadway (condition depends on how recently it has been graded and maintained).

We begin our tour in Everett (population 91,488; altitude sea level-450 ft.), an important industrial city and port. It occupies a hilly peninsula on Port Gardner bay and is located north of Seattle.

Visit the Snohomish County Museum (2817 Rockefeller Avenue) for an overview of the city history. Captain George Vancouver, exploring the Northwest waters for the English crown, visited the area in 1792.

The downtown area has several buildings of interest -- the Snohomish County Court House (Rockefeller between Wall and Pacific) was built in 1910 in the California mission style. The Everett Theatre (on Colby between Hewitt and Wall) dates from 1901. Another historic structure is the restored 1925-era Monte Cristo Hotel, on Wall between Colby and Hoyt.

The city has pleasant residential neighborhoods overlooking the bay, the Olympics and the Cascades. Many of the large homes lining Rucker and Grand avenues north of the downtown area were formerly owned by timber barons.

At the north end of town, where the Snohomish River makes a broad turn to empty into Port Gardner bay, American Legion Park hosts the Everett Area Arboretum. At the southern end of Everett, Forest Park features a children's zoo. A plaque commemorating Vancouver's landfall and "discovery" of Everett is located in Grand Park, at Grand Avenue and 19th Street.

On the waterfront, visit the Everett Marina Village with its collection of shops and eateries. The Everett Naval Station, established in the early 1990s, is just south of the Village. The base is home to several naval vessels including the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. Just offshore lies Jetty Island, a wildlife refuge, home to seabirds and a colony of California sea lions; the Everett Parks Department operates a shuttle boat from the marina to the island during the summer.

Eastern capitalists selected the deepwater harbor site for a major industrial center in the early 1890s. The panic of 1893 dashed their dreams, but by 1900 Minnesota timber entrepreneur Frederick Weyerhaeuser had established a sawmill on the fledgling town's waterfront. Within a decade, it became the world's largest sawmill. Labor disputes plagued the mills in the early 20th century, culminating in the Everett Massacre of November 5, 1916, when seven men were shot and an unknown number drowned.

Everett's economy, once dependent on forest products, is today dominated by service industries, aerospace and the military. Boeing selected an abandoned air force base south of the city as the site for its 747 manufacturing plant in the mid-1960s. The Boeing Tour Center, on SR-526, offers weekday tours (reservations accepted) of its plant, including a visit to the world's largest volume building where 747, 767 and 777 aircraft are assembled.

From downtown Everett, head east on Everett Avenue which becomes US-2 at the interchange with I-5. At the eastern edge of town, it bridges the Snohomish River, then speeds across the fertile farmlands of Ebey Island via an elevated causeway. A few spots on the island are actually below sea level, the lowest land elevation in the state. During winter and spring, Snohomish River floodwaters occasionally inundate the island.

Watch for the turn-off for SR-204, which climbs from the river floodplain to a rolling, forested plateau dotted with lakes.

Head north on SR-9, then after a few miles watch for the junction with SR-92. This road marks the beginning of the officially designated Mountain Loop.

Just to the south, the city of Lake Stevens (population 6,361; altitutde 215 ft.) fronts its namesake body of water, which was named for Washington's first territorial governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens in 1859. It started as a lumbering center, then became popular for its lakeside cabins and summer homes. There is a covered bridge, built in 1998 on Catherine Creek, and the small Lake Stevens Historical Museum (1804 124th Avenue NE).

Highway 92 continues eastward through a landscape of mixed woodland with scattered farms to "Gateway to the Mountain Loop," Granite Falls (population 2,347; altitude 391 ft.). Located at the edge of the Cascade foothills on the banks of the Pilchuck River, the town, settled in 1884, is named for a series of rapids on the nearby South Fork Stillaguamish River. It prospered first as a lumbering center. In 1892, it became a station on the railway that connected Everett with the Silverton and Monte Cristo mining districts. An 1890s mansion at Wabash and Indiana streets houses the small Granite Falls Museum.

The state highway ends at Granite Falls; at the second traffic signal in town, turn left and continue east on the signed "Mountain Loop Highway." The 55-mile section from Granite Falls to Darrington is designated as a National Scenic Byway. Just north of town and west of the bridge over the Stillaguamish River (locals call it the "Stilly") watch for the sign for Granite Falls -- a short trail leads through the woods to the falls and the adjacent old fish ladder.

The Mountain Loop Highway follows the north bank of the South Fork Stillaguamish River into heavily wooded foothills. Much of this landscape has been logged, some of it twice. Just past the 3-mile marker, look for a great view of the snowcapped crags of Three Fingers (altitude 6,854 ft.). The valley widens through the community of Robe (population 200; altitude 890 ft.) with its scattered homes. Beyond Turlo Creek, we enter the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Pick up a National Forest pass (required to legally park at trailheads and in recreation areas along the route ahead) from a U.S. Forest Service Information Center in the hamlet of Verlot (population 170; altitude 980 ft.). You can also inquire about road and trail conditions as well as recreation activities in the area.

A few miles east, Forest Road 42 branches to the right, winding seven miles up Pilchuck Mountain to a state park picnic ground on the site of a former alpine ski area. Unreliable snows caused the ski area to close in the early 1970s. A 2-mile trail climbs the 5,300-foot summit.

Back on the Mountain Loop, we find the valley narrows to a canyon. Moss cloaks the trees. The highway passes dozens of Forest Service recreation areas -- trailheads, picnic areas and campgrounds. Most are closed in the late fall, winter and early spring.

Along this stretch you'll glimpse old mine tunnels, the route of the long-abandoned railroad, and remnants of ghost towns, all indicative of the gold, silver and copper mining boom that swept the canyon in the 1890s. Silverton (population about 25; altitude 1,475 ft.), founded in 1891, was an important silver and copper mining camp. Its brightly painted buildings, some dating to the late 19th century, dot the hillside north of the highway.

Just east of Silverton at Deer Creek, the Mountain Loop Highway is gated in winter.

Four miles down the road is the ruins of Big Four Inn, a popular resort which opened in 1920. By 1924, 6,000 visitors per year were riding the train to the resort to golf, hike, dance, attend conventions, or just relax amid the mountain scenery. Fire destroyed the resort in 1949; concrete foundations are all that remain.

An easy one-mile trail leads to the Big Four Ice Caves. This unusual feature forms where a stream emerges from a perennial snowfield at the base of Big Four Mountain. The peak towers above the site, soaring to over 6,100 ft. A cool micro-climate exists in the environs of the snowfield and many sub-Arctic plants thrive, despite the low elevation (1,900 ft.).

Note: it is very dangerous to approach the snowfield; debris often falls down the precipitous slope making the proximity hazardous. Do not, under any circumstances, enter the ice caves.

The Mountain Loop continues climbing between peaks, reaching the 2,360-ft. summit of Barlow Pass. This marks the watershed between the Stillaguamish, which we have just traced up to the pass, and the Sauk, which flows north to the Skagit River, which in turn empties into Puget Sound.

At the crest a branch road strikes off to the east, reaching the former gold mining town of Monte Cristo (no permanent population; altitude 2,756 ft.), spectacularly set amidst 6-7,000-foot snow clad peaks. This was a wide-open mining town of 2,000 people in the 1890s. Today its buildings are crumbling ruins. Mine workings can be seen on the surrounding mountainsides -- ore was transported down to the townsite on tramways, then loaded onto the railway for transport to the smelter in Everett.

Mining dwindled in the early 1900s; the last mine closed in 1920. Monte Cristo continued to be a popular recreation destination, accessible by train, but that ended in 1936 when the railroad was abandoned. Floods seriously damaged the Monte Cristo access road in December, 1980. It remains closed to vehicles but is a relatively easy 4-mile hike following the railroad right of way from Barlow Pass.

At Barlow Pass, the Mountain Loop Highway becomes a narrow gravel road. There are usually some sections of washboard surface, but the road is fairly well maintained during the summer and early fall and is easily passable by a passenger car. Speeds on the gravel section average 25 to 35 mph; watch for oncoming traffic on curves.

From the pass, the road winds along the South Fork Sauk River. There are several primitive recreation sites along this stretch of the loop and tantalizing glimpses of the nearby high peaks. At the White Chuck Viewpoint, just south of the junction with Forest Road 23, the panorama stretches across the White Chuck River to the craggy heights of its namesake mountain. The name derives from the milky color of this stream born on the slopes of 10,541-foot Glacier Peak, out of sight to the east -- 'chuck' is a Chinook jargon word meaning "river."

Just past the FR-23 junction we're back on pavement. The valley widens and it's a smooth ten-mile drive into the old logging town of Darrington (population 1,136; altitude 566 ft.). The 6,600-foot peak of Whitehorse Mountain towers over the town to the southwest. Settlement dates to the 1880s, when the area was known first as Sauk Portage, then later as The Burn (local Native Americans traditionally set fires to patches of woodland, which subsequently grew back as berry fields).

In 1891 residents opted to name their community Barrington, but the moniker was misspelled when the new post office was established in 1894. Darrington started out as a way station on the wagon road to the Monte Cristo mines, then prospered as a logging center and railhead. A number of Tarheels (people from North Carolina) settled here in 1914-1916. Many of their descendants still live in the area, and, although their regional accents have largely disappeared, some of their traditions are kept alive during the Bluegrass Festival held each July.

From Darrington take SR-530 west, passing scattered homes and farms. There are great views of Whitehorse Mountain to the south across lush pasturelands. Its flanks host some of the lowest-elevation glaciers in the 48 states. The highway follows the North Fork Stillaguamish River, passing a string of almost-forgotten hamlets, former stations on the now-abandoned railway. Oso (population 246; altitude 206 ft.), one of the few that still has an identity, was settled as Allen in the 1880s. The name was changed to the Spanish word for 'bear' in the 1890s to avoid confusion with the Mason County town of Allyn.

Arlington (population 11,713; altitude 116 ft.) stands just below the confluence of the north and south forks of the Stillaguamish. Settlers homesteaded on the rich valley soils in the early 1860s. Railroads arrived in the 1880s, and a station was established here under the name of Haller City. An adjacent townsite was also platted as Arlington, named for the national cemetery near Washington, DC. Residents voted to consolidate the two settlements under the name Arlington in 1903. The town prospered as a lumbering center and once ranked among the top producers of shingles. Olympic Avenue leads through the pleasant business district. The Stillaguamish Valley Pioneer Museum (20722 - 67th Ave. NE) has exhibits on the area's history.

Highway 530 leads 3 miles west through farmland to busy Interstate 5. Just east of I-5 exit 206 isArlington Airport, a busy general aviation field. The airport was a World War II-era Naval Air Station and the Arlington Air Station Flying Museum occupies a 1943 hangar displaying a variety of military and civilian aircraft. Each July Arlington Airport hosts a nationally-renowned experimental aircraft fly-in.

Back on I-5 continue south to Marysville (population 25,315; altitude 15 ft.), founded as a trading post in 1877 on Ebey Slough, a branch of the Snohomish River. Named for the California town on the Yuba River, Marysville preserves the Gehl House, built in 1884 of hand-hewn cedar, in Jennings Park (north of SR-528 on Armar Road). The park also has a seasonal petting zoo and the Washington State University extension service demonstration garden.

The city celebrates its agricultural roots with the annual Strawberry Festival each June. The Tulalip Indian Reservation, established by treaty in 1855 and the site of the earliest Roman Catholic mission on Puget Sound (1849), adjoins Marysville to the west. Just west of I-5 exit 199 the Tulalip Casino beckons gamblers. Quil Ceda Village, located on the tribe's business park just west of I-5 exit 202, is the state's first municipality organized and administered by Native Americans.

Just south of Marysville, I-5 bridges Ebey Slough, then traverses the floodplain of the Snohomish River. Dikes and levees protect the fertile farmland from regular flooding, although some of this low-lying country is usually under water each winter. The freeway rises to span the Snohomish River, and we're back in Everett where our Mountain Loop tour began.