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Trip Report    

Winter Scramble - Cabin Mountain

A pretty trip in an accessible but surprisingly unfamiliar area of the Cascades.

Richard Burt Richard Burt
March 05, 2020
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • The Cabin Creek road out of Easton is plowed down to a parking area maybe a mile south of Monahan Mountain.   We parked in a 3-car pullout just past the nose at the north of Monahan Mountain.  Snow conditions were good, with a firm surface (with good bite) covered by a couple inches of new snow for most of the way.  In a few steep places the underlayer was icy and the loose snow had a tendency to start to slide.

We pretty much followed the track posted by Andy Boos on Peakbagger.  However, we found it advisable to leave the Paloose to Cascade trail a little earlier than he did, crossing to the road system leading up Cabin Mountain shortly before the Palouse to Cascade trail crosses a stream clearly noted on the Easton USGS map.   When the road system ends at 3,900' we headed up at times steep slopes (less steep a bit to the left) to top out Cabin's NE  ridge, then turned right and followed the east ridge to the summit.  This ridge eventually narrowed.  At one point we had to drop to the right below a couple of gendarmes, then regain the ridge.  While there were several open view spots, the summit and much of the route was in open (and hence avalanche protected) pretty forest.