Ruby Mountain

Summit: 7,426ft

Native lands of the: Upper Skagit, Sauk-Suiattle, and Nlaka’pamux

Hike stats: 10.5m 5,543ft of gain

Ruby Mountain is a true gem in the North Cascades National Park service complex and Stephen Mather Wilderness! The coolest fact about Ruby is that it is almost an island. The mountain is bordered by Ross Lake to the north, Diablo Lake and Thunder Creek to the west and Panther Creek to the east. There is only a half mile stretch of the mountain’s border that is not covered by water. Thanks to its nearly 4,000ft of prominence views of these alpine waters and the surrounding glaciated peaks are incredible. I was most intrigued by the view looking north to Ross Lake and the double summited Hozomeen Mountain.

1st trip: 2/23/2024

Ruby Mountain had been on my winter to do list for quite some time. Thankfully the weather lined up while we were visiting Seattle. Outside of a wedding this was our first trip since moving away from Washington and we found ourselves right back! There are many places I want to explore outside of Washington, but more than half of my mountain to do list is in the evergreen state!

The North Cascades Highway was still closed for the season but parking at the gate only added a few road miles to the hike.

It was a beautiful crisp morning walking along Ross Lake!

The standard winter route is on the northwest side of the mountain following Happy Creek. Once off the road we enjoyed a half mile of trail before heading straight up the steep mountainside through a dense forest and eventually deep snow for 5,000ft with no trail.

We reached snow around 3,200ft.

Navigational challenges made for slow going, but once we reached deep snow it became a major slog. Even with snowshoes we sank into the fresh untracked snow a foot or more with each step. The view of Ross Lake and Hozomeen Mountain made it worth while!

In front: Sourdough Mountain (we did this in 2017 but were socked in) In back: Elephant Butte, Luna Peak an Stetattle Peak. EB and Luna are high priorities!

Around 6,600ft after 5,500ft of gain we called it quits. I would have loved to tag the summit and see the view south but we got our money’s worth and were ready to continue the slog with gravity on our side.

Despite not summiting we were filled with joy! We had this beautiful mountain to ourselves, the February weather was pristine and our legs held up enough to get us here!