Grouse Ridge
Hike Review
Mike, Harmon, Cassie, and I hiked up to Grouse Ridge Lookout. We parked near the restroom of Grouse Ridge Campground and hiked up Grouse Ridge Road because I had read that the last 100 yards are tough for most cars. Though, having hiked, I think my truck would have made it up just fine; Harmon’s Ford Edge, not so much.
The hike was along a rocky road with no shade, so it was hot—and dusty. At least it wasn’t very long.
There were not too many spaces to park at the campground, but there were more spaces along Grouse Ridge Road past the campground. There are multiple places to turn the car around, so I’d just recommend driving up.
The views were mighty fine at the top, especially from the lookout. The restroom looks great—unlike how it smells.
The bathroom at the campground was clean and nicely stocked. The bathroom at the lookout was clean, but smelly.
What I Learned
Grouse Ridge Road requires high clearance, but not 4×4.
What Happened?
1.1 miles, 30 mins, 260 ft of ascent
I had read about Grouse Ridge a few years ago, and so I had it in the back of my mind for a while. On this weekend, we were going to go backpacking at a nearby lake, so we decided to stop on by for a quick warm-up hike. We met up in Auburn for breakfast (at the excellent Awful Annie’s) and drove up to Grouse Ridge together. The road had a few rough spots, but I can’t imagine it’d stop anything but the passenger cars with not much clearance (4x4 was not required). We parked at the campground and started hiking.
The hike up was a bit steep at the end, but it’s only half a mile, so it wasn’t too bad at all. And at the very top, the wind cooled us down and helped us enjoy the wonderful 360-degree views (with lakes in every direction we could see). We even saw Island Lake, which was our backpacking destination. After inspecting the lookout and the bathroom, we headed back down and headed our cars towards Carr Lake.
.5 miles, 17 mins, 142 ft of ascent
But before we headed off to Carr Lake, we stopped by a viewpoint just a few hundred yards down the road and hiked a quarter mile up to another nice viewpoint. We again admired pretty views of the surrounding lakes and mountains, before eventually hiking down and going on our way.
