William Johnson submitted this route which starts off Hwy 97 south of Oroville, WA, and ends on top of Mt Hull (4619'):
Trail starts two miles south of Oroville WA at the Whistler Canyon trailhead parking lot. Trail gains 3300 foot in elevation. Whistler Canyon is a 13 mile section of the Pacific Northwest Trail. The 13 miles is all uphill to the Wilcox Mountain trail head on top of Mount Hull. Lots of flooding in spring and trail can washout in places. First 5 miles climb steeper and pass Black Diamond Lake Trail and McDonald Trail. At 6.6 miles there is a picnic table at a huge lookout in the provided picture, good place to stretch and snack. The rest of the trail is more runnable and rolling but still uphill. At mile 9 the trail branches to the Wildhorse Trail to the right and you have to look for a Wildhorse Spring trail sign at mile 10 that goes left uphill that can easily be missed. Can get very hot in summer with rattlesnakes. Moose, cougar, and bear frequent this trail due to many artesian spring fed small lakes. Many downed trees and thick brush can obscure trail.
Some more info is here: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/whistler-canyon-trail
Comments
William, this is a great route, in fact my wife and I are putting together a 50 mile race linking up the trail network in Whistler Canyon next month. I have run this in the opposite direction and thinking of running it from Whistler Canyon TH next weekend. Just out of curiosity any reason you chose to take the Wild Horse Springs trail as opposed to following the 100 trail?
I’d like to do this route. Do you have a gpx file you can post or some link to your garmin? It seems you turn off the scenic trail and take a more southern route to Wilcox via Wildhorse. I cannot find this trail on any of a dozen maps. I want to be sure to accurately duplicate your route.Â
Never mind. I was able to use Strava heatmap to create a gpx of the route. I will be attempting a solo unsupported ascent and OAB on 7/14 beginning at Whistler Canyon TH to Wilcox TH via Wildhorse Spring Trail And returning to WC. This will be a lovely cozy warm summer day and Im anxious to do a route without complete snow coverage that I can actually run.Â