Length
Elevation Gain
Highest Point
Start at one of the higher trailheads in the state (6560 feet) and follow the trail even higher. In early summer, if the thinner air doesn't take your breath away, the flowers and views will.
Start by going through a classic barbed wire fence gate, a reminder that this is summer grazing country. After the gate, the trail passes through a forest, burnt silver and black forest by the 2006 Tripod Fire. Your route roughly follows Freezeout Ridge, eventually climbing out of the fire zone and into meadows at 1 mile and 7300 feet of elevation. In early summer, the next section of trail is a flower garden of paintbrush, asters, & lupine, quite similar to the red, white, and blue for July 4th. For a few years, there was even a guided flower walk on this trail.
At 1.6 miles is a junction with the first of two informal trails to the top of Tiffany Mountain. To the right is the continuation of the Freezeout Ridge trail as it traverses to Whistler Pass. To the left is an obvious trail up the south side of Tiffany Mountain. It climbs through grass and lichen covered rocks, reaching the 8245-foot summit at 2.1 miles from the trailhead.
The 360-degree views from the summit include the North Cascades to the west, the Loup Loup Pass area to the south, the Okanogan Highlands to the east, and peaks in British Columbia to the north. Little Tiffany Lake and Tiffany Lake are down to the northwest. From here, the local view of silver and black trees has a few pockets of green that survived the 2006 fire, and now you can even see your car at the trailhead.
The expansive views pretty well explains the use of Tiffany Mountain as a lookout from 1931 to 1953. But now, all that remains are many rusty nails, a few anchors, and the fire sight mounting post.
Once on top, there are two ways to descend. One is to return the way you came. The other is to head east from the summit and follow the informal trail for 0.7 mile down to Whistler Pass at 7580 feet. From the pass, turn right and follow the Freezeout Ridge trail 2.1 miles back to the trailhead.
Extending your Hike: The description thus far has primarily been for the early to mid-summer hikers, but this hike can be done in late spring, as soon as the road is snowfree. In this season, snowshoes may be useful and care should be taken at the summit, as large cornices overhang the steep north side of the ridge. The traverse section of the Freezeout Ridge trail to Whistler Pass has a couple of steep chutes with that hold snow into early summer.
In fall, there are larch on the north side of the mountain that provide some fall color. In late fall, there is a narrow time window where you can drive to Freezeout Pass, or near it, and snowshoe the shorter route to the top of Tiffany Mountain.
Trailhead
