Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest

It was a very gray and cloudy morning at the beginning of September when we met with our friend Kym at an unmarked pullout on Index-Galena Rd in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. We were planning to descend Bear Creek, a relatively new technical route that is fast becoming well-known, several hours north of Seattle. This creek was first descended in 2021 and I had participated in the third descent last year, but Max and Kym had not done this route yet. Located deep in the forest, the approach drops right into a popular swimming hole along the North Fork of the Skykomish River. The swimming hole is right next to Bear Creek Falls, an extremely scenic little sequence of intense waterfalls running through a polished granite chute. Walking past the swimming hole, we crossed the river at a point where it wasn’t running very high and started our [...]