Pechugh Peak

Overview

Pechugh Peak located east of the town of Greenwater and north of Mount Rainier is not a very well known summit. At 785 feet of prominence, this mountain is an official summit in Washington. But that being said it is not very popular with hikers. This is largely due to the fact that there is no trail to the summit. Therefore this peak requires bushwhacking no matter what direction one is coming from. Only peakbaggers typically choose this mountain. There was logging on this mountain in the recent past that went all the way to just short of the summit. The new tree seedlings are now anywhere from 10 to 15 feet and travel through them can be extremely tough and bushwhacking through them is not advised. Luckily the logging stopped just short of the summit.

The forest on the summit is of older growth and there are no views on the exact summit. However just feet from the summit is a decent view of Pyramid Peak and mountains further to the south. Roughly 100 yards to the west of the true summit lies another better viewpoint. This viewpointopens up with good views from Mount Rainier to Pyramid Peak. This is clearly the best viewpoint on this entire mountain. There were also good views of Kelly Butte, Colquhoun Peak and Kakawak Peak from the forest road located on the west side of Pechugh Peak.  

Getting There

From Route 410 in Greenwater: Just south of Greenwater turn east on NAD 70 and stay on it roughly 7.5 east. Stay on the road until you run into NAD 7030 where you want to head north (left) and follow the road as it rises up all the up to a gap where there will be a T way intersection. You want to head make a right onto Route 7060. Roughly two mile on the road you will run into a gap between Kakawak Peak and Pechugh Peak. If you have a passenger car park here or if you have a high clearance vehicle then veer left on the road that head straight to Pechugh Peak. Take the road until it runs into another intersection. Make a right and either take the road all the way to either the turnabout or all the way to the end. 

Route

 

 

From the parking area by the fire pits located in the gap take the road that is directly to Pechugh Peak. If you drive this road it will require a high clearance vehicle. If you are walking then just walk this road. Make sure to turn right at the first intersection at about the 4800 foot marker. At the south hairpin turn you will see a path to taller trees. This line of taller tree will head all the way to the summit and this area is much easier than the trying to go through the seedlings.

There is bushwhacking here however there is some hints of a boot path on this route from time to time. Take this through the trees all of the way up to the summit. You will know you are getting close when views to the south start to open. There is basically no view on the actual summit but there are good views located just to the south of the summit.

I have read that there is another way to the summit from north that you can bushwhack. Just take the road all the way to the end and bushwhack up to the summit. I don't know though how scenic this route is or how easy the bushwhack is. You will miss many of the southern views that the other bushwhack has.

Red Tape

NO RED TAPE!!

When to Climb

I would only hike here when the road up to the gap between Kakawak Peak and Pechugh is open. This would be good fall peak when some of the vegetation in the area is changing.

Camping

Apparently the parking area here isn't a bad place to camp judging by the fire rings. It would make an excellent place to view Rainier and the surrounding areas.

External Links

Pechugh Peak on Peakbagger Page 

Pechugh Peak ListofJohn Page.

Images

View Pechugh Peak Image Gallery - 18 Images