Pasayten Wilderness is one of the largest wilderness areas in Washington State, and covers some 531,539 acres of mountainous country. Its northern edge crosses the U.S./Canadian border, while to the south it extends to Methow Valley.

Pasayten contains 600 miles of trails (many of them deceptively gentle at the start and progressively labor-intensive as they crawl up endless switchbacks into high country), deep canyons, high mountain peaks, and an abundance of wildlife that includes elk, mule deer, black and white tail deer, moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, cougar, wolverines, ermine and weasles, the fabled gray wolf and grizzly bears. Skirting more than 50 miles of Canada's border and encompassing the crest of the Cascades, this big piece of very wild country is also home to the largest population of lynx in the Lower 48 states.

This incredible wilderness boasts almost 150 peaks that reach over 7,500 feet in elevation, 160 or more bodies of water, and at least as many waterways, some fierce enough to have carved incisive canyons with sheer walls. Rugged ridges in the west flatten into park-like plateaus toward the east, with deep drainages on both sides. Its diverse forest changes from vegetation typical of western Washington (fir, cedar, western hemlock) to growth typical of eastern Washington (fir, pine, larch).

Most of my ventures into the Pasaytens started at Billy Goat trail head 20-some miles north of Winthrop, traveling north, crisscross fashion, over the peaks and ravines to the Canadian border and back over the course of ten to twelve days with a base camp at Larch Pass. If you visit, you will find the Pasaytens to be incredibly open, vast, easy to travel in most places, stunningly beautiful, full of panoramic views, and lonesome in such a way as you'e never known before. For people are not common to see in these parts like they are elsewhere. Expect to experience a mix of sun, rain, snow, booming thunder and lightning along the way. And silence. Incredible, moon and starlit silence with an eerily beautiful wolf howl somewhere off in the wooded distance.

Photo credit: Brianhe

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