My sister Shelley and I set our sights on the Harts Pass area for a challenge from the Ultra Pedestrian Wilderness Challenge series that was known as the North Cascades Peakbagging Challenge. The goal was to connect as many North Cascades peaks as possible in a single continuous push. The challenge has since been retired, but they have dozens of other awesome challenges to offer still.

We ended up bagging 6 peaks in total. We chose to do it as a single day adventure and stuck to peaks didn't require scrambling, but half of them included off trail travel. The idea was that of all the routes people created, they would pick one to be a permanent route in their challenge series, so we wanted to make it a bit adventurous without scaring anyone away from our route who wasn't comfortable scrambling.

Our route took us South from Harts Pass to bag Harts Pass Peak, Tatie Peak and Grasshopper Peak. From there we headed back to Harts Pass. We didn't use the car as a resupply point even though we passed nearby again, as this challenge was meant to be done unsupported, rather than self-supported or supported. We then headed North from Harts Pass to bag Slate Peak, Windy Buffalo, and Tamarack Mountain. On the way back to the car the North Cascades were bathed in alpenglow making for breathtaking views the entire way. A pretty magical ending to a very satisfying day.

Our route ended up being about 30 miles with 6500' of gain. We opted for peaks along the way that either had a path to the summit or very open country to travel through. We passed even more along the way that required scrambles or bushwacks. The PCT made for an excellent backbone for the route. The area is so gorgeous, it really is a peak-bagger's paradise.