Darrington is a town in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located in a North Cascades mountain valley formed by the Sauk and North Fork Stillaguamish rivers. Darrington is connected to nearby areas by State Route 530, which runs along the two rivers towards the city of Arlington, located 30 miles (48 km) to the west, and Rockport. It had a population of 1,347 at the 2010 census.
Granite Falls is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located between the Pilchuck and Stillaguamish rivers in the western foothills of the Cascade Range, northeast of Lake Stevens and Marysville. The city is named for a waterfall north of downtown on the Stillagumish River, also accessible via the Mountain Loop Highway. It had a population of 3,364 at the 2010 census.
Sauk-Suiattle, or Sah-Ku-Me-Hu, is a federally recognized Native American tribe in western Washington state in the United States. The tribe historically lived along the banks of the Sauk, Suiattle, Cascade, Stillaguamish, and Skagit rivers, in the area known as Sauk Prairie at the foot of Whitehorse Mountain in the North Cascade Range.
The Sauk River is a tributary of the Skagit River, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in northwestern Washington in the United States. It drains an area of the high Cascade Range in the watershed of Puget Sound north of Seattle. The river is a popular destination for fly fishing. It is a National Wild and Scenic River.
The Stillaguamish River is a river in the northwestern region of the U.S. state of Washington. It is mainly composed of two forks, the longer North Fork Stillaguamish and the South Fork Stillaguamish. The two forks join near Arlington. From there the Stillaguamish River proper flows for 22 miles (35 km) to Puget Sound. The river's watershed drains part of the Cascade Range north of Seattle.
The San Juan Skyway Scenic and Historic Byway is a 236-mile (380 km) All-American Road, National Forest Scenic Byway, and Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma, San Juan, and San Miguel counties, Colorado, USA. The byway forms a loop in southwestern Colorado traversing the heart of the San Juan Mountains. The San Juan Skyway reaches its zenith at Red Mountain Pass at elevation 11,018 feet (3,358 m). Mesa Verde National Park was one of the original UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Silverton Historic District and the Telluride Historic District are National Historic Landmarks.
Big Four is a 6,160+ feet mountain summit in the Cascade Range, located about 20 miles (32 km) east of Granite Falls, Washington. It is situated 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Barlow Pass along the Mountain Loop Highway, near the Monte Cristo area, on land administered by the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Debris piles on the mountain's northern flank form as a result of avalanche activity. These fields of disturbed snow are able to remain year round in the shadow of the mountain. During the summer months snow-melt streams flow beneath the debris piles and cause caves to form in the ice. The caves vary in size from season to season and are unpredictably dangerous. The mountain is open to the public and a large snowfield can be reached by a short trail, but the snowfield itself is off-limits due to cave-ins and slides which have killed hikers in incidents in 1998, 2010, and 2015.
State Route 530 (SR 530) is a state highway in western Washington, United States. It serves Snohomish and Skagit counties, traveling 50.52 miles (81.30 km) from an interchange with Interstate 5 (I-5) southwest of Arlington past SR 9 in Arlington and Darrington to end at SR 20 in Rockport. Serving the communities of Arlington, Arlington Heights, Oso, Darrington and Rockport, the roadway travels parallel to a fork of the Stillaguamish River from Arlington to Darrington, the Sauk River from Darrington to Rockport and the Whitehorse Trail from Arlington to Darrington.
Barlow Pass is a mountain pass on the west side of the Cascades in Washington on the Mountain Loop Highway between Silverton and Darrington. It is a popular trail head for access to the old mining town of Monte Cristo and has a branch off to hike up to Gothic Basin, which is about a mile in.
State Route 92 (SR 92) is a short state highway entirely within Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The nine-mile (14.5 km) highway connects SR 9 in Lake Stevens to the Mountain Loop Highway in Granite Falls.
Monte Cristo is a ghost town northwest of Monte Cristo Peak, in eastern Snohomish County in western Washington. The town was active as a mining area for gold and silver from 1889 to 1907, and later became a resort town that operated until 1983.
The Robe Canyon Historic Trail is a county park and hiking trail located east of Granite Falls, Washington. The park, maintained by Snohomish County, encompasses 970 acres (3.9 km2) of wilderness area along the Stillaguamish River and features railroad tunnels, river beaches, and hiking trails.
A major landslide occurred 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Oso, Washington, United States, on March 22, 2014, at 10:37 a.m. local time. A portion of an unstable hill collapsed, sending mud and debris to the south across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, engulfing a rural neighborhood, and covering an area of approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km2). Forty-three people were killed and 49 homes and other structures destroyed.
The Whitehorse Trail is a rail trail in northern Snohomish County, Washington, connecting the cities of Arlington and Darrington. The 27-mile-long (43 km) trail uses a former Northern Pacific Railway spur built in 1901 and abandoned in 1990. The trail has been in development since the county government purchased it in 1993, with some sections open to the public.
Stillaguamish Peak is a 5,720+ ft mountain summit near the western edge of the North Cascades, in Snohomish County of Washington state. It is located five miles north-northwest of Barlow Pass near the Monte Cristo area, and is situated on land administered by the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. It rises 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above the Stillaguamish River and the Mountain Loop Highway.
The Everett and Monte Cristo Railway was built to transport gold and silver ores from mines in the central Cascade Mountains to a smelter in Everett, Washington. After the first mining claims were staked in 1889, entrepreneurs began exploring the possibility of building a railroad to exploit the find. Construction began in April 1892 and the first train reached what became the town of Monte Cristo in August 1893. The mining boom ended in 1903. Poor ore quality and quantity played a role in the decline, but the failure of the railway to maintain service to Monte Cristo in the face of floods, landslides, winter snows, fires, and other disasters was also a factor in the collapse of the industry. Nonetheless, the railway hauled out approximately 300,000 tons of ore over the course of its operations.
Del Campo Peak is a prominent summit near the western edge of the North Cascades, in Snohomish County of Washington state. It is located south of Barlow Pass along the Mountain Loop Highway near the Monte Cristo area. It is situated on land administered by the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The mountain is named for a mining claim on the mountain's slope. The nearest peak is Gothic Peak, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the southwest, and Foggy Pass is the low point between the two peaks. Foggy Lake lies in Gothic Basin below the south face of Del Campo Peak and collects precipitation runoff which ultimately drains to South Fork Sauk River via Weden Creek. Runoff from the west side of the mountain drains into the Sultan River, and the north side drains into headwaters of the Stillaguamish River. In terms of favorable weather, the best months for climbing are July through September.
Jumbo Mountain, is a 5840+ ft summit near the western edge of the North Cascades, in Snohomish County of Washington state. It is located four miles south of Darrington, Washington, along the Mountain Loop Highway. It is situated in the Boulder River Wilderness on land administered by the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The mountain was named by miners for its resemblance to an elephant. The nearest higher peak is Buckeye Peak, 3.34 miles (5.38 km) to the west. Precipitation runoff from Jumbo Mountain drains into tributaries of the Stillaguamish River and Sauk River.
Nels Bruseth was an American mountaineer, naturalist, author, and painter. He was a forest ranger employed by the United States Forest Service from 1916 to 1951 at a ranger station in Darrington, Washington, where he was a civic booster.
Sperry Peak is a 6,120+ ft mountain summit located in the South Fork Stillaguamish River Valley near the western edge of the North Cascades, in Snohomish County of Washington state. It is located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east of Barlow Pass near the Mountain Loop Highway and the Monte Cristo area, on land managed by the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Its nearest higher peak is Vesper Peak, 0.74 miles (1.19 km) to the west, and between them share a high connecting ridge. The peak was named for A. D. (Dick) Sperry, a Silverton mining prospector during the 1890s. The Dick Sperry Picnic Area is near the historic site of the abandoned Sperry-Iverson mine near Silverton.
SR 92 in Granite Falls 
SR 530 in Darrington 
