There is a trail ten minutes from our driveway with the name of our town on it, and most people who stay here have never heard of it. Easton Ridge climbs about 2,300 feet out of a creek bottom onto an open rocky crest, and on a Saturday in September you can do the whole thing and see almost nobody.
The reason is not that it is a bad hike. It is that the trailhead is genuinely hard to find, and the sign at the trailhead points at a different trail.
The numbers
From the Washington Trails Association, which is the best-maintained public record of this trail:
- Length: "6.0 miles, roundtrip"
- Elevation gain: "2,270 feet"
- Highest point: "4,470 feet"
- Difficulty: "Moderate/Hard"
- Parking pass: "None"
- Trailhead coordinates: 47.2672, -121.1737
That gain-to-distance ratio is the honest headline. Roughly 2,270 feet over three miles up is a steady, unrelenting climb, and the Moderate/Hard rating is fair. This is not a stroll with kids — for that, the lakeside and rail-trail options in our roundup of hiking trails near Easton are the better call.
The Forest Service page for Trail #1212 does not publish a length, so the WTA figure is the one to plan on. The Forest Service does list the things that matter once you are standing there: season of use is "Spring - Late fall," the trail is "Hiker only," and it is "Primarily a day hike, no water."
Finding the trailhead is the actual difficulty
Both agencies describe the same approach from slightly different angles, and it is worth having both in your head.
The Forest Service version: "From I-90 Exit 70 (13 miles west of Cle Elum), go north to Forest Road 4818," turn right, drive north for a mile, then turn right at the trailhead sign onto a spur road that runs about half a mile through a clearcut to the trailhead.
WTA's version adds the turns you will actually be making: take Exit 70 — the one signed for Lake Easton State Park — turn left over the freeway, go left at the T onto Kachess Dam Road, stay right to remain on Kachess Dam Road, which is Forest Road 4818, and drive about 0.8 mile of mostly gravel. Then turn right onto an unmarked one-lane dirt road; the trailhead is 0.6 mile down it.
"Unmarked" is the word to sit with. You are looking for a one-lane dirt road with nothing on it to tell you it is the right one.
Then the part that sends people up the wrong trail. WTA: "You start at a small, unimproved trailhead for two trails: Easton Ridge and Kachess Ridge trail," and "A sign there indicates Kachess Ridge Trail, but not the Easton Ridge Trail."
So the only sign at the trailhead names the hike you did not come for. Easton Ridge is the right fork, heading downhill. If you find yourself climbing immediately on an obvious signed trail, you are on Kachess Ridge #1315 — a fine hike, a completely different day, and about twice as long.
One useful tell if you are unsure which trail you are on: the Forest Service lists Easton Ridge as "Hiker only," while Kachess Ridge is open to horseback riding and mountain biking. Tire tracks and hoof prints mean you took the left fork.
There is parking for about ten vehicles including the shoulder, no toilet, and no amenities of any kind.
The route, and the junction that decides your hike
From the right fork the trail drops to Silver Creek, follows it upstream to a dam and a footbridge, and crosses. Going downhill first, on a hike with 2,270 feet of gain, is disorienting on the way out and unwelcome on the way back — you finish this hike with a climb.
The decision point comes early. Per WTA: "You will reach the trail junction with the Domerie Divide Trail at about 1.3 miles and 1,100 feet of elevation gain." Turn right there and climb along the ridge toward the rocky high point.
That junction is worth noting for a second reason: nearly half your total elevation gain is done in the first 1.3 miles. The trail front-loads the work.
Most hikers turn around at the rocky summit, which is where the views are and where the maintained experience effectively ends. The original trail keeps going — the Forest Service describes #1212 as beginning at Forest Road 4818-203 and ending at the Forest Boundary, dropping along the ridgeline to an eastern end at a primitive road on private land. The agency also notes it can be combined with Domerie Divide #1308.2 and neighboring trails into a multiday loop, which is the serious version of this trail and a different trip entirely.
Three practicalities that catch people
No pass. WTA lists the parking pass as "None." That is genuinely unusual for a national forest trailhead in this corridor — most of the trailheads up toward Snoqualmie Pass want a Northwest Forest Pass, and the state parks and DNR land nearby want a Discover Pass instead. Which pass covers which lot around here is the whole subject of our recreation passes explainer, and Easton Ridge is the rare local trailhead that asks for nothing.
No water. The Forest Service says it plainly. You cross Silver Creek early and then climb a dry ridge for the rest of the day. Carry everything.
No toilet. There are no amenities at the trailhead. The nearest reliable restrooms are at Lake Easton State Park, back at the interstate.
Season, and what the 2026 fire closure actually said
The Forest Service lists the season as "Spring - Late fall." At a 4,470-foot high point on the east side of the crest, that means snow lingers on the upper ridge well into spring and returns early. Shoulder-season hikers should expect snow up top before the trailhead has any.
The 2026 fire season complicated this, and the detail is worth getting right because the summaries got it wrong.
Closure order 06-17-03-2026-45, covering the Three Queens, King and Goat fires on the Cle Elum Ranger District, was "effective October 1, 2026 and will remain in effect through October 31, 2026, unless rescinded sooner." A portion was lifted partway through — the amended order, "Executed in Wenatchee, Washington this 5th day of October, 2026," restored access to the north end of Cle Elum Lake, the north end of Kachess Lake, and Keechelus Ridge east of I-90.
Reading the order itself rather than a summary of it, two things stand out for this trail:
- Easton Ridge Trail is not on the closed-trails list. It appears only in the order's "Rec Sites Affected" list. The twenty-plus trails closed by name include Rachel Lake 1313, Pete Lake 1323, Mineral Creek 1331, Gold Creek Valley 1314, Thorp Creek 1316 and a segment of the Pacific Crest Trail — but not #1212.
- Kachess Ridge 1315, which shares the trailhead, is closed only "North of the Knox Creek Trail" — the far end of that trail, miles from the Exit 70 trailhead.
- Forest Road 4818, the access road, is not on the closed-roads list. The roads named are 4309, 4312, 4600, 4613, 4616, 4616-114, 4617 and 4930.
The order expires October 31, 2026 on its own terms. By the time most people read this it will have lapsed — but fire orders get extended, reissued, and amended, so check the forest's alerts page before you drive, and the Cle Elum Ranger District is at 509-852-1100.
Where it fits among the hikes from here
Easton Ridge is the middle rung locally. It is harder than anything at the lake and easier than the big Snoqualmie Pass objectives.
- Want flat and easy? The rail trail through town — see our guide to the Palouse to Cascades Trail at Easton
- Want a short lake walk? Lake Easton State Park, ten minutes east at the same exit
- Want a comparable climb with a lake view? Kachess Beacon, covered in our hiking roundup
- Want wheels instead of boots? Mountain biking near Snoqualmie Pass — and note Easton Ridge itself is hiker-only
Where we fit
We are at I-90 Exit 63, about seven miles and ten minutes west of the Exit 70 turnoff for this trailhead — close enough that you can be walking by eight and back for lunch.
The practical case for basing here rather than driving from Seattle: this is a trail you want to start early on, because it is a dry south-facing climb and the parking is ten cars. Staying eighty minutes away means leaving the city at six. Staying ten minutes away does not.
On the property there are easy trails for the day after, four private lakes with no fishing license required, and cabins, a 14-person lodge, 22 full-hookup RV sites and tent camping on 54 private acres. Call 425-622-2790 or get in touch.
Conditions as of October 2026
Trail statistics are quoted from WTA, and the season, use restrictions, water note and directions from the Forest Service's own page for Trail #1212, both read on the date of this post. The fire closure details are quoted from order 06-17-03-2026-45 as published on the forest's alerts page. Trail conditions on an unmaintained ridge change with every winter — blowdown, brush and erosion are normal here — so read recent trip reports before you commit to the drive.