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Mount Erie

Submitted By: Eliza Penick on Apr 23, 2009
Administrator: Peter Franzen
Elevation: 1,300 feet
Latitude: 48.4499  Longitude: -122.6202 
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Description 

  • *Most of the description is taken from a local guide book--see below for details**
Mount Erie is actually within city limits, located just south of Anacortes. Features some 30 miles of hiking trails, as well as popular teenage party sites & exceptional views of the Olympics and Puget Sound. Though it is a mountain there are no really large expanses of rock, but instead short cliffs & crags hidden in the steep madrona, fir & hemlock forests on the flanks of the mountain. For decades a virtual backwater of the Washington climbing experience, it now seems perched on the edge of a renaissance as the growing number of modern climbs become more widely known (this visitor went on a weekday in April & was alone on the mountain).
Three main features: Powerline Wall, The Snag Buttress & Summit Wall.
Climbing type: sport, moderate trad routes, & a few mixed routes (good opportunities for top rope also)
Gear: small rack of gear to 3 inches & quickdraws. Most routes can be descended with a single 50-meter rope.
Rock type: diorite, highly textured & featured, excellent to climb on but few continuous cracks & cliffs of any significant size.
Weather: located in the rain shadow of the Olympics, so offers the potential for dry climbing year round. March to October best, always bring layers.
Camping: no camping on Mount Erie, but several campgrounds nearby.
Further Reference: Weekend Rock (WA) by David Whitelaw & Climbing Mount Erie by Dallas Kloke.


Getting There 

Drive time from Seattle: 1.5 hours
Approach times: 5-30 minutes
Getting there: Exit I-5 at Burlington and take SR 20 west for about 15 minutes. Make left at obvious stoplight & (still on SR 20) head out towards Deception Pass (worth seeing on its own). In a few miles reach a fork & trend right on Campbell Lake Road. Mount Erie will be visible on the right. In a few more miles the Mount Erie Grocery (stop for beer or Kloke's guide book) marks the right-hand turn onto Heart Lake Road, & in one more mile the state road to the top will branch off to the right. Several miles up the winding road leads to the summit parking areas.


The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Mount Erie:
The Sting   V1     Boulder   Erie Mountain Drive Areas : Defcon Boulder
Intruder   V2     Boulder   Erie Mountain Drive Areas : Defcon Boulder
Pit Of Thorns   V3     Boulder, 12 feet   The Slopes : Jacobs Ladder
Defcon Three   V5     Boulder   Erie Mountain Drive Areas : Defcon Boulder
Jacobs Ladder   V7     Boulder, 12 feet   The Slopes : Jacobs Ladder
Zig Zag   5.7     Trad, 2 pitches, 200 feet   Main Wall
Undercover   5.7     Trad, 1 pitch, 120 feet   Main Wall
Tindall's Terror   5.7     Trad, 1 pitch, 75 feet   Powerline Wall West
Treeshadow   5.8     Trad, 1 pitch, 50 feet   Powerline Wall West
Jack of Diamonds   5.8     Trad, TR, 1 pitch, 50 feet   Summit Wall
False Impressions   5.8     Sport, 1 pitch, 50 feet   Powerline Wall West
Springboard   5.8+     Trad, 1 pitch, 75 feet   Main Wall
Unknown   5.9+     TR, 1 pitch, 50 feet   Summit Wall
Intimidator   5.10a     Sport, 1 pitch, 60 feet   Powerline Wall West
Scarface   5.10a/b     Sport, 1 pitch, 40 feet   Powerline Wall West
Terminator   5.10a/b     Sport, 1 pitch, 60 feet   Powerline Wall West
Lethal Weapon   5.10c/d     Sport, 1 pitch, 60 feet   Powerline Wall West
Frogs in Space   5.11b     Trad, Sport, 1 pitch, 75 feet   Main Wall
Browse More Classics in Mount Erie