This epic circumnavigation route takes you all the way around the most isolated of Washington’s five major volcanoes – and one of its most active. Travel deep into the Glacier Peak Wilderness and see every face of the remote giant known as Dakobed, Takobia, and Glacier Peak as you trace the contours of the landscape that surrounds it. Our route takes us into the breathtaking Napeequa River Valley, known as the “Shangri-La of the Cascades”, a glacier-scoured, remote sanctuary deep within the wilderness.

The Dakobed Circumnavigation is a challenging route, averaging 12.5 miles and 3,000 feet of elevation gain and loss per day, with backpacks on. Participants should be in good physical shape, and hike often to train for the adventure. However, with every stunning new view earned, the trail rewards the effort!

Highlights

Stunning Views – Remote Exploration – Building Community

Difficulty Level

Hard: 90 miles over 7 days, 19,000 feet of elevation gain and loss around the mountain.

2024 Schedule:

Closed for 2024 due to wildfire activity

Price: $1200

Prices include gear rental, transportation, and all entrance fees, permits, and passes.

Our mission is to make outdoor recreation accessible to all. If you cannot afford the total trip cost, send us a brief message at trips@sahaleoutdoors.org to request a payment plan or sliding scale pricing.

“It [Lushootseed] is from the beginning strength of the people, and it is from what the Creator put down upon this land for people…. The earth speaks. The animals speak. Everything has a voice.”

Vi Hilbert, Grandmother Video Project

The Sauk-Suiattle Indian people have lived under the gaze of Whitehorse Mountain for many generations: as Fishermen, Gatherers and Hunters in the region of Sauk Prairie and near the present-day towns Darrington, Marblemount and Rockport, WA. In the early days, we were known as the Sah-ku-me-hu.

We were canoe people, plying the swift waters of the Sauk, Suiattle, Stillaguamish, Cascade and Skagit Rivers in our river canoes. Though our homelands were in the foothills of the North Cascades, we often traveled downriver to Puget Sound. There we harvested saltwater fish, shellfish, and other foods not available in the mountains. We frequently voyaged in large seagoing canoes. We also traveled over the mountains to gather food, herbs and other necessities. We became skilled horsemen, trading with tribes from Eastern Washington. Our free roaming horses grazed among our relatives there.

Sah-ku-méhu homelands were the entire drainage area of the Sauk, Suiattle and Cascade Rivers. We had an important village at Sauk Prairie, near the confluence of the Sauk and Suiattle Rivers. The village consisted of eight traditional cedar longhouses which were destroyed in 1880s by early non-Indian settlers who had laid claim to these lands under the U.S. Homestead Act and Dawes Act.We became a landless people, but continued to live in scattered groups close to our traditional homelands. Though many of our tribal members left the area or joined other neighboring tribes during our exodus, we maintained our tribal government, our social structure, our identity, and most importantly, our hope for the future.

Before the 1855 Treaty, which is a constitutionally enforceable compact, our Tribe was around 4,000 strong. By 1924, our numbers dwindled to 18. Residents in the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Reservation are the surviving descendants of the original peoples who lived in this special valley. Current membership numbers over 350 individuals.

~ from Sauk-suiattle.com