Turtleback Mountain

August 2, 2026

465m

Orcas Island, WA

Turtleback Mtn. on the western reach of Orcas Island is one of the only few objectives on this island that has more than 100 m prominence and do not require trespassing. There are nice trails on the lower flanks on all sides but the true summit was forested with no view. To reach the true summit one actually has to deal with some minor bushwhacking, and that was unfortunate. The nearby Orcas Knob likely offers much better views but I wasn’t very keen on sub-P100m “peaks” in this trip, so Clair got sucked into another no-view bushwhack with me.

After literally waiting for me tagging the various “tresbags” from the morning to the mid afternoon Clair and Cheesecake could finally join me for a proper hike. We picked the northern approach as it was more logical from where we were previously, but the parking lot was full. I had to park on the side of the road which was not very ideal.

Turtleback Mountain via the north approach. GPX DL

This was not a “freebie” which means we had to actually put in some effort to summit. Clair was probably more interested in the “drive-ups” but there was unfortunately none besides Mt. Constitution. We plodded a long ways due west on this excellent trail and then wrapped around to the west side of the summit area. We passed lots of hikers on their way down. To reach the true summit I led the bushwhack up the NW flanks and was mostly able to avoid the heinous stuffs. Well, I wouldn’t mind to touch the brushes but I had to pick a reasonable route for Clair to follow. Cheesecake stayed in the backpack until the very summit.

Clair starting the hike. This was not going to be a short one, unfortunately..

For some reasons I found a lot of these flowers on Orcas Island

Clair plodding up the trail/road. This was a hot afternoon…

Diving into the bushes. It wasn’t too bad

This was as bad as the bushwhacking went

Clair was still pretending to be smiling… I don’t think she liked it though

Cheesecake out of the bag on the true summit of Turtleback Mtn.

Cheesecake exploring the summit area for a short while

Another picture of Cheesecake wondering around

Me and Cheesecake on the summit of Turtleback Mountain

There was nothing to see from the top so the plan was to hike back to a potential viewpoint about halfway up. I noted that spot on the way up but didn’t bother to check it out. It turned out to actually offer some views but the viewpoint was a bit too close to the edge of the cliffs. We weren’t actually doing too good on time so didn’t spend too much time there. We then jogged back to the vehicle and drove away. Despite the lack of trespassing this was still a “dumpster diving” objective. However, given the lack of proper “hikes” on the island I wouldn’t complain.