I had a great day hike looping around these trails off the Middle Fork Nooksack road (FR 38).

First off, 38 is not marked. Or, perhaps, it's not actually 38 where it intersects the Mosquito Lake rd. In any case, there is no sign at all there. But you can turn up the road by the gravel pit, or at the main intersection a bit north of the gravel pit. There IS a sign for 38 at the road fork where the busy private logging road heads down and across the Middle Fork Nooksack. The road is in decent shape the whole way, although it does have sporadic deep potholes which can slow you down a lot. And they are always in the shady parts where it's hard to see them from bright sunlight...

Ridley Cr:

Started out from the end of FR 38. At the Middle Fork crossing, there is a log across the river just 100' or so upstream. It has another log at shoulder level that works well has a handrail for much of the crossing, until they get far apart at the end. No problem at all to cross. From this "bridge" head downstream perhaps 400', approaching where the main river flow runs along the far (SE) bank. A brief (10'?) scramble up the bank here should get you on the well-defined trail. I went up the bank directly across from the "bridge", but it would be a LOT easier farther downstream... This downstream detour is not apparent on my 2004 Green Trails map.

There's a fairly big clump of trees down across the trail just 10 minutes later that requires a bit of clambering. After that the trail is generally obvious, although parts of it are (now dry) streambed, and there are a fair number (30?) of old snags down across the trail. These are all pretty easy to step over, climb over, or climb under, and hardly slow one down much. There are slight patches of herbaceous vegetation over the trail, mostly valerian and grass and such. At 4300' the trail reaches the ridge top, where there are some overgrown thickets of blueberries and white rhododendron. After that there are some very soggy meadows to cross. Not much snow left right by the trail, but there must have been VERY recently, and must be uphill, as there is water flowing everywhere.

At the Ridley Creek crossing, the far side of the floodplain/valley bottom is still under snow, and the trail disappears. Head upstream (watching out for falling through the snow into boulders) for perhaps 400 or 500', and the trail angles back (approximately southwards), heading steeply up the valley wall. You're now in Mazama Park, which is mostly dry, but some snow patches right at the start. The trail continues towards a shelter near the trail junction. The shelter is in pretty good shape (and floorless). It even comes with an emergency forest service adjustable wrench, should you need one! There were some mosquitoes in this area.

  Overall the trail is in pretty decent shape, despite the down trees and some overgrowth. Nice big trees along it, mostly hemlocks lower down, one (and only one that I noticed) big Douglas fir, and true firs up higher.

Park Butte:

  I then headed up to Park Butte (I think via the end of the Bell Pass trail and then the end of the Park Butte tr.). The trail is all clear up to Pass, with an assortment of rocks fallen down on otherwise great trail. I moved a lot of them, but a few were pretty big and remain. Nice flowers blooming all the slope on the way up, and pikas calling. The trail goes under the snow as soon as it reaches the pass, but the heavily used, dirty track up from the other side is obvious. Perhaps half of the remainder of the trail is under snow (and much more below on the Park Butte Trail itself).

  I hate to preach in a forum like this, but PLEASE follow the trail if you can see it, and stay off the vegetation (and dirt that had vegetation recently). Even if you know enough to stay off the plants, a boot track across a shrinking snow patch will be followed by others for weeks, trampling plants the whole time as people get to and from the snow. If some people actually walk between the pieces of obvious trail, then most others will follow them, greatly reducing the impact. There is a bit of a maze of trails up there from just this sort of thing.

  Back to the trail... The last bit up to the summit is completely bare, and the view from the top is great. That is quite a luxurious cabin - a bed, library, stove, pots, etc. I don't think I've ever seen one quite so well equipped. It must have been amazing for the girls who were up there the previous night! Should have great sunrises and sets on Baker, and the main climbing route. And, they reported no mice! Although I did have aggressive chipmunks around me.

  After an early lunch break, I just headed back down the way I came, to the shelter.

Bell Pass Trail:

  This trail was the least used, but in the best condition, of the trails I hiked. Coincidence? This trail has obviously had some work in the last 5 years or so, although it seems to have VERY little use. It's still mostly covered in fine branches and lichen from the winter, and I saw only 2 (human) footprints before Bell Pass. After Bell Pass I did see a few tracks. Also saw some elk tracks.

  Anyway... Shortly after leaving the shelter, the trail drops down into a small snow-filled gully near the top of some avalanche-downed trees. Follow the snow down the gully for one or two hundred feet of avalanche debris and you should see the trail heading up the far side again. Going the other way there's no problem, as you'll see the shelter soon. The trail then gently descends past some more snow and avalanche debris. It then climbs up (50' maybe) to the a ridge where a wooden wilderness boundary sign is, before descending again. There's another avalanche pile, wider, that the trail crosses. Here I traversed across it at about the elevation the trail entered it, then descended along the far side, spotting a large old sawn tree marking the route. The switchbacks are all clear of snow, and the trail is not tricky to follow anywhere.

  Aside from the avalanches, there is only one other blowdown, and no snow on this damp, cool, shady, NW side of the ridge. And nice views of Baker through the trees. There's a big tree down across the trail immediately before Bell Pass, and it's obvious it's been there a while (maybe a trail crew even made the trail around it). There's still snow in Bell Pass.

  The trail moves to the sunny side of the ridge and becomes much drier with a more open understory. And lots of spiderwebs. There are a few down snags along this bit, including a large one that was sawn through, yet still blocks the trail. That must have been frustrating... Some nice big hemlocks here with the trail covered in soft cones.

Elbow Lake tr:

  This trail has also gotten some work done in the last few years, but has a number of down trees across. Again, mostly old dead stuff that is easy to step over. At Elbow Lake itself, I took the spur trail from Lake Doreen along the east side of Elbow. One description mentions campsites there. But it drops down to the stream delta feeding the lake, with some _very_ muddy bits, and I didn't get to any suitable campsites. There is one right by the trail at north end of Lake Doreen, though. Mosquitoes around these lakes. The boardwalk crossing from the east side of the valley to the west, between the lakes, is shifted from its footings, but still usable.

  Back on the main trail, you actually ascend from Lake Doreen to the end of Elbow Lake before dropping back down to pass level, where there was still one bit of snow across the trail (probably gone now). Then the descent is pleasant - not too steep, and not too many down trees or other problems. Maybe 10 or 15 easy tree crossings. Nice yellow cedars along here, and some views of N. and S. Sister and the glacier (seemingly dead) between them.

  At around 3000' (very approximately) there is a pile of trees down across and along the trail. There's a pretty well defined high route around it (starts about 20' from the carnage if you're headed uphill, but it's quite obvious headed downhill), or you can walk along some tree trunks.

  Lots of big cedars below this - almost all cedar forest. Some of the trail in this lower part is pretty overgrown, although I did a bit of weed wacking - some sections of turnpike were hard to see and easy to slip off the side of.

  At the second M. Fk. Nooksack crossing, there's a fairly obvious double tree down across the river about 100' downstream of the old bridge abutment. This crossing has been "improved" with an interesting variety of sticks and stones. It's pretty easy to cross, unless you have fears of raging stream or heights. It's only a little slippery in the wet portions. One could probably crawl across it if needed, but I think most people can walk it. Poles help a little when you're trying to carefully place a foot. But I also ended up crossing twice with a small dog in my arms, so it can't be too hard...

  If you're taking the Elbow Lake trail the other way, head downstream after the river crossing - a trail heads upstream off and on for a ways, but that ain't the "real" trail.

  The river was definitely higher in the late afternoon than in the morning, although both "bridges" should be above it all the time. Just a bit more splashing water on them in the afternoon. The Ridley Ck. trail river crossing area has some side channels that appear to fill with water late in the day, but they appear small and hoppable.

 And, of course, next year the "bridges" will probably be gone.


Not much wildlife to report - some nice slugs, some fir cones cut down by squirrels, one squirrel in person, elk tracks, an empty junco nest, toads, fish in Elbow Lake. Flowers are nice, but nothing spectacular. The best bit was the slope above the Mazama Park shelter. Once the snow melts up along the Park Butte trail, it might have some nice flowers, but then again, it might just be too late by then. Bugs were a little bit problematic if sitting still around Mazama Park and the lakes, but that is all I noticed (wearing long pants and shirt).

In short, this was a great hike, with only 4 people seen (2 at the shelter, 2 at the lookout), and nearly all of it sparsely used. Great views, a really nice variety of habitats, a lake to swim in, more views, and while there are a fair number of blowdowns, they probably didn't slow me down more than 15 minutes for the whole hike. Finding trail under snow was more of a problem.

Now I need to get IN to the Twin Sisters some day...