The PCT strides gently north up Bridge Creek to the North Cascades Highway, then ambles through the woods parallel to the highway past the Rainy Pass trailhead before crossing the road and heading north up to Cutthroat Pass. We were exploring from Rainy Pass south and this is what we found.

There is a PCT trailhead parking lot on the highway east of Rainy Pass but no sign to say where the trail is. You have to cross the highway and go east along the guardrail until you come to the end, then plunge into the woods on a spur. This spur comes to a junction with a sign. Right takes you to Rainy Pass over a tilted log creek crossing. Left takes you south on the PCT.

The PCT here is gentle, broad, clear, and a fun walk in the woods. At the first junction, right continues the PCT and left (which is blocked but we took it anyway) goes to Stiletto Peak and an interesting prospector's mine. The map shows a route up to Copper Pass from here but we didn't see it. Down this left path a short way is another junction. Left climbs very steeply up Stiletto Peak. Right is blocked but again we took that route. Here there are blowdowns, a nice camping spot, and the remains of a prospector's cabin and mine. This trail eventually goes downhill to Bridge Creek where it disappears.

Back to the first junction, we went south on the PCT to where it descends to meet McAlester Creek. The trail is in great shape. The one bridge that has collapsed is red tagged and a nice detour has been constructed. All in all, this is a great little explore south of Rainy Pass on fairly even ground.

I had intended to hike the Bridge Creek section of the PCT to South Fork and take the Rainbow Lake Trail into Stehekin, but I didn't make it very far. The ranger station in Marblemount described the snow as well-packed and passable on foot, but I found that it was nearly impossible to keep to the trail and was regularly poking through the snow. After about a mile from the Bridge Creek Trail Head, I gave up--assuming certain death if left solely reliant on my compass navigating skills.

It probably is fine, if you're familiar with that part of the trail and bring snowshoes--but Yak traks aren't going to cut it.

Another note, the Marblemount ranger also reported a heavily damaged bridge--but I didn't make that far.

One of my work buddies and I spent a week on the Bridge Creek Trail (PCT) from HWY 20 to High Bridge from 7/23/2011 – 7/29/2011. We were hoping to find a trail with a little more elevation gain, but due to the snow, we compromised with this route. Overall it turned out to be a good choice in that the trail was in good shape, fairly easy (not a lot of elevation gain) with some great views and campsites (more on this below) along the route. It was also a bonus that we were able to take the bus into Stehekin for a beer and a nice lunch. I also took my SPOT along for the trip and you can see a map of my check-ins here: http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=269585

Trail Conditions:
For the most part, the trail was in pretty good shape the whole way. The only problem we had was overgrowth on the trail from near Hideaway to around North Fork. It was never impassible, but there were many areas that the trail was barely discernible and you couldn’t see where you were stepping due to the foliage. Other than that, there were only slight annoyances such as a lot of pack animal droppings on the trail and a few blowdowns that were easy to navigate around. Overall the trail is level and a really nice surface. WARNING: From Bridge Creek Camp, you can choose either the PCT or Old Wagon Road to get to High Bridge/Stehekin, but the Old Wagon Road has washed out between Bridge Creek and Tumwater Camps so be sure to take the PCT route else you might have to do some backtracking or bushwhacking :-). Best place for a lunch stop was probably near the suspension bridge over Maple Creek.

Wildlife:
We didn’t see as much wildlife as I expected on the trail. We saw a few birds, a snake or two, but not much in the way of larger animals. We did see deer at two of our campsites (Bridge Creek & Fireweed) but they were only lone deer and didn’t stick around. The best encounters were 2 different bear sightings. We saw a juvenile black bear along the road while riding the bus to Stehekin that ran at first and eventually just stopped in its tracks, sat down on all 4 and stared at us while we drove by. The second bear we saw just on the other side of the Stehekin river while at our Tumwater camp. It looked to be an adult and was brown in color. I swear I saw the hump of a Grizzly, but it was pretty far away so we have sent in our pictures to the Rangers to see if they can identify it.

Bugs:
Bugs weren’t too bad along the way, but I did get my fair share of bites. In camp, they were usually kept at bay by the breeze from the nearby water source or our campfires (all campsites allowed them). The worst bite actually came from a huge black ant that crawled inside my camp shoes (Crocs) at Bridge Creek and bit me right between my big toe and the one next to it!

Wildflowers:
There were plenty of flowers in bloom along the way, but I am not a flower expert so not sure exactly what species they were. The predominant flowers were a purple flower with a yellow middle and white flowers with big spacing between the petals.

Campsites:
We were really impressed with the quality and amenities at the various campsites we stayed at. All of the campsites had toilets of some sort, fire rings and bear protection of some sort. Here are my comments on each campground.

Hideaway Camp:
This camp only has one site, but it was really nice. It has two good sized tent pads, a nice fire ring with large logs on end to sit on and really easy access to water. It has a box toilet. The “creek” was flowing pretty well here, so the only problem we had was talking a little louder to be heard and adjusting our hearing back to normal after we left camp.

Bridge Creek Camp:
This camp was probably the most serene setting of the camps we stayed at as it was very quiet (we were the only group there and there are 8 sites) and had a nice creek going through it. In fact, this is the only camp where I would call the water source a creek, at the others, I believe most of them were named “creek” on the map, but there were massive amounts of water flowing through them, so much so that the noise from them was a constant in camp. We picked the site closest to the road as you walk into camp heading South as it had really nice access to the creek, a big picnic table that looked 40 years old and a big tent pad. Since this camp is on the “Old Wagon Road” it used to be accessible by car (no longer as the road is washed out between here and Tumwater campground) so it had a bear box and an outhouse. For horses it also had a huge pen and a really nice campsite there.

Tumwater:
I had a hard time calling this a “backcountry” campsite as it had so many amenities since it is on the Old Wagon road that is still accessible from Stehekin. It had two sites, 3 outhouses (my buddy and I each had our own), a bear box, a metal picnic table and even a garbage can. It definitely was nice to get rid of some trash, but it took a little off the experience. When we arrived, someone already had the lower site (closer to the river) so we were forced to use the upper site. When we tried pitching the tent on the tent pad closest to the picnic table, we found that the topsoil was only an inch deep so our stakes wouldn’t get deep enough. We ended up setting the tent up closer to the road under a tree where the dirt was deep enough for our stakes as it was raining and we were in a hurry to catch the bus from Stehekin. We spent 2 nights here and considered moving to the lower site the second night as it was much closer to the water (50 feet or so below the upper site) and had its own picnic table, bear box and outhouse, but decided it wasn’t worth moving. One benefit of the upper site is that there is a trail that runs along the river which leads to a rock that overlooks it. I took a nap here and we also ate our last dinner here where we spotted the bear on the opposite side of the river.

North Fork:
We were supposed to have the lower site as per our permit, but when we arrived at this camp, there was already a large group there who the Ranger was kind enough to re-permit, so we were stuck with the highest campsite. Not sure how they break it up, but there are at least 3 different sites and all of them have a couple tent pads. The biggest problem with the upper site is that the water access is a pretty good hike to get to as it is 50 feet above the creek at least. The bear wire is also right next to the tent pad which made us a little uncomfortable, but it did have a nice bench to sit on which overlooked the river. This camp was very dusty and the “dirtiest” of all the camps we stayed in. The box toilet was also a hike to get to, probably 50 feet above our campsite, but had a pretty nice view of the creek from way up there!

Fireweed:
Our last camp was probably our favorite. This campground has 2 sites and we were able to nab the lower site closest to the creek as we arrived in camp fairly early. The creek was flowing pretty good, but the water access point was really nice as it was just upstream from some fallen trees slowing the water considerably. There was actually a spot that was pretty calm and I was able to fully submerge myself (I am 6’ 2”) under the water safely until I almost froze, man that water is cold. Our campsite had separate areas for the fire ring/bear wire and tent pad (the tent pad was 50 feet further down the trail) so it almost felt like we had an entry way, a family room and a bedroom. The only negative was the amount of bugs (both mosquitoes and flies) especially close to the creek. The campground has one box toilet up the hill from the campsites and contrary to what we heard at the Wilderness Information Center, both sites had working bear wires.

We began at Bridge Creek Trail Head, on Hwy 20. Easy .8 mi to intersection between PCT & Stiletto Spur Trail. We tried going Stiletto Spur, but trail markings were unclear and trail overgrown. We returned to 2.7 miles on the PCT, easy-grade, wide, well-maintained, and bridge construction workers, safely allowed passage. McAlester Creek Trail, 4.6 miles, was very pleasant, wooded hike, avoiding snow covered higher elevations. Easy, gradual grade until last 2 miles. Still, it was well-graded and easy with steeper elevation gain - 20 switchbacks in the last mile. Camped 2 nights at McAlester Lake and returned via Stiletto Spur Trail, a mile shorter, but no shorter in time. There were many biting mosquitoes, but fires were allowed, and smokey fires drive mosquitoes away. Hike up to South Pass and beyond toward Twisp River Road. Would have done a "thru-hike" had we been able to arrange transportation. Geologists, camped on Twisp River confirmed that the entire route was snow-free. The hill-side blankets of wild flowers were spectacular. During our lunch, on the trail between South Pass & Twisp River, a marmot let us know very clearly that she wanted us to move off her rock. Weather: bright, sunny & hot, Wednesday & Friday. Some clouds blocking some distant peaks from South Pass. McAlester Peak was quite impressive and close.