We had fog this whole snowshoe trip and we had a good time. This would certainly be a great trip on a view day.

The road is snow covered and impassable at elevation 2000 ft., so there is an unexciting 3 mile road walk to the trailhead. The deep snow hides any sign of the trail. We went straight south in big timber on the west side of the trailhead creek until elevation 3700 ft., and then we turned straight east up on to the ridge that extends to the summit. There is a steep step from 4800 ft. to 5000 ft. that would be dicey under avalanche hazard conditions. The summit lookout building is in good shape and is open.

My boy Ed and I headed for Mt. Pilchuck two weeks after being stopped on the road 3.5 miles (elevation 1880) short of the trailhead parking lot, only to get to 3 miles shy of the parking lot (elevation 2050). Lesson: only 1/2 mile of road cleared in 2 weeks of very warm weather.... We headed up the main road, taking a secondary road that heads East, below the main parking lot. We traversed the road around to the Northeast side of the mountain and headed up some snow clogged slopes and gullies. When the slopes were too steep for snowshoes, postholing was the order for the day. With a limited amount of time, we turned around and retraced our way back to the road/car. The entire Northeast side of the mountain is excellent for steep to moderate snow work without too much exposure. Right-good fun.

A beautiful day for a spring hike. Only problem was, we couldn't get anywhere near the trailhead. After about 2-3 miles on the access road, hit heavy snow, and despite 4WD, did not have enough clearance underneath to make it further up. About 10 vehicles were parked on the road here. Hike up the road toward the parking lot was another approx 3-4 miles. Only snowmobiles and 4WD vehicles with very high clearance were able to make it further up the road. It'll probably take another several weeks of warm weather and continued melting and road use to enable access to the trailhead parking lot. Talked to a large group coming down from the top (AAC class) who summited -- they went straight up the old ski slope (about 1.5 hours from the parking lot). Thigh deep snow, getting soft in the sun. Excellent views. Stay on hikes which have low-elevation access and trailheads for now.

Here's the firstest bestest report on the Mt. Pilchuck trail. Please don't believe the Darrington Ranger's report:

Mt. Pilchuck - Distance: 3.0 mi. Status: Open. 12/1/98: Snow covered. Flags: None Report entered: Feb 22, 1999. Written by MBSNF-DRD

I suppose the trail is open, that is if.. you can get to it.

I wasn't actually planning on taking the hike, but wanted to go up to the parking lot to see the views of the north cascades from 3100 feet.

The road has some blowdown and some landslides covering portions of the roadway, but it is passable (down to one lane however). 2 miles up the road I ran into snow, put it into 4WD and assaulted the road. Very bumpy.

VeRy BuMpY.

Took it down to 4WD low, got bumpier, and icier. I decided that getting to the parking lot was not such a big deal and I found a dry place to K-Turn.

From the tracks I could see that vehicles had gone farther than me, but it appeared to me that it would have been slow going, little reward, and the possiblility of getting stuck. (+ more snow ahead!) The snow is hard and frozen, doesn't give, and once you are into it there is no turning back, only reverse (which in 4WD with ice is no fun). Axle vertical travel was bordering on extreme with some snow bumps as high as one foot on one side and bare road on the other.

Unless you have 4WD, are determined to use it, and a serious death wish to make it to the top, save this trip for another month for the road to thaw a bit more.

If you go, and make it to the parking lot alive, it'll be snow hiking all the way. I'm sure gaiters, an ice axe, all that cold hiking stuff will be required for the next three months at least.

EJS