On Saturday, the first traces of snow appeared at about 4300' on this trail. At the junction with Railroad Grade trail (about 4650'), Morovitz Meadow was thinly snow-covered. By the time we got to the Park Butte Lookout, there was perhaps 4"-6" on the ground. Snow had drifted somewhat, so there were a few isolated spots on the way up where snow was perhaps a foot-and-a-half deep - none of these sink-in sections lasted for more than 10-20 yards, so the trail was quite passable.

We had the lookout house to ourselves through lunchtime, but we met lots of people heading up as we descended - including quite a few who were hoping to spend the night in the lookout house - perhaps the first of them would have arrived about 2:30 or 3:00 PM.

There were a few clouds, which obscured parts of Baker and/or the Black Buttes much of the time, but now and then the clouds would dissipate and the whole mountain would emerge in its full white glory.

One of the nice things about doing this hike on a cold October day after a cold spell is that the outflow stream from Easton Glacier (which must be forded) was the lowest I've ever seen - perhaps 2" deep at its deepest!

A few berries survived, but likely not much longer.

    When I signed up in the January for a WTA volunteer vacation I didn’t really know what to expect. I had been donating for a couple of years and had meant to get out on a work party several times, but I had never taken that jump to get involved. When Quark brought it to my attention that the sign-ups for the week-long volunteer vacations were coming up I knew that would be a great opportunity to dive right in, and when I saw that a work party was going to be planted in the Park Butte area I knew I could resist no longer. Seven and a half months after signups, still without having made it out for a single work party, my brother dropped me at the Lynnwood P&R where I met Dave and Bob who I would carpool up with.
    The first day we focused primarily on reaching the camp that we would call home for the next week at the Mazama Shelter, located about ¾ mi and a handful of switchbacks down from the pass the trail splits to the lookout. The first few couple of days were strange as I was thrown in to a whirlwind of inside jokes between old friends and newcomers, like me, were on the outside. It wasn’t long, though, before their jokes had become jokes to me as well, the group was infectious in that way.
    After reaching camp and setting up tents we settled down to a meal of steaks and portabellos, salad and something else definitely delicious and possibly nutritious that escapes me right now. In any event it was a welcome change from a typical backcountry diet of cous cous, dried produce and some sort of cheese. The weather was phenomenal, too warm for some people’s tastes, but being the second week of September it was hard to complain. We all relaxed and enjoyed seeing the last light on Baker as the sun settled behind the Sisters until the next morning, our first morning of work.
    Now when I say work, I would hardly call it work. To me the work that we did felt less like and more like play, similar to the effect of physically exerting yourself hiking to a pristine alpine environment. For the first three days we were in the forest on a section of trail between the Mazama Camp and Bell Pass. There were sections flagged along the way and we stayed busy focusing on those sections in the time we spent on that segment of trail. Most of the work was clearing out ditches and cleaning culverts. As unappealing as that may sound, when you are out there with a group of people who is as passionate about trailwork, and about the people they are working with it ceases to feel like work very quickly. I could now see how this close bond between the folks in the group was formed; by working hard together, sweating together, and things done together there is a respect that comes naturally, and that coupled with having so much fun together makes for close friendships.
    What really impressed me and really meant a lot to me was how patient and interested some of the more experienced members of the group were in teaching me about some of the techniques of trail building and the philosophy behind them. At times I felt like they could have accomplished more if they had given me a less important job and the more experienced folks focused on the more crucial jobs. They simply wouldn’t do that. Everyone was very persistent and genuine in trying to help and teach me in every way they could, and I am very thankful for it.
    Wednesday was our day off so I chose to take some solo time by heading up to the lookout Tuesday night and then getting off to an early start to explore the area on Wednesday. I spent Wednesday hanging around the tarns on Park Butte in the morning, then took a walk up railroad grade, and across the meadow to the west to get a look at the awe-inspiring Deming Glacier.
    Thursday and Friday we worked on the section of trail between the Park Butte junction and Mazama Camp. Thursday was my birthday and Greg did be the distinct honor of gifting me a massive rock which would serve as part of the foundation of a rockwall we would build in an effort to widen a section of trail. I spent, more-or-less, the entire day unearthing that substantial boulder and eventually we were able to excavate a site to place it. Thursday evening after dinner the group disappeared in to the shelter, I was completely oblivious. When they returned they were all carrying glow sticks and presented me with a Moon Pie adorned with candles and a glow stick in the middle. It was much more than I expected and it was very thoughtful. Certainly this birthday will be as memorable as most any that I’ve had. In fact, I think I might spend every birthday with WTA!
    On Friday we finished up the rock wall and rested up, as we were all pretty beat. The sun set behind looming clouds and rain rolled in Saturday evening, it was a real soaker before long and most of us were packing out some wet gear. As with everything throughout the week we did it together, and as the rain let up we enjoyed the walk down the trail and back to the cars where we would leave our mountain paradise for a more complicated civilized life.
    Needless to say I will be signing up for WTA functions again in the near future. It’s amazing how much real work can be accomplished when you are having so much fun doing it. I know that I can come back in five years and look at that rock wall we built and know that I was a part of maintaining that trail.
    When I signed up for a volunteer vacation, I wasn’t sure how much of a vacation it would be, but it didn’t disappoint. I imagine all work parties are much more party than I would have expected as well!
    

Lorelei, my Belgian Malinois, and I left the TH late, about 8:45 AM The walk up was uneventful and pretty slow. The Rocky Creek crossing was easy across low water. A beautiful cloudless day. There were few flies and no mosquitoes. Berries are ripe along the trail but the pickings are slim with very few berries on even large bushes. We met no one on the way up to the Park Butte LO. Being that I am old and in less than top condition, we did not reach the LO until a few minutes after eleven. There were two parties there, totaling eight people and a Spaniel.
Coming down, I decided to take the Scott Paul oxbow. The western suspension bridge across Rocky Creek is a challenge for dogs and stiletto heels. The gap between planks is about two inches, wide enough for a paw to be caught and also to see the drop and raging stream. I had taken a harness so I supported Lorelei, she got her rear feet placed well, and we crossed successfully. By now at about one PM, the heat melt had Rocky Creek high and nearly roaring.
The trail is in very good shape with one large but easily crossable blowdown during the east-west stretch of the trail.
As the Forest Service info center will tell you, the eastern bridge is gone. I'm sorry, I don't know the name of that creek. The water was pretty high and fast but there are well spaced nice large rocks just upstream from the old crossing. A three or four foot jump across the largest flow is necessary but the rocks are quite large and dry. With minimum guidance, Lorelei did fine.
As we neared the turn to the south entering the forest, the bugs became a minor irritation. Black flies and a few horse flies. We saw twelve hikers on the Scott Paul. Two were going in our direction. Two others had overnight packs and six of the remaining eight were going to turn around no farther than the eastern creek.

Two gal friends, a dachshound, and I began our overnight backpack on Saturday morning, with clouds overhead but with hope that they would clear. On the bright side, the clouds provided the coolness and kept the bugs away, for a rather pleasant hike. One of us had not backpacked since before she gave birth to her son (now 4 and a half) and she forgot to pack her new hikers, so with an extra pair of socks, she fit her 6.5 foot into a 9 shoe! That was one of many mishaps, but overall nothing we couldn't manage.

The adventure aside, one thing to note- there are nice car camping spots at the trail head if you venture for one night car camp and backpack or just day hikes- it is rather convenient. We didn't know this, and ended up driving the extra 12 miles along Baker Lake Road to the end of Baker Lake to camp at Shannon Creek on Friday night. It was nice enough but certainly the free and closeness of the spots at the trailhead would have been ideal.

On Sunday morning the weather was fantastic, we hiked a second trip up to the fire lookout at Park Butte for 360 degree views of Baker, the Twin Sisters, and off in the distance- Mt. Shuksan and Glacier Peak (to name a few). Lots of beautiful wildflowers as well, such as Purple Asters and Fireweed. And, at the trailhead, there are lots of huckleberries and blueberries- less so (at this time) higher up.

During the afternoon- the crossing along the creek was a little dicey- with water spilling over the trail, if you didn't want to get your feet wet, trying to balance a 40 pound pack with feet carefully balanced on wet rocks was tricky at best. Oh- add trying to do that with a dachshund in your arms- hmmm. But, we all survived.

Overall- an amazing trip, with lots of splended views (once the fog lifted), choice of nice camp sites- we stayed at Cathedral Camp at the saddle of Park Butte. Other better spots (but might not be "legal") are located at the tarns on the way to the fire lookout- good water source and views of Mt. Baker.