Lots of berries after Commonwealth Basin almost to the top of Red Mtn. The trail up the face was atrocious as usual, but the trade off is solitude. One of my favs.

These three short hikes make for a great day trip, a sort of Sauk Valley sampler, all accessed by the same route, FS road 49.
The first hike, North Fork Sauk Falls, is less than two miles after the turn off from the Mountain Loop. We had to approach from Darrington because Barlow Pass isn't open yet, turning on to FS 49 just before Bedal Creek campground. The trail is very short, maybe 1/8th mile with a drop of 100' to the falls, which are thundering and misting mightily with snowmelt on this warm sunny weekend. Watch out for the rickety stairs and loose hand rails near the bottom.
FS Road 49 ends 1/2 mile before the trailhead for the other two hikes due to a washout. There's just room enough to turn around and park abot 200' before the washout. Crossing the gully can be done on the uphill side, an easy leap in you're athletic or a short scramble if you're not.
The trailhead is an easy 1/2 mile later at Sloan Creek campground. After pausing to pay our respects to a grove of ancient cedars and sign the trail register, we walked about 200 feet and took the trail to the left for Red Mountain. In a steep (800') mile, you'll come to a former FS lookout site with great views of Sloan Peak and the Cadets. The trail keeps going uphill, but unless you're out to explore deeper into the backcountry, this is a good turn around.
We returned to the valley and headed up the North Fork Sauk trail. We followed the river for 2 1/2 miles through swaths of huge old trees surrounded by carpets of wildflowers, from huge skunk cabbage to dainty calypso orchids. There's an avalanche chute to cross, along side of a creek at 2 miles, so watch out for hollow spots beneath otherwise hard packed snow. The FS web page said there would be deep snow after 1 1/2 miles, but we only saw small patches in the shade, so it's probably clear to Red creek at 4 miles, at which point it will be August before you can ford there and continue up the valley.
We did all three hikes in six hours, but that includes lunch, photo ops and 45 minutes just gazing from the lookout. This would be a great introduction to the Cascades for out of town friends or young explorers.

What's black and white and red all over? Red Mountain (Salmon La Sac) on a cloudy day! Okay so we had some blue thrown in there too. What better peak for Valentines day than Red mountain?

After securing a Snopark pass (we didn't know if we needed or not but better to be safe) we parked on the shoulder of the highway across the Cooper lake bridge and set out down the groomed snowmobile trail. After about 1.5 miles we came to the Red Mountain trailhead and started up the hill. Snowshoes went on right away and stayed most of the trip. Snow conditions varied wildly over the day from hard pack icy crust to deep fluffy powder and a slidey layer on top of an old crust.

The climbing was pretty steep through the trees and the heel elevator bars of the snowshoes helped greatly. We were especially nice and let Barry do most of the work, even though he had no gaiters. In the open areas of deeper steep snow Barry and Suzanne floated up quickly while Jim and I floundered, too heavy to make solid steps in the slidey snow. We all eventually regrouped below a short steep section above the trees to remove snowshoes. Out came the ice axes and Microspikes. Thankfully it was short and higher we were again on soft snow. Back on with the snowshoes.

Nearing the top we swichbacked up a steep slope towards the final section. I took one step forward and immediately slid 12 feet back. After some tiring short switchbacks Jim and I caught up. We ate our lunch surveying the last steep slope to the top before again trading snowshoes for Microspikes and ice axes. Barry led the way while Suzanne and I kicked deeper steps for our descent. Views from the top were limited but still pretty with the billowing clouds and snowy trees. Across the valley towards Jolly Mountain the sky began to clear. We'd hoped to traverse over to the middle summit but it was already 2pm, 4.5 hours since leaving the car. Snow conditions were not so good so we opted to just descend.

The snow was much better going down, great for plunge stepping. I managed a very short glissade before the deep powdery snow stopped my fun. Aside from a brief encounter with a tree hole we made it back down to the groomed road in blistering time. Stepping through the little ditch along the road and onto its surface Jim was hit with severe leg and arm cramps, trapping him in the ditch. We of course had a deadline to get this report published so we pushed on. If anyone is heading up there in the near future pack an extra sandwich for him.

While we didn't set a speed record with our 4.5 hour ascent the snow conditions we made it down in less than 2 hours! Pretty good I think for the difficult snow conditions. Great Valentines day out in the mountains with friends, especially lacking a valentine myself.

Trip photos: http://www.pbase.com/billcat/redmtn