To summarize, I had 44 A+ hours sandwiched between 6 B+ hours and a final leg of 3 nasty D hours. So, I’d say a B+ trip overall.

- Quartz Creek to Curry Gap (4 mi; 1400 ft; 2 hours)
Nice amble in the woods where I met only a horse couple who warned me of the predator (probably a mountain lion, they said) that their horses were spooked by, and the totally overgrown, brush-filled, log-jammed trail from Curry Gap to Bald Eagle Mountain. All lies. They were also impressed with my bravery for not carrying a gun.

- Curry Gap to Bald Eagle/Long John ridge (3 mi; 1300 ft; 3+ hours)
Trail in great shape besides a few places where the meadow breaks brushed against my shoulders. Not a single log on the trail. Mosty dry. Trail goes in and out of meadow breaks and trees. Heavy pack; good spirits. Camped at a nice seasonal/melt tarn; no real wide view, but pleasant enough if it weren’t for the mosquitoes. Very happy that I brought my Hubba-Hubba with fly netting on all sides.

- Long John Ridge, June Mountain, Dishpan Gap, PCT/Cady Ridge Junction (9 mi; +/-500ft; 6 hours)
This was the highlight of the trip. Beautiful ridge walk; the kind we crave. Stunning views of Sloan, Glacier and surrounds; even a peak at Mt Baker. South to Alpine Lakes Peaks, Rainier. The trail stays high; goes right over the summit of June Mtn (the high point of the day – 6000). It was a mistake to skip camping at Blue Lake which I could see from June Mtn summit. Since the bugs chased me out of camp by 8am, I found myself at Ward’s Pass by 1:30. A little further toward Lake Sally Ann (on the PCT) and I was lucky to find a primo camp site. Perhaps the nicest campsite I’ve ever slept so close to major trails. Sleep there someday, it’s perfect; just below the PCT/Cady Pass trail junction. Cady Pass trail practically goes through the campsite, but that’s no bother, because the site has box seats for the Glacier Peak sunset show. From my tent, I watched the sunset and sunrise glow on the mountain. In the other direction I watched the half-moon set.

- PCT/Cady Ridge Junction to Cady Pass to Miserable West Cady Ridge Exit (15 mi; 2000 ft up/ 5500 ft down)
Hiking solo, I found myself breaking camp at sunrise. Then the early morning bugs chased me out of camp by 7:30am. From camp I took the PCT 6 miles South past Lake Sally Ann, Mt Skykomish, then down meadows, then treed switchbacks through Cady Pass to the West Cady Ridge trail. Nice walking and the views before the switchbacks were pretty. The WCR junction is near Saddle Gap, which I remember from our PCT trip as being a very beautiful narrow meadowed notch in the ridge. At this point, the mosquitoes were joined by fierce and hungry black flies. I had to keep moving. The 1400 ft climb from near Saddle Gap to the top of WCR was in full South facing heat. The bugs chased me out of any rest stops, so I arrived at Benchmark Mtn at 1:00pm and chatted with a Search/Rescue horse group already there. They gave me three bottles of cold beer. I drank one right away and packed the other two for my last night on the trip. After ditching my pack and climbing the last 300 ft to the top of Benchmark, I found a fantastic 360 view of the great Cascades, but no breeze, no shade and massive flies. Hmmm…nowhere else to go. I could sit in my tent until sunset, drink some beers, then pound down at sunrise. Or I get the abuse over with immediately. I chose the latter and started hiking down by 2pm. Along the way I noted that all the snowmelt ponds I had planned on drinking from that night had been stomped and fouled by horses. Remarkably, the beer had completely relaxed my aching muscles and staved off thirst and hunger. I made great time on aching feet through 4 inches of hoof stomped dust and horse dung. WCR is a dry and shitty affair; reminds me of Long, Long Ridge in the Olympics, only in reverse and much dustier and shittier. Totally dry and never ending. When the aching feet got loud, or I started to flag, I set my pack down, popped another bottle of Kirkland’s IPA or Amber. What followed was a strange combination of relaxation and “fuck this shit” confidence that made the hot, dirty, buggy, dry and miserable WCR kind of fade away. I limped into the trailhead parking lot about 5pm and drove home.

A good trip; not great. From all signs the summer is at least one month behind. The flowers, bugs and snow patches all attest. But the saddest evidence I saw was the state of the blueberries. In most places on the WCR – a well-known berry spot – the majority of fruit had not yet closed up from flower form. The ones that had were green and hard. Beware of hungry (or dead) bears next spring.

Wildflowers are in the early peaking stage above timberline. Near the summit, some meadows were blue with lupine or yellow with glacier lillies, and the air was full of valerian scent. The weekend of 8/27,28/2011 should be subalpine wildflower heaven, and probably Labor Day weekend also. This bizarrely high-snowpack year, it's more like late July up there. Future readers: normally, I'd expect July or early August to be the best time for flowers. Variable.
Visibility should be a major consideration in choosing this hike. The sweeping long-distance views include Baker, Rainier, Glacier Peak, east side Monte Cristo, Sloan, Pugh, and everything in between, and are the prime attraction, so it's a mistake to do this in impaired viz. It is unusually scenic now with the persistent snow on the landscape.
There is still some snow along the upper ridge, an insignificant impediment. Two small pools might be used as water sources, but the ridges are (finally) getting a bit dry and the last good running water is from the stream that the trail crosses 3 times before emerging from timberline.
Major resources have been put into this popular trail. New deluxe privvy at the trailhead, impressive trailwork in the forest, new turnpike replacing old puncheon. There are still some drainage issues in the higher subalpine sections, but overall it's in excellent condition.
This trailhead is notorious for insects, but wasn't nearly as bad as I've seen it. Ordinarily, be prepared to saddle up and get away quickly, do not let the bugs intimidate you. You're bigger than they are. There's a lot of Them. Worst bugs are at the car. Bring DEET.
The Index-Galena road has been washed-out for years, so you must drive to Skykomish and then north on the Beckler River road, part paved, the rest good gravel.
Bear hunting season starts Aug 1st, these vast meadow areas are prime bear habitat, so expect bear hunters and consider some brightly-colored clothing.

The Hike of the Week Club had never attempted West Cady Ridge before, so we thought it would be perfect for the first weekend in July, even though we were aware of the snow levels. The lower part of the trail is really quite delightful -- a reasonable grade to the trail, minimal rocks and roots, several samll streams to cross and recross as the trail switchbacks up the hill, and all through old growth forest with giant cedars and hemlocks mixing in with a verdant understory of berries that are now all fully leaved out. No queen's cup or bunchberry yet, but the buds are there. It is spring on this trail with trillium and yellow stream violets in bloom.

There were a few patches of snow at the trailhead and along the N. Fork Skykomish River at 2500 feet, then absolutely nothing until about 3500 feet as the trail reaches the saddle between West Cady Ridge and Excelsior Mt. where there were intermittent patches on the trail, but nothing that presented any difficulty. At about 3900 feet the snow patches had reached about 4 feet in depth, and covered most of the trail. Given that the hillside at that point is greater than 35 degrees, and we had neither snow experience nor serious snow equipment, we turned around.

When we returned to the trailhead, there was still a little time left in the day, so we headed up the Quartz Creek trail, but were surprised to find that even though the Quartz Creek valley is south facing, there was more snow there at lower elevations than on the north facing side of West Cady Ridge. At about 1 mile in, where the trail drops down a little bit to join the creek for the first time, the trail was mostly covered with snow, so we turned around.

West Cady Ridge was pretty lonely, as we only saw 4 people all day. Based on footprints, there were also 2 people ahead of us. Quartz Creek was completely deserted. The last people who had registered at the trail head were a week prior, and the only footprints we saw were deer.

The trail is not maintained. Snow free until 3500 feet. Solid snow for the rest of the trail. Route finding skills are helpful. We brought snow shoes but they were not needed as the snow is fairly hard and easy to walk on. Wonderful views of Glacier peak, Rainier, Sloan, and many other peaks of the Cascades. We were the only 2 people on the trail for most of the day before a group of 3 came up to the ridge. Good hike for anyone seeking solitude. The temperature was mid 70s and sunny. Excellent day.