Trail is in great condition with only a few snow patches to cross in the last ½ mile on the ridge before the lookout, all of which were very easy to cross. Wildflowers are gorgeous and the mosquitoes are plentiful (most intense at the creek crossing), but with the breeze, we hardly noticed the bugs.

As described in the WTA hiking guide, this trail is long and steep. We found it to be the steepest for the first couple miles, which was rather painful (on the knees) when descending at the end of the day. On the ascent, after passing the National Park Sign, the steepness of the trail lessens, though the tread becomes narrow in places and brushy through the wildflowers. After the creek crossing, the trail again becomes steep as it switchbacks up the mountain, however, the views are so awesome at this point that we stopped to gawk and take photos and hardly noticed how steep it really was.

We started early in the morning and didn’t have the sun beating down on us till the creek crossing. On the way down, we met 3 other parties who started later in the day and none of them made it to the lookout because they were too hot and tired from hiking up the first 4 miles in the sun. We thought what a waste of energy to make it to the creek and not continue the 1.5 miles to the lookout where the really amazing views are. Our recommendation: start early and keep plodding all 5.5 miles to the top, it is well worth the effort!

Great weather, great hike, poor choice of boots. Sharpen up your acrobatic maneuvers as you encounter what seemed like an endless sea of blowdowns in the first or so mile. The trail looked as though it hadn't been stepped on in a while, the trackless snow at 2,700 feet elevation further solidified my suspicion. I held off for another 500 feet before unwillingly putting on my snowshoes. Thank goodness I brought them along. I brought my mountaineering boots with me instead of the regular hiking boots. I haven't visited the Highway 20 area in the wintertime, so with the road closure, my image of the North Cascades at this time of the year was pure snow and ice.

The boots felt too rigid for the steep and dry slope in the first mile, the slight pain of blisters forming started to surface. It was a relief the minute I stepped into the snow, although I began to post pole almost immediately. The snow was packed enough so there wasn't too much sliding around. The trail disappeared in the snow and shortly afterward I was scrambling with my GPS.

Since I had originally planned on going to the lookout tower, we took the summer route. Big mistake! The route sat just below the ridge and it already looked steep on the topo map, but it felt much steeper in snow. After spending an hour breaking the trail in slush and not making it very far, I ditched the idea of going to the tower and instead we headed for the lookout summit. To get there, we would need to get ourselves back on the ridge and follow the ridge line to the col and take a right, pretty straightforward. We only had to get over a couple of thigh-burning hills, no biggie...NOT.

By now the boys have learned to stay behind me whenever they get tired and don't feel like breaking their own trail. Why break your own when you can step into someone else's—smart dogs! We stayed close to the trees on the ridge as we traversed through the steep hills with cornices spilling over the edges. At least we knew that there was "solid ground" underneath all that snow wherever the trees were. We stopped occasionally to admire the peaks and the lakes below. Before long we found ourselves near the col, surrounded by peaks and ridges in all directions but to the east. The view there was still obstructed by the summit, but not for long. There was nothing but pure whiteness, clear blue sky, and stillness all around. Once on the col, we started heading east toward the last hump and finished the last couple hundred feet of climb before reaching the summit lookout.

It doesn't get any better than this, summiting on a gorgeous, sunny day with no one but the majestic peaks and lakes all around you. We had the mountain to ourselves the entire day. After spending an hour at the top taking pictures, eating, resting, and admiring the panoramic view, we finally bid farewell to the mountain and headed back down. I seemed to have forgotten the blistering pain in my feet until we got back to the car, ouch.

Flickr: http://bit.ly/sourdough-mountain

We joked that it was "the end of fire season" as the Poets on the Peaks book described the weather that moves in when they called down the lookouts, but the joke was on us. We had to go West Side Trail up "Pierce Mountain Way," as the sign said (but it should have said Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here), where it started up to 25 degree grades. This trail has not been maintained for years. Blowdowns and growovers abound. Fingers and toes were cold and hard at Pierce Mountain camp, but we got our tents up and settled in for a 12-hour storm. Next day we got to the Sourdough Lookout, closed for weeks it looked like, after an hour of even steeper grades. The whole hike is basically a Class 2-3 with full pack. Going down a bear. Missed the views stuck in a nimbocumulus cloud. Sourdough Camp in trees, no views, so not a great two-day camp unless you heft up from Diablo and do the lookout the next day.

Great day on Sourdough Mountain last Saturday. The trail is nearly snow free from the Diablo side, until the top, where there are still significant snowfields. The snowfields were navigable. The lookout is closed--maybe it always is, I don't know offhand.

I went down the Pierce Mountain trail to Ross, in an effort to make a loop of it. It is challenging navigating from cairn to cairn up high, and there are parts of the trail that are brushy. Because the Diablo Trail is inaccessible to hikers, a full loop is not legally possible, unless you take Highway 20. I ended up catching a ride, clocking out at 15 miles or so on my feet.

The wildflowers are just now popping, the views extraordinary, and it's a steep climb up.