North Fork Skykomish River Pacific Crest Pass Creek W

North Fork Skykomish River Pacific Crest Pass Creek West
Cady Ridge - The Glacier Peak Area - We drove the North Fork Skykomish River Road to its end at 3000'. We left the TH about 6:30am with light rain and overcast conditions. It took about 40 minutes, with headlamps part of the way, to get to the Pass Creek trail. We headed down hill and crossed two streams, one via a log and proceeded across a meadow and started up Pass Creek. We ran into snow about 3500'. We intersected the PCT at about 4200' with several inches of snow on the ground. We then followed the PCT to the intersection of the West Cady Ridge trail. We noticed one set of boot prints in the snow heading north on the PCT. We then followed the W. Cady Ridge trail toward Benchmark Mtn. The weather up to this point had been mainly cloudy with occasional brief clearing except for the light rain upon leaving the TH. The snow became increasingly deep as we headed up the W. Cady Ridge trail. Upon getting to Benchmark Mtn. we had about one foot of snow. At the summit the sun came out on occasion with brief views. It was rather pleasant with the sun out. After about 20 to 30 minutes on the summit we decided to head back. The weather continued to be nice on the return trip and we arrived back at the TH just before 3:00 pm. Round trip time about 8.5 hrs. and 17 miles. The trails that were not snow covered were in good condition and it appeared there had been considerable work done on the trails recently. Have fun and hope to see you on the trail. Bud and Lizzard.