Trip Reports

The trail to Fourth of July Pass from Thunder Creek, is in good shape although steep and eroded in spots. From the Thunder Creek junction, the trail climbs steeply in tight switchpacks. Trees mostly block the views but the shade is welcome. After gaining 500 feet, the grade eases off, and the trail traverses the slope for a pleasant half mile, passing through numerous cool ravines with splashing creeks. The trail crosses one last wooded flat, then resumes the steep climb, which doesn't cease until the trail arrives at Fourth of July Camp. At the camp openings in the tree cover provide glimpses of massive, glacier-capped Cascade peaks. Bugs are few, mostly mosquitoes. There is no snow anywhere nearby, in fact things have gotten rather dry and dusty. A side trail leads to more camps and a source of water.

It's worth continuing on the Fourth of July trail a short distance further to a rocky ledge overlooking the Panther Potholes. Fourth of July Pass itself is deeply wooded and viewless. I looked around for the start of the abandoned Ruby Mountain trail, but didn't find it.

Hike from Thunder Creek TH to Fourth July Camp was hot but clear and sunny on well maintained and steep trail. Great water along the trail to refresh everyone (including our Bernese packer, incidentally this is a great trail within NCNP for dogs since it is in the recreation area). No snow around the top. Bugs present but tolerable. Nice views of Neve glacier at the top, and other glaciers and peaks, across Thunder Creek. Raging gigantic waterfalls off of the glaciers in the far distance looked prehistoric could be heard all night.

We spent the night on the top, and did a shuttle hike, heading down on the Panther Creek trail. This trail has a few issues at this time. It had an EXTREMELY dangerous crossing for this time of the year, requiring knee+ wade across part of the ""creek"", and a log crossing (mostly) over this raging swollen creek which left life to one slip of the foot. Several sections of the trail also had dense brush where the trail was hard to follow, with lots of nettles (shorts not recommended). Some downed trees had been cut, but not all, and obviously not too many people have been through this area yet. We saw zero hikers on the trail all the way from the pass to the trail head. Other than that, beautiful trail. LOTS of bear scat, but didn't see any bruins.

Our intention was to get as high up Ruby Mountain as we could on a day hike from Colonial Creek Campground. We only made it to 4000 feet before we hit our turnaround time.

I don't know how this ever got a 4-boot rating in the ""Don't Waste Your Time..."" guide book. I would put it in the ""Don't Do"" category. There are only a couple of narrow views of Tricouni and Colonial Peaks along the way and the rest of the time you're on a steep trail in heavy timber. The trail is in good shape, though, and cleared of all windfalls until you reach 4th of July Pass and the Panther Creek trail. There were no bugs until we reached the pass but there they were fierce.

The start of the trail up Ruby Mountain was hard to find but we finally discovered it. It begins between a small pond and a puncheon bridge as you start descending the west side of the pass. A couple of hundred feet up this trail is a no-longer-maintained sign. Lots of small windfalls over this path but it's fairly easy to follow for as far as we got.

No snow until at the pass and rounding to the east side, then patches of increasing area and depth. I was looking for the path to Ruby Mntn. but I guess I didn't go far enough. Best view spot is back down at the campsite.

After the 2.5 hour drive, it started sprinkling *just* as I get out of the car. Oh well.

The Thunder Creek bridge is out and they have closed the trail to install a new bridge. I found this out after hiking a mile or so. Tried to cross at the old bridge crossing but it's deep! So I did a no-no and hiked up to the new trail they are building (using baby dump trucks and backhoes) since nobody was around. The new bridge girders are mostly in place but didn't look kosher to cross. Nor was the neato seat-on-two-ropes-pulley-thingie with the dire warning not to use it. So... I found a spot to wade and got me shoes soaked.

The trail goes well to 4th of July trail, which also goes well except for a few blowdowns. They'll probably get sawed after the bridge is installed but are not too problematic. Using instructions from ""Hidden Hikes"", I got all confused and hiked way too far past the pass. The secret passageway is right at the USGS-mapped location for 4th of July Pass. It's not super easy to see... go about 100 feet past a grassy flat area that is probably the tarn mentioned in the guidebook. It'll be 150 feet before some puncheon.

Wow, is this a splendid abandoned trail! It's pretty easy to follow (if you can find the start) and has decent tread most of the way. A few areas are a bit confusing but look for switchbacks or plow through brush. It could use a healthy lopping. It climbs from 3500' at the pass all the way to 6600'! Most of the way is very gentle, as if built for tired horses or possibly to get sheep to munching ground. It's gradient is easier than the trail to 4th of July Pass.

The summit is an easy 700' of off-trail walking. You probably won't use hands.

Green Trails Diablo Dam

My two hiking companions and I left Colonial Creek Campground in mid-morning and headed up the forested trail above the Thunder Arm of Diablo Lake. After about 1 mile we walked onto the suspension bridge over Thunder Creek and found that it was tilting slightly downstream. When we crossed to the east side, we saw that a very large tree had recently been cut apart and moved off the trail. Apparently the tree had fallen onto the cable holding up the downstream side of the bridge, with such force that it snapped the cable from the west end of the bridge, bent a metal beam beneath the bridge, and sheared off one of the rods attaching the other cable to the upstream side of the bridge.

We continued, soon coming to areas where dense, head-high salmonberry, devil's club, and ferns encroached on the path, making it very narrow. After we turned onto the trail to Fourth of July Pass, we found switchbacks and easy crossings of several little creeks that tumbled into ravines. A ptarmigan on top of a mossy boulder looked around, called out, and disappeared into the undergrowth. Flowers along the trail included candystick, pinedrops, and many-flowered Indian pipe.

We met one couple returning from the pass, then saw no one except a gray jay while we lounged for three hours at Fourth of July Camp. From our shady spot under tall conifers, we enjoyed a view that included Colonial and Snowfield Peaks and a glistening stream created by snow and ice melting off Neve Glacier.

After we returned across Thunder Creek in the evening, we found a newly placed bridge closure sign. In addition to our route to Fourth of July Camp, the bridge provided access to campsites and over 25 miles of trail up Thunder Creek and into the Stehekin Valley.

Started out on a beautiful hike up to Fourth of July Pass is the North Cascades National Park. The trail was clear and well maintained all the way up to the Pass, not sure about after that..... Although conditions called for the snow level to be at about 4000' it wasn't. Camp was set up on a beautiful ledge looking out towards Eldorado and the Glaciers around there. The fact that it puts you up so close to the other mountains is just spectacular. Make sure and take campsite number 2. Unfortunately not 3 or 4 hours later after awaking from my nap (thank you god!) I found about 5 inches of fresh snow on my tent and 4 inches of snow that had stuck to the ground. Being that i'm a wuss, and the conditions were whited out, I figured without a proper map I would be mad to try and find my way out the next day. Quickly packed and just about ran back to Colonial Creek before the darkness hit (spooooky!!!). There is snow down to the Junction with the Thunder Creek Trail. Or until about 2000'. This should be thawed out soon though, and would make an incredibly beautiful day hike!

We left Friday morning and enjoyed the sun and well established trail from Colonial Campground and headed up to Fourth of July camp. Campsite views were beautiful but biting flies sentenced us to our tent. We recommend long sleaves and pants, bug juice has no effect on these pests. The bites were so extensive that I ran a fever the rest of the 3 day trip. Sat took us down to McAllister camp where the 'creek' was raging and beautiful. Along Thunder Creek the bugs were limited to those that avoided our deet covered clothing. On the way back to Colonial, Neve camp offered a wonderful lunch location and a future overnight option after hiking to Fourth of July Pass.

Several large blowdowns on the trail, none of them terribly difficult to get through with a light load.

Snow solid near the top third of the second set of switchbacks (about 400 ft below the camp). Plenty of steps -- no routefinding difficulties to Fourth of July camp. Snow about 2-3 feet deep there. Good views west and south.

Took off on a gorgeous friday for my annual April day hike in the North Cascades. Wind damage from the recent windstorm was evident all along Rte. 20. Drove just before the closure to mp 130 and set off down the Thunder Creek trail. Patches of snow cover portions of the valley trail even at 1200 ft. Ironically, the trail up to the pass is virtually snow free (it faces the south) until a half mile or so before 4th of July camp, where the snow abruptly deepens and snowshoes are useful. Fortunately, two campers (hi Tom & Jessica) brought shoes and tramped down the snow for me so my postholing was minimal! Terrific views of Colonial, Snowking and the Neve glacier, which are absolutely buried in deep snow. The real problem was the significant damage left by the storm--i counted 48 blowdowns (several are real obstacles) across the trail. Will take a lot of work to clean up! Great early hike--im ready for a great season!

My son thought this hike was a lot like the girl next door---very nice and underrated. you can hike in in the afternoon which gives you the morning to get to the trailhead. the campground is nicely laid out with a clean pittoilet. the wilderness office mentioned a bearwire but we were unable to find it---i suggest the tree about 20 paces west of the trail--campground junction--it has a sturdy limb at just the right height. Good water access and neat owl but no bears at night. If you go--help us work out the Ruby Mt trail--see the report by Vertigo of 6-18-2000 for Ruby Mtn for good access directions---the trail would be spectacular if maintained but alas has been officially abandoned. wow, what possiblities!!!unimaginably great views if one to get 4000 feet + to the top........ anyway i don't know how Vertigo ever made it to the top. we ran into a huge, pervasive and ultimately defeating windfall area after only 250 feet of elevation gain. this trail would be the perfect project for an ambitious hiking club. the start is only about 1/2 mile east of the campground. post a report if you get thru or around the windfall.........thanks

Colonial Creek CG is closed and partially chained off so you have to park about a tenth of a mile from the trailhead. The trail is in perfect condition, the only hazards being the standard minor stream crossings. Snow starts at 3340', almost precisely at 4th of July Camp, but only in tiny patches. We stopped there to take in the ""catharctic"" view we'd read about in Copeland's guide. Not bad, but we expected more - too many trees in the way. It's a nice place to take a beginner for a fun night of camping. Heard one avalanche coming off Snowfield Peak. Good view of Primus Peak also. There's still a lot of snow up on those glaciers.

I figured with more warm weather in store for the weekend, id better get up to the N. Cascades before all the white stuff is gone. Hgwy 20 was closed at mile 134 due to slides, so i stopped at Colonial Creek. I left my snowshoes behind, shocked by the lack of snow. Even more disturbing were the mosquitoes cruising along the Thunder Creek trail. A few snow patches remained here; but the trek up to the pass was virtually snow free for the first mile or so. The last 3/4 mile of the trail is obliterated by a couple feet of old snow; route finding skills a must at this point. I was fortunate to enjoy perfect (mid fifties) weather, great views, and best of all, complete solitude! -Stan

The Colonial
Creek campgound at the trail head is closed except for the 6 or so sites right on the creek, so I parked my truck near the gate and began my hike. Last year at this time the path on the far side of the bridge was under a foot of water, but it was dry this year. No blow down or trail problems all the way to the pass, and snow starts just below the Fourth of July campsite. Most of the campsites are still snow covered but a couple are melting free of the snow. I stopped and had lunch, and then continued on down Pather Creek trail. The path was snow covered and confusing most of the way from the pass to just before the bridge that crosses the creek. I lost the way numerous times, and would recommend any fellow traveller who tries the path in the next few days give themselves plenty of daylight to turn around if they get too disoriented. It took me 7 hours to walk the 12 or so miles with all the trail searching. The day was great though - blue skies, spring plants, signing birds, roaring creeek, and no one else on the trail from the pass to Highway 20. I tried hitchhiking back to the campground, but found myself being ignored by the yuppies in their SUVs who sped past me - until a hiker picked me up in a beat up pickup truck. Thanks.