Trip Reports

We set out to do the Lost Creek Ridge, Lake Byrne, Kennedy Hot Springs, Red Pass loop last week in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. We started by climbing up Lost Creek Ridge (a monster of a climb). Although the snow and hundreds of downed trees were challenging, the one barrier that almost ended our trip was crossing the White Chuck River below Lake Byrne. For those of you brave enough to try, here is how we did it (and the only way that doesn't involve a dangerous swim). The trail vanishes when it hits the White Chuck. Head 500 yards upstream on the White Chuck. You will see a 200 foot long tree that it is about 20 feet above the river. We climbed up on the tree and ""shimmied"" across the tree to the other side-carefully. After getting off the tree, we went upstream about 300 yards towards the huge landslide. About 50 yards before the landslide on the bank under a tree, we found the Kennedy Hot Springs toilet. Since we knew that the trail to Fire Creek Pass and the old trail to Red Pass had to be directly above us, we went straight uphill from the toilet to the top of the ridge. The climb was very steep on slick moss, dirt and rock. At the top of the ridge (1200 feet or so above the river) we hit the trail. The trail went left to Fire Creek Pass and right towards Red Pass and the PCT. We headed off towards the PCT which we eventually found. Due to the floods, this loop is certainly one of the most challenging trips in the NW. If you choose to try this loop, you must bring maps and your route finding skills. We did the loop in 4 days (and never saw the sun).

We went on a three-day camping trip with our seven-year-old daughter. The trail to Red Pond is in great shape, with minor brush in the Commonwealth basin. The last mile is tough for little legs, but doable.

The campsite at the Red Pond is idyllic --- convenient yet not bare-earth. The pond is nice and cold. Plenty of bugs, deal with it. But there are a lot more stars at night!

The remainder of the trail to the Red Pass is spectacular --- full of wildflowers of all sorts, the views are amazing --- both towards Rainier and towards Mt. Thompson, etc. Not much in the way of bugs at the top.

I headed out the PCT to the Commonwealth Basin Trail intending to scramble Red Mountain and then connect up with the PCT from the E peak. The trail to Red is in great shape, with an easy creek crossing over logs and stones and mostly dry tread. I hiked up to Red Pass, but the gully up from there was a choss fiesta, so I backtracked to the obvious boot track leading up from just before the switchbacks get longish. The scramble up the SW spur was relatively clean, as was the ridge run over to the E peak.

Even on a relatively hazy day the views were pretty remarkable. Covering both Red and Kendall you can see both up and down the basin, with great views toward Mt Thompson and beyond.

The flies were pretty active in patches down low and pretty much everywhere in the sub-alpine zone. I'm guessing that the tree-line is also the spider-line. I'd say the fly activity was at maybe 6/10 on the Cascade bug annoyance scale above about 4600'.

I hiked my favorite hour-from-Seattle hike on Friday on a warm and unusually humid day. I took the old Commonwealth Basin / Cascade Crest trail rather than the painfully indirect PCT.

(Seriously, the PCT ""climbing"" up from Snoqualmie Pass is so obnoxiously and wastefully gradual that you would have to be either on a horse or on crack to take it. Even if you're going on to the Kendall Katwalk or further you can get there more quickly by taking the old Cascade Crest trail until it meets up with the PCT.)

To take the old Commonwealth Basin trail, start out very briefly on the PCT from the parking lot and, right after a rather silly sign on the right that says ""most difficult,"" find an overgrown old road turned trail on your left. Take it. It doesn't stay overgrown for long and soon it turns uphill an into Commonwealth Basin. You round a corner, it flattens out a bit, and suddenly you hear only the creek flowing and not the I-90 traffic. I love that moment.

The Basin actually still has a few snow patches, amazingly enough, but nothing major. If the trail seems to peter out and you're confused as to where to go, cross the creek. This might happen a few times, it crosses the creek a lot. That's part of its charm.

I hiked up the still-official section of the Commonwealth Basin trail until I got to the flat area before Red Pond, and hit the faint path towards the Red Mountain summit (once you climb up out of the Basin there are no more snow patches). It's tough to follow the path all the way going up. This was my 5th time tackling this mountain and I've never gone up the same way twice. I think this time the route I picked was actually the diciest of all. I heard voices down below me so I tried not to let loose too much rock (it's hard), but they must have been heading up to the Pass because I never saw them. Views at the top were very hazy but nice.

On the way back, I finally saw a nice couple towards the end. Only people I saw all day!

There were a mosquitoes around, but not enough to make me apply the DEET (or check the box here next to ""Bugs!"").

FS road 49 is blocked about a mile from the Suak Falls #660 trail head. We parked there and journeyed to the falls and about 3mi further up the road to explore three campsites. At the third campsite there is a pool in the river (which was raging due to runoff) and a small beach great for lunch and cooling off on a hot day. We did not make it all the way to Red Mountain due to the heat, but the ranger we saw said it was still very snowy.

I wasn't going to write a report but there is so much snow now, this Summer, that a note of CAUTION is needed.

The PCT parking area (after I90 exit 52)is still covered with snow and only some parking is available along the approach road.

The trail is totally covered through Commonwealth Basin and on up Red mountain. The dangers appear on Red mountains southwest slope. The snow is very steep and there are exposed rock areas going up the snow slope and loose rock nearing the summit. I do not recommend going up without an axe and a helmet. Even then, in the heat of the day, an ice axe may not stop you on the mushy snow; wear your helmet. Also I would not advise wearing rain-pants or anything that will help you slide down the mountain. It is very easy to lose control of your descent on this very steep slope.

We selected Red Mt as an escape from the certainty of rain on our initial objective, Low Mt. A steady climb, starting from the summer trailhead, to the summit (Pt 5880) in mostly well consolidated snow on the normal winter ridge route was followed by a traverse to the old lookout site past finely scalloped cornice formations on the summit ridge with some interesting scrambles over open rock. We finished with a direct descent of the ridge from the lookout site (Pt 5722) over several rock pinnacles & a wallow through softening snow to the junction with the summer trail at the lateral road. We encountered a few rain squalls but had a few sun breaks as consolation.

We were treated to views of Mt Stuart, Hawkins Mt & most of the summits around the Cle Elum R as the clouds alternately dropped on us then lifted again as the day progressed. Snow on the Cooper Lake Rd forced a stop at the bridge & a long walk in & back. We avoided the steady rain until we were almost back to the car so overall it was a good choice for a cloudy day & turned out to be a fine spring circuit. There is still a continuous snow cover over this route above the Cooper Lake Rd although there are a few patches of bare ground showing on the lower reaches.

Dayhike #4 from basecamp Ronald.Wife selected Coal Miners Celebration in Roslyn over Red Mnt hike down to Little Joe Lake and back.She hiked the coal miners trail from Ronald through Roslyn to Cle Elum and back.I have a feeling that she stopped at bakeries.I drove to TH off FR 46.Roadside parking.No facilities.I was in for a day of punishment.This is not your average family hike.Trail is steep, rocky,overgown in parts and easy to lose in open areas.Did this because it was the last part of trail 1330,being unhiked by me.Trail down to Little Joe lake is nice,losing 1000 feet,but that was nothing compared to salmon la sac side of the mountain.Did short trip to former lookout.Super views all around.Way easier access to lookout from Little Joe lake trail,#1330.1 Starting from road 4312.

R/T 8 miles.4300 feet gain.Cle Elum Ranger District Trail Guide has trail description of hike,all the way to Kachess Ridge trail,page 68

These trails can be combined to form an approximately 55 mile backpack trip that highlights some of the most spectacular trails in the Salmo Priest Wilderness. We started this backpack on July 29 from the Gypsy Meadows campground (the first several miles of the trip were combined with the trailwork that was going on in the area). We managed to make it back to the car just before dusk on July 31.

The Shedroof Divide Cutoff is now completely cleared of all downfall. The Shedroof Divide south has been partially cleared between the Cutoff and the Thunder Creek Trail (there is an approximately 1.5 mile section that still has a significant amount of downfall). From the Thunder Creek trail south on the Shedroof Divide there has been no trailwork in recent years. The trail crosses an old burn area, and several of the dead / burned trees have fallen across the trail.

The Shedroof Divide ends at Pass Creek Pass, and it is necessary to walk a short section of the route on the road in order to pick up the route again on the Grassy Top trail. The Backcountry Horsemen worked on the Grassy Top trail on July 28th, and the trail is now entirely cleared of downfall. For the loop we left the Grassy Top trail at 2.7 miles and continued down trail 533 towards Hall Mountain. This section of trail has not been cleared this year, but the amount of downfall is fairly small. After 5.1 miles the trail intersects the Noisy Creek trail; this trail has been cleared of downfall all the way to the trailhead at Noisy Creek campground.

At the campground it is necessary to hike on the paved road until reaching the boat launch area. From the boat launch we took the lake shore trail to the campground at the other end of the lake. While hiking along the lake shore trail we saw our only large wild animal: a bighorn sheep ram, hanging out in the shade near the private cabins.

At the Sullivan Lake campground on the north end of the lake it again becomes necessary to hike on the road, this time for a longer section. We followed the road north to the Red Bluff trailhead.

The Red Bluff trail is fairly clear, and intersects with the Halliday and North Fork trails after 5.3 miles. From this intersection it is another 5.3 miles along the North Fork trail up to Crowell Ridge. This is one of the steepest sections of trail I have ever seen (or else I was extremely tired at this point...it's hard to tell which was the case)! The trail obviously does not see much traffic, but also did not have a significant amount of downfall. Fortunately, there were a few huckleberry bushes that gave me a good reason to take a break as the trail climbed relentlessly towards Crowell Ridge.

Crowell Ridge is in good shape, and there are several good vantage points along the route that allowed us to look across to the Shedroof Divide and see where we had been just the day before. That really puts some perspective on the route! From the North Fork intersection to Bear Pasture is only 3.7 miles of easy hiking...then for the toughest section of all.

The Leola Creek trail is unmaintained and quite overgrown with some of the largest alder plants I have ever seen. It is approximately 5 miles down a series of switchbacks and back to the main road. Every once in a while the alder clears enough for a view of the spectacular cedar trees along the sides of the old trail/roadbed. However, in a few places there are also large trees down across the old trail, making the hiking even more difficult. This portion of the hike takes a significant amount of time. Fortunately, from the end of the old Leola Creek road it is only about a mile back to Gypsy Meadows.

Hiked with David and Peter into Commonwealth Basin with a notion perhaps to Scramble Red Mtn. The climbers path previously described was easy to find heading off just as you get to the flat area below Red Lake. This path is easy to follow for the lower part of the scramble but eventually seems (read on) to peter out, although finding a feasible route is not a major problem. Great views from the top - we didn't find a summit register, but did find many bugs. We were also startled by a loud crack and roar of rockfall seeming to come from the back side of Alaska Mtn, though we couldn't see it. On the downhill, it's easier to find a well-defined route, which mainly follows the rib to the south (on your left as you head down). About half way down it turns toward the right (north) and connects with the aforementioned lower climbers path, but this connection would be very hard to see on the way up. Overall not a difficult scramble, but loose rock is a constant hazard that detracts from its appeal. Fortunately there was no one on the route at the same time as we were.

After descending we hoofed it up to Red Pass. I wanted to check out the old Cascade Crest trail that comes up from the Middle Fork. The old trail is definitely visible in places, but there is still snow left in the chute where the trail comes up. The snow is steep and hard and would be difficult to navigate around or descend.

Heading out we took the old Crest trail coming out of Commonwealth Basin, as I've read reports of how nice it is compared to the new trail. This is true for the upper half, though the lower half is narrow, brushy, and rocky. Definitely shorter though!

I chose this hike because it was featured as the Hike of the Week, written by Craig Romano on Washington Online Weather (wowweather.com)

The N Fk Sauk road is closed about 2.3 miles from the N Fk Sauk trailhead, so be prepared to walk a little. The time flies by - especially since you're outrunning flies and mozzies - but the upper reaches of Red Mtn Lookout trail are bug free.

This short little jaunt is well worth the effort. In less than a mile it gains 800 feet. It's a well-graded trail, and is in excellent condition.

It shares the same trailhead as the N Fk Sauk trail; turn uphill about 13 seconds after walking past the trail register and there you are.

Huge cedars here, and some of the biggest Doug Fir I have ever seen! Look for tell tale signs of an old burn through here.

The lookout site is different from others you've likely hiked to - this isn't on the summit, or anywhere near the summit of Red Mtn. This lookout was perched on rock outcropping on a point overlooking the N Fk Sauk valley. In-your-face view of Sloan and the Monte Cristos, and the sound of the rushing river below are the attractions.

Pipessewa is blooming en force right now.

A day hike to scramble/climb up Red Mountain (Tennaway area). Started at Salmon La Sac road and Cooper lake road but decided due to reports of heavy brush to try a different route. so we drove back to a Forest Service road, then up another to the Thorpe Lake trailhead, parked, got gear ready and crossed the log bridge. Turned right down a old road to where it ended then up a bank on trail 1330.1 to Joe Lake. Trail was relatively steep but doable, with only one mud hole that was drying up. We intersected trail 1330 on the south-east corner of Joe Lake, an old trail sign was still posted on the side of a tree, then followed 1330 up to the ridge. From there we scrambled to the peak, and back down to the car afterwards. I used the three liters (quarts) of water mixed with powdered Gatorade that I had brought on this trip. Didn't see anyone all day on the trail. Trail was easy to follow, but not on any current maps. On the upper trail (1330) near the ridge, did have to keep an eye out for the routing, but not too difficult. Trail 1330.1 has a few trees across it but they are easy to go around.

I have wanted to do Red Mtn. (Snoqualmie Pass) for some time and when I saw the Mountaineers list it, I signed up. The weather was forecast to be less than ideal and sure enough, that proved to be the case. The bushwacky trail from the PCT Traihead into Commonwealth is snow free, but the basin still holds a few feet of ever thinning snow... lots of water crossings, none too difficult, but remaining snow bridges are more promise than substance.

The path from the basin up to Red Pond along the small rib WSW of the mountain is open with just patchy snow. Around the pond, which is melting out, snow cover is consistent. As I understand, we opted for the more traditional approach, which is to traverse up from the E side of the pond to near Red Pass and then cut back ESE following a high angled snow-funnel gully to the summit.

Snow conditions were good for kicking steps as we made our way up the ever narrowing and increasingly steep slot between rock ribs. The exit from the comfortably firm snow on to the mossy wet, crumbly red rock was a little daunting, but all who decided to try the gully made it without problem. A short scramble over loose rock gains the summit.

Retracing our ascent path gave a nice long glissade back to the pond. Great trip, which turned out to be more interesting than I had expected. If you go now, be very comfortable with an ice axe and scrambling on loose moss slick rock.

More pictures from this trip are available at:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2280986450054448085JUaAYY?vhost=outdoors

R and I drove the old Subaru station wagon up the North Fork Suak road to the road barrier (washout) some 2+ miles before the North Fork Sauk trailhead. A high clearance vehicle would be good for a couple of spots, but by going slowly, I made it over the bumps with no scrapes.

The road walk was pretty and went fast. The trail up to Red Mt. lookout site is beautiful. One blow down - no problem. We bypassed the lookout site, thinking it was still above us, and ended up on a very steep way track that narrowed until we were precariously perched on wet rock and moss on the side of a forested cliff. Backing carefully down, we retreated to the lookout (a small platform that looks straight out to Sloan Peak)and waited for the clouds to clear completely. They never did and we started down thoroughly chilled by the breeze.

Back on the road, we picked up many beer cans and other assorted garbage on our hike out. There were 3 cars at the trailhead when we arrived and three when we left (not all the same) but we never did see or hear anyone. A long drive from Seattle (2.75 hr), but we were fortunate to not see a soul on this popluar hiking holiday.

A great little trail often overlooked. After exploring the North Fork Sauk I decided to give this one mile side trail a try. Gain 800 feet to an old lookout site on a ledge on Red Mountain. Great little view of Sloan and its glacier. Nice view too up Sloan Creek Valley and down the N Fk Sauk to Spring and Pugh. Tread is good and only one downed tree-and not a tough one to get over.

Red Mountain

Started out at the PCT with Flint, John and Carrie at Snoqualmie pass at 10:00 am and was surprised to see a good 7 feet of snow at the trailhead. I thought the beginning of the trail would have less snow. Slowly started climbing into the Common wealth basin with Kendall peak on the right and Red mountain to the left. Crossed commonwealth creek on a narrow snow bridge and started to climb along a ridge to the saddle at 4900 ft. Above the saddle the snow was deep and soft due to lack of freezing. Got to the top at 1:30pm to overcast skies, and drizzle. Ate a quick bite and glissaded down to the saddle in 1 minute. We started small slides during our glissade which was a bit unnerving but it wasn’t too bad.

Dropped down in a gully instead of the ridge and followed a creek to commonwealth basin where we crossed the creek again. Saw a couple of skiers but that was it. Snow should be more consolidated after this warming/freezing cycle this week. Snow in the forest was packed from skiers.

Gold or Silver hikers

I have been feeling like I have been missing out due to other commitments. I am usually off on Mondays but with work being shorthanded I was scheduled. With perfect weather I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to bag another peak. I again was forced to drive my car so I needed a paved approach. The goal for the day was a summit of Red Mt. There is a trail that leaves the Cooper Lake Road almost two miles past the the junction with Salmon La Sac Road. The trail is a little hard to spot , I passed it on my first attempt. I turned around and found a small turnout area to park. The trail doesn't appear to get much use but it is easy to follow and the grade is mostly pleasing. Since I was on such a time schedule I had to get up 6 am , I am not a morning person. I realized that I had forgotten my wristwatch-altimeter soon after leaving the house. Since I had planned on being on trail the whole day I thought I would be fine. As it turns out the 5 minutes it would have taken me to retrieve my watch would have saved well over an hour. The trail becomes a little muddled at around 4800ft, I found a good trail that traverses North. I had a feeling it wasn't the main trail but it intrigued me so I followed it. The trail spits you out at the end of one of the many logging roads that adorn this drainage.I left the logging road and continued on off trail. The grade is moderate and it goes fairly easily. I continued on until I reached the ridgeline and then easily followed it to Red Mt's summtit. I poked around for a while looking for a summit regsiter, but none was found. Red Mt is well positioned for views of the Lemah-Chimney Rock group. I also was impressed with the views of The Stuart Range. Since time was of the essence, I didn't stay long. I turned my attention to refinding my pack that I had stashed 600ft below me. I had a much harder time with the descent. I took my time and soon I was on easier ground. Since I didn't have my altimeter I was concerned about finding my way back to my pack. I erred on my line and ended up much farther North. I figured I was already below the elevation of my pack and I wasn't thrilled about a long traverse to where I thought my pack might be. I decided to continue with the descent until I reached the logging road below me. I then reclimbed this road until I reached the point where I had left it earlier. I then reclimbed the 500ft of elevation to return to my pack. The rest of the descent went fast and I made it home with enough time to cook myself a big dinner and make it to work on time. I am very glad that I chose to take advantage of such a beautiful day.



Approx 9 miles 4200ft of climb 5 hours car to car

We lived up to our motto of ""better a late start than none at all"" and headed up the Chiwawa River trail with those doing Buck Creek and the PCT detour (closed around Glacier Peak due to bridge washouts). After the Buck Creek junction, the trail becomes pretty brushy in parts - no blow downs, but a lot of wading to be done. Since the trail is on an old mining road, the are plusses and minuses: a nice grade with some good views make for good hiking, but the sun does beat down and the vegetation is pretty junky along the trail.

Like other posters said - it is pretty easy to miss the junction to the basin. A sign after 5 miles or so that says ""Red Mountain"" is where the turnoff to the basin is (about 20 feet before the sign on your left). Some blow-downs on the basin trail, but very manageable. Some bugs. Lots of deer. Only saw two groups of bear hunters on the trail (not camping) the whole time there - other than that, we had a huge basin to ourselves. In talking to these hunters, it appears that this trail is popular with them - so, if it is after August 1st and you dress in black and have a lumbering gait, I would recommend adding some orange to your wardrobe.

The trail to Red Mountain has a lot of passable blow-downs. As advertised, it peters-out near the top of the saddle on Red Mountain. H (my canine companion) had a rough go after the old mining road ended and the loose rock began. We made it about 200 yard from the summit when she refused to budge any farther and gave me one of those ""you want me to go up where?"" looks I have seen from many human companions. So, we turned around and I had to actually talk her down some of the scree slopes – she got plenty of extra treats back at home to assuage that guilt! I really wanted to see if I could make an easy loop through Phelps Creek with this route. From what I saw, the Chiwawa basin side could be approached with a pack, if you feel comfortable with scree and a brief third-class leg. As for the Phelps Creek side - it will have to wait another time when the dog is at ""camp.""

After a good productive day of studying, I snuck out for a close-by evening hike. I chose my favorite close-to-seattle summit hike, Red Mountain.

Not much to report about the trail. It's all in great shape, just one tiny patch of snow in the basin. Funny story, though (Warning: rated PG-13 for strong language; parental guidance is advised): I started up the trail at 5:15 pm and turned onto the old ""abandoned"" Commonwealth Basin trail. It's the most unabandoned abandoned trail you'll ever see. It's in great shape, considerably better shape than many solid green lines on the map. For those who haven't been on it, start out on the PCT, and right after the ""most difficult"" (ooooooooooh) sign, there's what looks like (and probably is) an old road-dwindled-to-trail on your left. Turn there; this seamlessly turns into the old Commonwealth trail. It's a full mile shorter than taking the PCT, and it's prettier, goes near the creek a lot, and has less highway noise. Even if I was going to Kendall Katwalk I'd take the old trail, then backtrack a bit at the junction.

ANYWAY, soon after I turned onto the old trail, I ran into an older man with a very old pack and a kind of goofy white hat with a loooong white bill. I said with a smile, ""Heey, this trail's abandoned!"" Without responding at all to my hilarious joke, the odd looking man said, ""Not far up there, there's a bird who chirps kind of like this."" He chirped, and continued: ""After he chirped, he came down and SWOOPED at me, just barely missing my head. He did this a couple of times. Maybe some kind of falcon. Just watch out for him!"" I thought, uh huh, whatever dude, but thanked him and moved on.

As sometimes happens to me when I start out too fast, I got tired quickly and had to stop for a bit not long after that. I heard some chirping, not entirely unlike what the man had described. I ignored it, and started drinking some water. Suddenly I heard a whoosh, a SQUAWK, and felt a THUMP! on the head. It didn't hurt, and he didn't scratch me; it was kind of like getting bopped on the head with a small, firm pillow. It scared the bejeesus out of me. I yelled, ""AAAHHH! F***ER!!!"" Then he started the chirping again. Recalling my Hitchcock, I grabbed my stuff and RAN up the trail until I didn't hear the chirp.

About halfway up, I realized I didn't have my sunglasses, which were perched on my head when I started. I realized it was that f***er bird. Oh well, just a cheap drug store pair.

I turned off onto the rugged boot track to head to the top of Red Mountain. I took it from where it meets the trail while the latter is side-hilling, not long before it hits that flat area. This was actually the first time, out of 4 trips, that I succeeded in following the boot track -- not much of a trail, anyway, really, but probably the best route -- all the way to the top. Every other time I've gotten stuck on the cliffs to the left.

While I was laboring against the red cliffs under the still-hot sun, I noticed that a group of guys was not far below me. They caught up to me. they were going pretty fast, and I was having one of my occasional bouts of trail-nausea, probably from not enough salt (I force-fed myself some salty nuts, and it got better). They are TNAB, the Thursday Night After Burners. One of them, actually, knew me from nwhikers: Mesahtchee Mark. Hi man (if you're reading this)! I hung out with them on the summit, they were a fun group, very funny guys. Suddenly, one of them turned to me and asked, ""Hey, you didn't happen to lose a pair of sunglasses, did you?"" I said, why yes, and told them about the F***er Bird (I don't know what he is, but that's my name for him). They were amused.

Also, close to the top, we saw a mountain goat! First time I've seen one in that area. In fact, first time I've seen one off I-90 at all. I only saw him for a second, but he was gorgeous. Those things are amazing.

After hanging out up there and getting attacked fairly heavily by skeeters (NOTHING like Polallie Ridge on July 4 though) for probably too long, we headed down, headlamps handy. No encounters with F***er Bird.

Footnote: In addition to the skeeters, on the way in there were actually some BITING FLIES at the parking lot and on the ridge leading up to Red Pond/pass area. I guess we've reached that time of year. Sigh.

Shhh - Sadie doesn't know that she missed a hike. Well, she knows. She saw the daypack and poles this morning. Plus, Hiker Jim showed up at 7:00 a.m. - just like usual. But, she didn't know exactly what she missed! It's ok though - no dog abuse here. She got to go swimming in Lake Washington with her summer buddy, Clover. So she got over it pretty quickly. It's that darn pouty look and guilt trip when the driver got home. In any case, it was a day when Hiker Jim, 1/2 of Trail Pair (Kolleen) and S.D. hit the trail to finally do Red Mountain (up the Commonwealth Basin). We postponed the trip from the 4th of July, since it was raining on the west side and we worried the route would be slippery - probably a good idea. Besides, Sadie did this trip 3 years ago, so, it's not like she missed a new summit bagging trip. So, anyway, we met up with K at the Issaquah Park and Ride ""annex"" parking lot and the three of us headed east in Hiker Jim's car to the PCT trailhead at Snoqualmie Summit. Amazingly, there were only abot 4 or 5 other cars in the parking lot, so we got a great parking spot and we were on the trail a little before 8:30 a.m. The first 2 1/2 miles up the PCT went quickly. We opted not to go the old Cascade Crest trail and stick to the newer route. A solo hiker w/ dog and then a couple actually passed us - we were a bit chagrined, thinking we were moving at a pretty good clip. We made the split at the Commonwealth Basin trail - where we saw the couple resting for a snack and drink. They were headed to the Katwalk - seemed as though the few we talked to at the trailhead all intended to do Kendall today. On we headed towards Commonwealth Basin and Red Pond. There was still some snow on the trail - not a lot. We would find more snow on our return trip on the old Cascade Trail. The creek crossings were a snap. The creeks are low and we found a log to cross with no trouble. The bugs were hanging around - but not zeroing in on us for breakfast. We got to the ""flat spot"" just before Red Pond in record time. Probably a little more than an hour. Here's where you need to pay attention. At the end of the last switch back that takes you up towards Red Pond, there appears to be a trail to the left. This actually just goes to a nice little viewpoint. You can continue straight (on this day, there was snow covering the regular trail) - this will take you to Red Pond and the trail to Red Pass. BUT - look carefully! You will see a trail to your right - just beyond the viewpoint trail. It will take you up the CORRECT Red Mountain Trail. DO NOT go up a little farther north on the trail toward Red Pond and take what appears to be another route up Red Mountain. You will end up bush-whacking. If you go to www.nwhikers.net, you will see the rock and cairn that mark the trail up to Red Mountain. In any case, we went too far North and did end up bushwhacking and do a lot of steep scrambling up solid rock faces, as well as loose scree- like rock. You want to stay to the South of the gully, regardless. Head more towards what appears to be the somewhat steep ridge, which is more to the south. If you have managed to find the correct route up Red Mountain, you will want to go up the left (North) side of the smaller gully and then cross it about half way up to the right (South) side of the gully and continue on up. The trail is hit and miss - but you generally can find what appears to be a boot path in most places. We did find some cairns on the way down that helped make trail finding much easier. But, as is usually the case, it's always easier to see the trail on the way down than it is on the way up! Trust me, the more-or-less ""real"" trail is much easier on you then the ""head straight up"" approach - which is what we basically did until we got about 3/4's of the way up the slope. It was quite steep and looking back, we could see Red Pond far below us - it was snow free, but was mostly encircled in snow. Just above this flat spot - and heading up the trail toward Red Pass, it is snow free. Even though the Driver had been up Red before, it was much the same ""hunt and peck"" approach - and that was 3 years ago. Fortunately, Hiker Jim and K were very tolerant of my bushwhacking, but I think were much relieved to finally find a real trail to take us the rest of the way to the summit. Once on the trail, the route to the summit was pretty easy - still steep, but much easier to follow. We got to the summit in under 3 hours (after wasting about a 1/2 hour poking around trying to find a good route). We had a lovely lunch on top. Enjoyed the beautiful views - and Hiker Jim pointed out various peaks and trails to us. We had great views of Guye, Snoqualmie and Lundin - all peaks we each had summited - some of them we had done together. Guye appeared particularly miniscule from this vantage point. We spent about 40 minutes on the summit soaking in the sun. There wasn't much of a breeze, but the bugs weren't too bad. As we headed down, K and I opted for poles, Hiker Jim decided to bare-hand it. It was steep, but no worse than other scrambles we have been on in the past. And, having the trail more visible, helped boost our confidence. We came to the clump of trees and saw that the route we were heading down was much more accommodating and NO bushwhacking! Nice. We saw lovely slopes of flowers - Red, white and blue - and a little lavendar and purple thrown in for good measure! We got back down to the location where we should have started and set up a cairn for return visitors. The snow helped to hide the route - but it won't be around long. On our way down, we ran into about 6 people coming up the trail. They all seemed to be heading just to Red Pond or maybe Red Pass. We felt pretty good that we had made it up Red Mtn. and down by Noon. The trip out was uneventful. We took the old ""Abandoned"" trail back to the parking lot (rather than the PCT), cutting off a little distance. Crossing the creek about 3 times was relatively easy - logs to cross. There was much more snow on the old trail than there had been on our way in - but it was easy enough to go over - nothing like our trip in February when we had to drop about 10' to cross the creek! Sadie and the other 1/2 of Trail Pair were missed on this lovely day. But they probably had a relaxing day doing something else. We managed to gain about 3000', around 8 miles and 5 1/2 hours car to car. Not bad. Sadie was resting comfortably when I got home - all was forgiven by dinner time.

i found this scramble in the goldman book. fortunately, this is one of the accurate route descriptions. while it ranks as one of the ""easy"" scrambles, with the snow it was a very satisfying scramble both for routefinding and rock scrambling. be sure to take mountain boots and ice ax.

avoid the old trail, since it is snow-covered and can be difficult to follow. instead, take the pacific crest trail. the route is hit by the ""bowl effect"" whereby colder air is trapped in the bowls and so snow survives. there is snow in the first 10 minutes of the trail, and snow again in the commonwealth creek valley as well as the switchbacks up to red pond. it takes about 45 minutes to escape the sounds of the i-90 traffic. there are 12 blowdowns--10 in the first leg to the cutoff from pct to the commonwealth creek trail #1033, and 2 on the switchbacks. at about an hour out, just before the turnoff, you have to cross two rather healthy small waterfalls. be sure you have waterproof boots! around here, you will see the RED mountain that is your destination.

look for the wood sign on the tree for the turnoff--it's on the left. note at this juncture that the pct trail DESCENDED several switchbacks. the commonwealth creek trail descends further into a snow-covered valley. you won't see the trail after a while. just keep the guye and snoqualmie peaks on your left, kendall peak on your right, and aim for the left side of red mountain. the ranger warning is half correct: you lose the trail, but route finding is easy. [i tied a couple of pink trail ribbons on trees to help.] you will hear commonwealth creek on your left, but not see it. be careful in the valley, cause there are a number of feeders, and crumbling snow bridges. expect to posthole into water. i counted crossing a stream 3x.

once at the end of the valley, look for the likely path that runs along the edge. yesterday, this was covered in snow. about 20 feet in, i tied another pink trail tape to mark the start of the trail. after 10 minutes, the trail becomes dry. when you start hitting snow at the top, you are near the red pond saddle.

exit the forest, and come out to a flats. ""red pond"" is at the far end, is actually dark green and ugly, and is not worth seeing. looking right is red mountain. on the left are some rock cliffs, on the right is the sw face, and above about 1000 feet of a rock scramble. be careful, the rock is friable. you can see why there have been serious accidents here. start in the middle, look for the snow finger that extends almost all the way from the summit to red pond, and keep to the right of the finger. unfortunately, while there is a climbers path, you can't really see it well from below. since this scramble is so popular, there are actually a number of rabbit trails here and there. most importantly, if there is anyone climbing above you, climb somewhere else. the grade is gentle enough, and the side wide enough, to permit this.

at the summit, there is a sheer drop on the east side. but there are several places to eat lunch out of the wind. from the top, you can see lundin peak and the teanaways. as is the case in many scrambles, you can finally see the climbers trail looking down the mountain. the left side has a sheer drop as well, but on the way down i followed this down till the trees started. i even glissaded the last 150 feet.

to help mark the start of the switchbacks, i tied another piece of pink tape to a tree.

now on the return across the streams and water puddles, remember to stay left of commonwealth creek. after about a mile, head left and you should rediscover the trail. now climbing up kendall peak, you will pass a sign ""trail abandoned"" that marks the old trail. ignore this and DON'T hike down. recall now that you have to climb UP several switchbacks to return back to the cars. when you come to the 2 small waterfalls, you will know that you are going the right way to the trailhead.

when i was 250 feet from the summit, i saw 2 search and rescue helicopters searching snoqualmie peak. the blue one flew into the soup on the north side. looked like no one was found, and the 2 birds flew back and landed at snoqualmie ski area. i found a new polypro vest on the way back, and left it on the sign at the trailhead.

I popped a couple of tapes into my two VCRs for the football games, and the Yeti and I tossed Daisy into the car and headed out to soak up some half-way decent weather in the wilderness. I liked last week's hike so much (N Fk Sauk) that we went thataway again, to check out some of the low elevation hikes in the area. There was some new snow on FS #49 at around 2,000 ft, maybe four inches at the trailhead, but still OK for virtually any car.

We were going to stop at the Beaver lake trailhead, which is just past the Sauk river bridge on the Mtn loop hiway, but the turnoff is unsigned and we missed it. So we kept going to FS #49, and stopped at the N Fk Sauk falls trailhead. The snow was really coming down, but it was still better than rain. The short (1/4 mile) trail to the falls is way worth it: they were raging and roaring. I took a potentially nasty fall on some slippery wood steps on the way down, but managed to save myself from injury due to the handrail on my left and my well-padded posterior. I made Daisy sit still on the gravel viewing platform due to the slippery conditions and the steep fall into the raging river below if a mis-step were to occur. We hung out there for a while, but we were being ""tatered"" by snow, and this was just an appetizer anyway, so we bailed back up to the car.

We headed up the N Fk Sauk trail a short ways (100 yards maybe) to the Red Mtn Lookout trail, then went up the N Fk trail just a bit more to see some of the huge trees in the area. We needn't have bothered, though, because the Red Mtn trail has trees just as big if not even bigger. There is really very little snow on the Red Mtn trail, none at the beginning, a couple of inches a little ways up, maxing out at 6 inches at the site of the abandoned forest service lookout (now gone). The snow let up, and blue sky appeared, and we even were able to make out the sun's disc through the clouds, but the sun never actually shone on us. The valley below would be totally visible one minute, then completely fogged in the next, then back to visible agian. We weren't treated to any views of the glaciers in Pride Basin that are supposed to be had from there, but that is OK, we'll just come back another day.

Total distance hiked was 3 miles, elevation gained was 1,000 ft, 3/4 of each at Red Mtn, 1/4 at the falls. The trees were some of the biggest I've seen anywhere, mainly Doug firs and cedars. The cedars are especially huge.

Hadn't been up Red for nigh on 15 years. Originally planned on Snoqualmie but the sight of Red upvalley was strangely attractive. I took the ""abandoned"" old trail. Sheesh, this a better trail than many a maintained FS trail with a number, and a vast improvement over the ""official"" PCT in terms of getting away from the traffic noise and getting upvalley. And actually it seems a better trail now than what I remembered even before the new PCT was built. Anyways ... creek crossings fairly simple, brush along trail not too bad though wet, decent visibility. Fall colors on shoulders of Snoqualmie were nice. Previous times I'd been up Red I just scrambled direct from Red Pond up rocky gulleys. Now, there is something of a scramble trail much of the ways. I'm very good at losing trails so I still managed to recreate the no-trail experience of scrambles past a few times on the way up. From the top, clouds covered the Chimney area, which was too bad because the lower slopes I could see had some gorgeous new snow on them. Took about 2 hours up and the same down. the weather held very nicely, not a drop of rain and even some brief (VERY brief) sun breaks. On one of my wanders off trail during the scramble I chanced upon a pair of trekking poles, just lying there on the slope. Hmm. I asked the only other two people I saw on top if they had left them but no. I picked them up on the way back; the straps were wet and muddy and I'd guess they might have been there for weeks or months but not years. They were in a slightly obscure spot (wouldn't have been visible from the trail). If they're yours, leave a personal message for ""wolfs"" at the nwhikers.net web site, with make model disinguishing features, and a plausible or at least droll story related to how these ended up being left behind. I have a theory ...

With my life lately being a whirlwind of strife I eagerly hit the trail today. My intention was to try for a double summit of Red Mt. and finishing with Thorp Mt.. I had previously been to Little Joe Lake and I remember that a logging road bisects Trail 1330, so my plan was to drive to this intersection and follow Trail 1330 to Little Joe Lake. I figured this would save enough time and distance to make this possible in a relative short span of time. I had no problem finding the proper logging road but was disappointed to find the road undrivable after a half mile. I decided that I would just walk the road until it's end and play it by ear. I decided that the road grade was not taking me to my goal fast enough so I jumped off road and made a direct line to the trail above me. I reached the trail to find that I was much more west than what I was expecting. I just crossed the trail and continued climbing reaching Pt. 5236 easily. Although this point isn't on any list of peaks it was worth the effort with some great views of Chimney Rock and a nice perspective of Bear's Breast Mt. I decided instead of making the long traverse to Red Mt I would instead make my way to Thorp Mt. I was more in the mood for a hike that stayed on trail. The dogs seemed to have some issues with the warmer weather. It wasn't that it was actually that warm I think instead it was more of an issue in difference in temps. I quickly made my way to the climber's trail that takes you to the lookout on top of Thorp Mt's summit. I was quite interested to see that the lookout seems to be used quite often. The views were quite good of the mostly snowless peaks of the Central Cascades. I made my way down via the Thorp Creek Trail forcing me to retrace the last half mile I had driven to reach the parked truck.

Starting with the Thorp Creek Trail, you can assemble various paths into an enjoyable 10 mile loop touring the heights of Kachess Ridge. The scenery is not of the alpine stunner variety-- in fact, Kachess Ridge is not in protected wilderness and clearcuts are visible everywhere-- but the flower show right now is **fabulous** in the many meadows traversed by the route. It's also nice that the trails here tend to be more lightly used compared to the more glamorous wilderness areas. Some skeeters were out, but not enough to make me use repellant.

I started by following the Thorp Creek Trail, which is in good condition although a little overgrown with knee-high brush. I was glad to see signs of recent trail work activity: new signs, cut logs, drain dips, and such. The grade starts out easy, then becomes steep near Thorp Lake, reached via a quarter mile spur which I didn't do. Beyond the lake, the trail rapidly climbed a meadowy slope to a junction. Here I went right onto the Kachess Ridge Trail, whose decent tread took an up-and-down course first on the side of the ridge, then on top of it. There were potentially good views on the ridgeline in spots, although I don't know for sure because clouds and drizzle got in the way.

At the next junction, I went right on to the Red Mountain Trail. This path is also of the up-and-down variety, giving me plenty of exercise while I admired the flower-strewn meadows and the views. There are some confusing spots in places: a poorly marked junction with an unmapped trail and a spot where the trail has been wiped out by a logging road. But if you pay attention and have a map, the route is not difficult to follow. With this trail, oversteep grades and slumped tread suggest that some treadwork and reroutes are in order.

Eventually, the trail crossed one last ridge and plunged down a slope to arrive at Little Joe Lake, a marshy pond in a peaceful wooded basin. At a junction next to the lake, I left the Red Mountain Trail and headed downhill on the Little Joe Lake Trail, which sports some rather steep grades. Rerouting and regrading of this trail would be beneficial. A few logs on the trail need removal.

After one final knee-busting dive to the bottom of the valley, where the trail was doing its best to imitate the Mailbox Peak path, the Little Joe Trail ended at a logging road not far from the Thorp Creek trailhead. A final easy stroll on the road brought me back to my car. Despite Sunday's clouds and showers, the loop hike made for a nice day in the woods.

This loop hike in the Salmon La Sac area includes a seldom traveled ridge where the trail passes through several beautiful meadows and one ugly clearcut. There are some limited snow patches in higher spots. But do leave the gaiters and ice axe at home, they are not needed. Later in the season expect the vegetation in meadow areas to partially obscure the higher portion of this lightly used trail.

Note that the USGS quad does not depict all of this trail. If you would like to see the location of the rest of this trail, I posted a snip from the quad with our gps track. Go to http://mysite.verizon.net/jelfelt and follow the link for maps.

Right now there is water running in every ravine. Even along the ridge part of the trail there were at least two meadow areas where it would be easy to pump water. (These may dry up later.) Not many flowers yet. The best show will likely be around the 3rd week in June.

We had a good look at a bear that didn’t know it was supposed to be black and was brown instead. One of our natural history references indicates this coloring can occur east of the cascades.

The only people we saw were two adventurous horse riders doing the loop in the opposite direction. Them: “Any trees down on the trail?” Us: “Nope.” Later we encountered the only sizeable tree blocking the trail on the entire loop. No problem for hikers but it surely must have been a challenge for the couple on horseback to get past.

Set your trip odometer to 0.0 where you leave the Salmon La Sac Road and follow the signs for the Thorp Lake trailhead. At 4.6 miles turn right onto Road 121 (small sign “Thorp Creek trail). Cross the creek and park. Hike west 1/4 mile on road and then watch for where the trail turns off to the left. The spur trail to Thorp Lake is well signed. After another ~1/3 mile there is a junction at a switchback with the Kachess Ridge trail (weathered sign on ground). Keep right (do not switchback). After about another 1 mile watch for the junction with the Red Mountain trail (2 signs on tree) going east. Follow this trail along the ridge. There a number of interesting looking scramble bumps along the way. As the trail approaches Little Joe Lake it appears to get more use. As you go around the lake you will see the junction (signed) with the trail up Red Mountain. From the lake the trail descends a long way to a spur logging road that leads back to where you parked.

The total distance is about 7.5 miles and around 2,200 feet of gain. Be sure to allow enough time. There is some upping and downing along the ridge and some sections of the trail down from Little Joe Lake are steep. The pics show two views of Little Joe Lake.

Saturday's forcast was for rain throughout the state, but with a big sucker hole hanging over the city Saturday morning I decided to get some miles in. The first 2.5 miles to Red Pass share the PCT with the Kendall Katwalk trail from Snoqualmie Pass. By 12:30 there were a dozen cars at the trailhead. I passed several people in the first 2 miles returning from up trail but they had only made it to where the trail split. The trail is in great shape upto and beyond the fork, no snow. From the fork its obvious that there's no snow at all on Red Mtn so I decided to scramble to the top if the rain didn't hit first There are patches of snow around Commonwealth Creek, 6-12 inches deep. I assume there used to be a couple of bridges over the creek here? They're gone now requiring 2 rock hoppings/wading through the creek before regaining the trail up the ridge. Other than the patches around the creek its snow-free until the flat at Red Pond. From here I took off to the right through a bit of snow to the heather covered slope. 400' of gain leads to a talus field where I picked my way to the top. Kendall, Lundin, and Snoqualmie Mtns were all in and out of the fog, while blue sky made intermittent appearances. From the summit Mt Thompson was barely visible through the clouds, Alaska Mtn wasn't to be seen, nor anything to the north of the pass. On the way down I found the climbers trail through the upper slopes, lost it on the lower slopes and found it again throught the heather. Back on the trail I opted for the shorter ""abandoned trail down Commonwealth basin. Its about 1.5 miles shorter, doesn't climb at all on the return, but is snow covered on the upper half. I punched through to my knees a couple of times and had to wade the creek once, but otherwise its in fine shape, cutting 30-40 minutes off my return to the car. round trip ~9 miles, 3000' 5 1/2 hours. 2:45 to the summit of Red. Snowshoes and ice axe not needed(good thing too, they were left in my closet), trekking poles were handy. The trail from the Red Pond flat to the pass is probaly snow free but there's plenty of snow right around the pond. Also the summit provides a good look at the Katwalk, while Kendall Peaks are snowfree the trail itself still has snow on it. Nothing difficult, probably not requiring snowshoes, but will have snow for a couple of more weeks. This is a nice scramble close to Seattle on a questionable weather day. Also the scramble is much easier if one finds the climbers trail through the heather which starts immediately right after entering the flat

Beautiful sunny day in the Puget Sound. Except for the big cloud bank resting over the Snoqulmie Pass area....

Finally broke out of the clouds at about 5,000 feet on the way to Red Pass and was treated to spectacular views of clear sunny sky and snowcapped peaks rising from the blanket of clouds below. Just as I reached Red pass the ravens showed up, apparently hoping I would fall off the other side...

Trail is pretty well packed snow and ice from trailhead parking lot (and good luck driving up to the trailhead with anything less than chains---I suggest parking at the West Summit ski area---take right off exit 52---and walk to trailhead). I hiked in regular boots up to Commonwealth creek and then switched over to cleated snowshoes. Crampons /strap-on cleats would do just as well until Red Pond. Beyond that, it's very steep and very powdery so snowshoes and ice-axe were helpful to have. Glissading down was moderately successful, but too much powder to get much speed. Still, ice ax was handy for steering and stopping.

Hiked the out the last couple of miles in the dark---it creeps up quick, especially in the clouds, so having a headlamp is highly recommended.

Trail is great.

Besides the streams right at the beginning, there's really nothing but dubious water on this trail.

We left the main trail and scrambled up Red Mountain. We left the trail where a little climbers path branches off right where the main trail hits a flat area. On the way down, however, we found a better route that meets the trail BEFORE the main trail reaches the flat spot. Definitely easier and safer. Don't tell anyone, but we thought a cairn was warranted and placed it near where the better trail branches off. We only saw 2 people on the non-PCT part of the trip, and that was only at the very top. It took them a full hour longer than us (it took us 2.5 hours) to get to the top, and they were still there when we started down at about 8pm. I hope they had extra batteries for their headlamps.

Lots of mosquitoes at the top. Probably coming from that nasty little pond.

We left the trailhead about 5pm Friday on our way up Phelps Creek. It's a very easy hike on an old roadbed much of the way to Spider Meadows. Here we made camp and swatted a few bugs. They weren't extremely fierce, but managed to bite the heck out on one attractive hiker. The next morning we joined quite a few people up at Spider Gap, after stomping up the gentle glacier. Snow was perfect for step kicking. Quite a view down to Lyman Lakes.

We said our goodbyes to the crowds and headed south on the Fortress high route towards Red Mountain, popping down the other side to some nice camps a bit off the trail. Similar bug situation -- tolerable for me but not the attractive one.

The next day we dropped down the Red Mountain trail a few hundred vertical and found a path to a hunter's camp. This trail looks to be used regularly to this camp. The trail is faint and hard to follow beyond, but we followed it through meadows and old sheepherder campsites. Unfortunately, the ""trail"" (which seemed pretty obvious in many spots, but perhaps is just game trails?) went too far and we popped over the ridge way too far. Backtracking along the ridge worked well most of the way... but not far enough. So we dropped down precipitous terrain, using veggie rappels and slip sliding down gravel to a few cliffbands and a lucky choice of a great grassy gully. We popped down onto a great campsite at about 6100' +/-200' (altimeter management problems). Here we followed the map which has the trail west of the creek... and found ancient and venerable tread in great shape. Lots of cut logs and some blazes mark the route. Lots of downed logs but not much brush. This dropped down fast to Phelps Creek, where the tread disappears. Somehow we found ourselves crossing Phelps Creek right across from Leroy Creek and the epic was over.

A quick jaunt on sore feet down the Phelps trail got us out in time for a 59er Diner shake.

The October storms and winter winds have done some damage on the N Fork Sauk River trail. We started Saturday evening and hiked towards Mackinaw Shelter. En route are plenty of blowdowns and debris to navigate. Definitely not a horse-able trail. One section of the trail is lost due to the flooding last fall. Keep going through the water and poke around for the tread. One creek is a challenge to cross without getting wet. We found a log to shinney, but it was a little scary. It's pretty easy to ford the creek but you'll probably want to do it barefoot or in wading footwear.

After Mackinaw shelter, the trail up the avalanche path is in excellent shape, with no blowdowns.

We left the trail at about 5200 feet to tag some peaks. We could see Red Pass from far below, where the PCT crosses a steep bit o' snow. Probably need an axe unless the snow is soft there. We passed over point 6910, Skullcap, and Black Mt and wandered over Magenta and Red peaks, with a side trip to Skalabats peak. Then down the ridge to the Red Mt trail. This section has a very scary ledge, covered in pine needles. After that it's maintained trail from the old lookout site the last mile (all in excellent shape).

Went up the Chiwawa Basin Red Mountain trail, starting from Trinity on Saturday morning. The trail to the Red mountain turnoff has been logged out and is mostly dry. (It should be noted that the Massie Lake unmaintained trail has no sign, and there are several tracks running off the west side of the main trail, so, unless you are pretty sure you know which is the correct one, don't go.) After the Chiwawa Basin Red Mountain split, the Red Mountain trail has not been logged out and is very brushy in parts. Nice campspot just after the 6th switch back, overlooking a small meadow. After another mile or so, the trail disperses into various tracks, but the 101 hikes blithe description of ""descend to benches for excellent alpine camping"" is a little off. I didn't see any likely campspots, and traversing the deer tracked hillside with a full pack looking for one was killing me. I ended up camping on the snow, just to find a flat spot. No bugs and a fine view all the way down the valley.

No snow on the trail, except small patches right at the end at around 7000'. There was enough snow higher up to allow a trip over the headwall to Spider Gap. (Without the snow, I'm not sure the trip would be safe, as many of the hillsides are loose scree.) Plenty of snow on the east side of Red Mountain, starting at 6000', all the way up to Spider gap. Upper Lyman lakes are 75% melted out.

Hiked/scambled Red Mountain on Saturday. The trail to Red pond in clear and easily followed. I took the old commonwealth basin trail for quicker access than the PCT allows. 2 hours to the Red Pass and then 20 minutes up to the false summit before Lundin. Very many tasty blueberries on the way. lunch. back down to 4900 ft for the red mountain scramble. 40 minutes from the pond to the top, via 2nd and 3rd class choss. follow the cairns for the easiest way. 2 hours from the summit to the car. Sunny and warm, some bugs not too bad. only saw a handful of people.

We took advantage of the new Loop Hikes Washington book to find a day loop hike fairly near Seattle. We ended up with Hike 53, Thorp Mountain. We included the side trips to Thorp Lake and Thorp Mountain lookout along with the loop. It was a bright, very warm, sunny day, and the flies were enjoying the sunshine as much as we were! The trail was in good shape. Thorp Lake was a beautiful gem, and we were really glad we made the quick side trip, especially when we spotted a Hermit Thrush near the lake. The scramble up to Thorp Mountain lookout wasn't bad, and the view of Rainier was spectacular! There is very little water between the junction of Thorp Creek trail and Little Jo lake, so stock up! The section of Red Mountain Trail that is included in this loop says ""Hard to Follow"" and it surely was. The trail is supposed to go right up and over the top of a 5357-foot outcrop, but we ended up flanking it on the south. We stumbled on a dozen elk, including three calves, in one of the small valleys along this section. Little Jo Lake was pretty low and not very appealing. There is water again heading out on Little Jo Lake trail, which you'll need because the trail gets quite dry and dusty before you're done. There were ripe and delicious huckleberries on the way in and on the way out from this loop. A great day overall!!

I talked my friend Matt into joining me for an afterwork scramble up Red Mountain. He is a trail enthusiast, but thinks I'm a little sadistic when it comes to elevation gain (I'm not). I was pleasantly surprised when he agreed to accompany me. I have wanted to do Red Mountain all summer. I did the Kendall Katwalk a few years ago, and at the time, I thought neighboring Red Mountain didn't look too formidable. I explained to Matt that it should be a very do-able scramble for a couple of John Doe hikers like us.

We set off northward from the Alpental-area PCT trailhead at Snoqualmie Pass in gorgeous, relatively bug-free weather. This is the same trailhead you use to explore Kendall Katwalk, or to do a scramble of Kendall Peak (also on my list of fun stuff to do).

The highway noise is unpleasant for the first couple of miles, but gradually subsides by the time you emerge from the forest for a traverse through rockslides and great views of Red Mountain and surrounding peaks (e.g., Snoqualmie Mountain, Guye Peak). Matt got stung by multiple wasps in the Commonwealth Basin after I stepped on a log and screwed up their remodeling job. You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but Matt can move very fast, especially when he is being stung repeatedly over his legs.

We gained the thinly forested southern shoulder of Red Mountain and were greeted to a spectacular view of Mt. Rainier. Kendall Peak looked impressive in the afternoon setting sun.

I was feeling a little sluggish when we reached Red Pond. My pack was too heavy. We craned our necks up at the southwest shoulder of Red Mountain. We almost started the wrong way on the climbers trail to Lundin Peak. Fortunately, we snapped out of our daze and backtracked to the correct spur trail. I went first, while Matt rested below. No snow on this route; everything is clear for summer. After a hundred feet, I looked down and saw that he was talking with some other hikers who had just arrived and were resting. These hikers eventually overtook me on the scramble up. They were moving extremely fast, and I felt very discouraged. I'm a pretty strong hiker, but my pack was too heavy and mentally I was feeling like the weakling who gets sand kicked in his face on the beach. The sun was getting ready to set over nearby Cave Ridge/Snoqualmie Mountain, and I worried about making Matt wait too long below. He made it up a couple hundred feet before he stopped and yelled to me to go ahead and continue while he waited below.

I got up about halfway when I reached a tricky, slippery spot. The 40 degree slope was psyching me out a little tonight. At this point I realized I was not mentally in the scramble, and pretty much decided that I would come back and try Red Mountain when I was feeling fresher. Right about that time, a softball/basketball sized rock came skipping, whizzing down. It had been kicked loose by the hikers a couple hundred feet above, which I was worried would happen because a couple of people in their group were off the trail and slipping on loose rock (I don't think they were being careless, though). They yelled out ""Rock!"", and I froze while trying to locate the projectile. It came within 50 feet of me, along with a few other pebbles.

My psyche took a direct hit after that, and all I could think about was getting home for Pagliacci's pizza. I have been doing some easier beginner scrambles around the Pass (Silver Peak, Snoqualmie Mtn)to gain experience, so it was really demoralizing to turn around. But I know I'll return someday. Be forewarned: If you're doing this scramble, you might want to distance yourself from others due to falling rock hazard. I don't know if a helmet would be considered overkill on this scramble, but I will probably be wearing one when I return!

Hiked up Commonwealth Basin and scrambled up Red Mtn on a hot Monday.

PCT trailhead was relatively empty for such a clear day, even considering it was a weekday. The trail is in great shape, one of the most pleasant trails I've been on lately. It is snow-free to the pond and appeared to remain so up to the pass, although I didn't go there (see below).

As the trail first levels out after the steep climb up the ridge, I spotted a somewhat faint trail leading up towards Red Mtn and, lusting after the views on such a clear day, I decided to follow it. It was actually reasonably easy to follow for a while, but for the last couple of hundred feet up it was basically find-your-own-route, and I did. There were sections where it was clear somebody had designated a route (I spotted three impractically placed cairns), but for the most part it was crawling on red rock with the hot yellow sun beaming down. (And boy, is that mountain red! They aren't kidding! Someone call a geologist...) On the top, it was awesome. Saw Baker, Adams, Glacier, and some other guys. I saw little Red Pond down below and remembered, oh shoot, I have to go back down! For the top section, I retraced my steps, but when I reached an avalance chute that went straight down to the pond, I decided to follow that, even if it meant some butt-sliding (there's probably a proper hiking name for that, but I'm bad with the lingo -- just be glad I know what a ""cairn"" is). My reason for the shortcut was twofold: 1) I wanted to go to the pond, but didn't want to go down and climb back up -- at that point I wasn't in the mood for any more climbing. 2) I did not have a lot of confidence in locating the trail where I had left it, whereas the pond and the part of the trail that approaches it was in clear sight from the entire chute. The risk was that I might reach a cliff that was impassable and would have to contour the mountain back southward or worse, retrace my steps upward. Fortunately, the risk paid off and I made it straight down to the pond (well, a little to the left of it) with nary a scratch. Hooray.

The pond, shallow as it is, was not very cold and I took a little dip. Ah, refreshitating. After some hesitation, I pumped water into my near-empty bottle via my Pur filter, testing the limits of my confidence in the device. The pond just seemed a little, well, icky. If anyone has more expert knowledge on the integrity of Red Pond in particular or dubious little ponds in general, I'd love to hear it. (This is a terrific website, but I feel like it should have a message board separate from the trip reports for pond water issues and such... just a suggestion). In any event, six hours later I have felt no ill effects... YET.

Me and my pa was drivin up to the North Fork Sauk Trail which we think is the bestest way to meet up with the PCT. It was runnin late into the day so we decided to try out this Red Mountain Lookout trail cause the Ranger's trail report said he just had cleared it. It started out fairly easy, switchin to and fro up that mountain. The old growin trees are quite a site in these parts of the wilderness. The trail sign had said one mile, so when we approched upon a bluff, we new we were there. It has some good views eastwards and southwards, but we wanted a little more. My Pa found a climbin trail that kept going up (I mean straight up.) We took that route for roughly another mile or so, it goes up a rocky cliff then straight up the side of the mountain. We done pooped out. Maybe we might try her again some time later in the season. I'd sure like to know what we could have seen if we'd come to the tip top. But it was no where's near us at all. Good short hike with no flags. round trip to lookout - less than an hour, don't go further unless you got a lot of energy and mountain goat type legs. Pilchuck Pete

I hiked the Little Joe-Thorp Creek Loop described by Spring and Manning on a beautiful, clear day. The weather was hot, but most of the steep climb up to Little Joe Lake was shaded by second growth. Wood violets, vanilla leaf, and a few late trilliums were blooming here. I saw nary a soul til I got to the lake, and then only two people. Little Joe is a small, pretty mid-elevation lake with a greenish hue. It is shallow and has a thriving insect population, but they didn't disturb me during lunch.

The Red Mountain trail joins the Little Joe Lake Trail on the east side, continuing around the lake and heading west toward No Name Ridge. A beautiful meadow graces the north end of Little Joe. Glacier lillies abounded among yellow monkeyflower and other damp-loving flowers. It is easy to lose the trail here.

The high meadows between Little Joe and No-Name Ridge had spectacular spreads of phlox. The best wildflowers were near the pass between No-Name and Kachess Ridges. The Red Mountain trail is in very poor condition, with lots of blowdown and several places where the tread disappears suddenly. In one place it led right through a small pond behind a log dam.

I was disheartened to see that the valley between No-Name and Kachess has been heavily logged, right up to the pass, which has been stripped of vegetation and boulders to make way for the end of a logging road.

Once over the pass the trail quickly left the logged area, climbing through forest up Kachess Ridge to join the better-maintained Kachess Ridge Trail, also with blowdown. This follows the east side of the ridge in shade, and there was quite a bit of snow on the trail, soft enough for good tread.

I took the side trip up to the picturesque Thorp Mountain Lookout and it was the highlight of the trip. The way is very steep, but flowers were at their peak and the views from the lookout are first rate. Mount Rainier towers above Kachess Lake. The top of Adams can be seen as well. In the opposite direction looms the Mt. Stuart batholith and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Thorp Lake may also be seen below. I saw the first people since Little Joe Lake, over 4 miles away.

I stopped by Thorp Lake on the way down, but found it less appealing than the view from the lookout. It is low enough to be surrounded by brush, and close enough to the road to be crowded with campers.

The Thorp Creek Trail runs mostly through second growth. The tread is badly damaged for most of the way, but nice stands of columbine and valerian help to compensate. One large stump along the trail has been carved into a throne.

This loop is strenuous and not recommended for children, but the solitude, views, and flowers make it worth the effort.

Encountered no snow (or people) whatsoever today. However, mosquitoes were at both the trailhead and the former lookout site. The trail starts in old growth forest and climbs to a lookout offering great views of Sloan Peak. It continues up to a rocky section which is quite exposed, but would make a great scramble. This was our turnaround point.

Snow free from the trailhead on the Cooper Lake Road to about 3800 feet. Above 4500 feet snowshoes were extremely useful. It was a rather pleasant winter day in May with temperatures at the summit around freezing as the icicles on the trees were not dripping.

Not too many hikers out on the N. Fork Sauk River trail to Mackinaw Camp and White Pass. Only a couple spots where trees had blown down over the trail, plus three short areas of snow on the trail. Must have been a big wind storm earlier in the year, as one giant Doug Fir was snapped off at its base. I hiked as far as Red Creek and stopped there for lunch. A couple of hikers had forded the creek, but didn't go to much further as you would have needed snowshoes. Other wise the trail is in pretty good shape. I did remove a lot of fallen limbs and trees from the trail, which the four hikers ahead of me had just stepped over or gone around, apparently they never saw them.

After finishing lunch, a friend of mine from the Everett Mountaineers, Robin, showed up, so hiked back out with her. Just before the trailhead parking lot is the trail up Red Mtn. The GT map and Forest Service sign says, ""1 Mile,"" so we thought we would check it out. After getting up the 1 mile is a view point and a fork in the trail. We took the right one and kept going up as the trail got steeper. Where it turned into a climbers/scramblers path we decided to head back since it was getting late and we didn't know how much further it went. Apparently the left fork trail goes to Ruby Lake. We did have a nice view of Sloan Peak. There is one large tree down across the trail about 1/4 mile up from the N. Fork Sauk trail. Didn't encounter any snow on Red Mtn. as far as we hiked. Even the sun came out.

Route was via the old cascade crest trail leaving from the upper (horse) parking lot at PCT trailhead. Trail is in excellent shape with some ice on the eroded logging road section. Commonwealth Creek is running a little higher than last time I was here. Someone staples some chicken wire on a log crossing the creek to improve traction but it seemed pretty slippery so I crossed on the rock trail I previously made. No snow until the little lake (frozen) just before the talus field, and even at the top the snow coverage was thin and patchy (maybe 15% coverage). Trekking poles were more than adequate for traction. I went as far as the false summit at Lundin (around 5800'). Air temp got much warmer at high elevation, which has been the pattern over the past week: 50 deg at the top at 8AM, 25 deg at Commonwealth creek crossing (3600') on the way out. Summit at 8AM? Departure from Seattle at 5AM, on trail at 6AM with headlamp. I saw the piece of Russian space junk reenter the atmosphere at 6:10 which really freaked me out. No noise so I knew it wasn't a jet. I thought I'd run into some aliens up in the basin but I had the whole place to myself.

This one starts at the Beverly Turnpike Trailhead, elevation 3600'. As I pulled into the parking area I was greeted with a mix or rain and snow and temperatures 70º cooler than the last time I was here in July.

I left the truck at 0830 and made my way up the trail a half mile to an intersection where I turned right up trail 1391A which follows Bean Creek. It started spitting consistent snow at 4400' and a dusting of snow on the ground started at 4800'. At 5100' the trail reaches another intersection. To the right, the trail heads toward Earl Peak and another trail heads straight up into the broad meadow just south of Bean Peak. I headed straight up into the meadow and at about 5500' I lost the trail under 6-8"" of fresh snow. No matter, as the route from here is straightforward with the peak plainly in view. I headed straight up the south slopes of the mountain over easy terrain to 5900' where I hit a talus slope that made for tedious travel with a fresh layer of slick snow. The final 100' of Bean was easy class 2-3 after the hand and foot holds were chopped free of ice. I spent a good half hour on top, most of it digging through the 12"" snow in search of the register, but no dice. I was pretty much socked in at the top and the wind and snow really started to pick after only 10 minutes. Motivation faded to nothing for continuing to Earl Peak via a high traverse, so I descended quickly back to the trailhead making it back at 1230.

With a few hours to spare I thought of something else to do and remembered that Red Top Mountain was not only on my list, but also 98% drive-up. This was perfect as I could blast heat in my face and play loud music all the way up to 5000'! Without a map to go by, I found Road 9738 just after making it back to the pavement. From here large signs mark the way to the trailhead some 17 miles away. The road starts off as dirt, but after only a mile or two it turns to one lane asphalt. The asphalt lasts for another 3-5 miles or so before switching back to dirt the rest of the way. After finally reaching the trailhead, I walked up the 1/2 mile and 350' on good trail to the lookout, elevation 5361'. All was quiet (and locked up), so I took a few pictures and walked back. Instead of driving 17 miles back to the North Fork Road, I drove about 6 miles down to HWY 97 which turned out to be a much faster way of getting back to Cle Elum and hot food. An overall great day in the snow with two more ""Back Court"" peaks checked off the list.

Red Mountain/Commonwealth Basin #1033 share the gradual, softly needled trail with the Kendall Peak/PCT route for about two miles, then splits off to the west at a weathered Alpine Lakes Wilderness sign. Half a mile or so further is a rock hop over delightful Commonwealth Creek and lovely camps that, being adjacent to the trail, are short on privacy. Still, scouts or young families might not mind. The trail climbs, never too steeply, to the scree and a thickly iced tarn below Red Mountain. One may choose at that point to either scramble Red Mountain or to follow the trail to the saddle and a goatsherd trail to Lundin Peak. Magnificent views of dramatic Mt. Thompson, snowfields and the drainage of Silver Creek. The topmost section of Mt. Stuart even appeared for us, as did Mt. Adams to the southeast. A mysterious, abandoned trail girdled the haunch of Lundin Peak - the old PCT perhaps? Our lunch was convened among rock fields and pitches of pikas 200 ft below Lundin's summit of 6057 ft. A dusting of granulated snow was our only hazard. This is a delightful, modest hike that avoids most of the traffic that tends towards the Kendall Katwalk. The entire trail was in excellent condition and thawed with us as we walked.

Got up to about 4500 feet where the climber's trail comes out to overlook the valley on the west side of the ascent slope. Though not an ""official"" trail past the site of the old lookout, the path is easy enough to follow after a little Class 2.5 scrambling. Saw a bear ambling towards us until we started talking in raised voices. Saw no one in the N Fk. Sauk drainage on this clear cold day in the bonus hikng season.

Among the Red Mountains of WA, this was probably the longest of them all - From the peak at the north end of ridge(about 5940')to the southern end is probably close to 2 miles and is a nice ridge run. We took TH off of road #46 about 2.5 miles to ridge E. of Little Joe Lake. There is a pass here nice for lunch. The trail is unmaintained, but in good condition, and steep, about 1200'/mile, but is not like its name, and not hard to follow for the most part, if you follow your map and the creek going up to the pass. No downfalls, mud, or bugs, and a few nice meadows are a plus. Trail overgrown in only a few places, specifically down by the creek drainages. Great views down to Cooper Lake and over to Lemays. Views east inlcude Salmon la sac and Cle elum drainages, and Mt. Stuart and W. side of Teanaways. Great day!

Nice warm day for a hike up to the summit ridge on Red Mtn. Highly recommend the first mile up to the old look out site for the children. Excellent view of the North Fork Sauk, Sloan, Pugh, and the back side of the Monty Crisco Range. All on a very good trail, in ancient old growth forest, until you break out to the lookout site. From here the trail goes up like a typical fisherman/climbers trail, but I believe it actually was built this way. Sometimes it is hard to see as there is almost no undergrowth, in these trees, and is very dry. Once you break out into the alpine zone, the trail sort of fades away. When you see a nice camp on the left side of the ridge, this is where you drop down about 400-500ft. to Ruby Lake. I don't recommend it though as the views aren't as nice as they are on the flowered ridge, and if you aren't careful on the way back it is very easy to mistake a small timbered ridge for the one you came up, since they start from the same spot and look almost identical in the sub alpine brush. You quickly learn this twin rib leads nowhere but to hell and back. The hike up to the summit of Red is much better than Ruby Lake.

This one starts at the PCT trailhead at Snoqualmie Pass, elevation 3020'. One can connect with the Commonwealth Basin trail using the PCT or by using the now abandoned trail that leads up from the parking lot adjacent to the main parking area (the one with the horse ties). Either way works fine, although the abandoned route is probably a bit more direct. Red Mountain yields views of the many Snoqualmie Pass peaks, but my personal favorite are the views into the upper MFK valley.

I only had 7 hours to kill before I had to be back in Seattle; Red seamed like a reasonable trip with which to fill this slot. I ascended the PCT then intersected the Commonwealth Basin trail which drops 50' or so before taking you up 1100' to Red Pond and the base of Red Mountain. There is still snow around the pond, but it is completely thawed. The slopes of Red Mountain and the higher ground up toward Lundin Peak are all completely snow free. From the pond, I headed directly up the west face traversing left and right as obstacles required. The entire route can be done as class 2 although there is tougher rock if you want it. I just kept heading up until I hit the short summit ridge and from there it was an easy walk to the highest rock. It took 2 hours car to summit. No register was found. It should be noted that the last 200' to the top is littered with large, loose rocks and the nature of the mountain is such that these fall right down the most obvious line to the summit without an obstruction to stop them.

On the way down I found the trail that leads down the SW face and ends up meeting the main trail at about 4900'; however, it gets lost in brush just before the intersection and is pretty difficult to find if you're not looking for it. I used the abandoned trail for my route out which has a couple blowdowns and two creek crossings, but overall is in fine shape and easy to follow. Stats: 4 hours car to car, 9 miles, 3000' of gain.

The trail to the former lookout site (1 mile from trailhead at 2800') is in excellent shape. It doesn't appear to be travelled much.

Beyond the lookout a trail continues up the ridge, much steeper. Follow blazes. A few hundred vertical feet above the lookout site is a scramble section. The rest of the way to the summit of Painted (Red) Mt is non technical. There is a little snow, melting fast, on the way to the top.

I left my sun-worshipping partner at Painted, and traversed the easy walkway to Magenta Peak (Pt 6735). Quite a bit of snow on that route.

There are a few bugs in the area, and the air was hazy with smoke from the Chelan fire.

The cloudless, deep-blue skies in the morning where too much to handle. I knew that the cleansing rains of Sunday would offer spectacular views today so I set off for Commonwealth Basin to make a solo climb of Red Mountain. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised at the trail and snow conditions throughout the hike and climb.

I was ready to hike at around 10:00 a.m. The venture began with a very swift walk on the PCT into the Commonwealth Basin. There are three easily navigable blow-downs. (Note: After using the abandoned trail a few times, I have found that the general times of travel are equivalent considering that the hiking on the PCT is much easier and you don’t have to deal with overflowing streams.)

The much ballyhooed snow in the basin is reached soon after leaving the PCT at 4,000 feet. I imagined I would be post-holing to my waist, but the snow is only a couple feet deep in most areas (I only fell through once). Generally, stay away from the smaller streams and hike along the south side of the primary creek. The snow section is about a mile long. Eventually, I saw the trail (the old PCT) on my left across the stream. The crossing is manageable with care. From this point to the summit of Red Mountain, there is really no significant snow except for near the small pond below the pass (not even in the route). The trail is in great condition gaining 1,000 feet in elevation fast.

I mistakenly began my ascent of Red Mountain from the small pond and was later forced to traverse over making things harder. I found that beginning the climb before the pond is a much easier route (my descent route). Anyways, I reached the summit (5,890) with no problems and ate lunch with Thompson, Lemah, Chimney Rock, Snoqualmie, and Lundin in the foreground and Rainier, Adams, Baker, Glacier, Stuart, and the Monte Cristo/Columbia area in the background. All four major volcanoes in WA visible!

After enjoying some of the best clarity I have ever seen, I began my descent which was straightforward. However, be careful of the copious amounts of loose scree and talus that move very fast on the red slabs of rock. I reached the car at about 2:30, 4½ hours round trip. I was pushing hard in both directions, so expect a leisurely climb to take around 6-7 hours. The trip is about 8 miles round trip, but seemingly longer with the varied terrain.

Red Mountain is in great shape and a good choice for a day-climb objective that still puts you atop a prominent peak offering excellent views into the heart of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. What’s more, it’s only a short jaunt from the suburbs.

Intended to climb either Guye or Red from Commonwealth Basin. Unfortunately, the fog that we kept hoping would burn off never did. Reached the 4400' level of Red but lots of recent avalanche debris and inability to see much of anything turned us off of any ideas of continuing up.

We mistakenly assumed that there would have been enough melt-freeze to firm the snow up; bring snowshoes or skis!

I parked at the Summit ski area. There is a good hard-packed trail up Commonwealth Basin. I followed it mindlessly to about 4200 feet, until nervous tension directed me to steeper slopes on the left. Up steeply through trees and fog, where a strong wind provided an occasional glimpse of slopes above. A few glimpses of Cave Ridge convinced me that I was ""one mountain over"", and ascending slopes below Lundin. Alas! But I decided to go on anyway. Snowshoeing in deep, tiring snow, I was surprised to see a mini basin down on my left, and this told me I was on Big Red after all. Three ""Psychic Routefinder Pins"" were duly handed out. I removed snowshoes, and kicked steps up the 50 degree slope, ready to turn back if the snow didn't seem stable. But it was very good, and soon I topped out, careful to avoid walking on the big cornice over the north faces. Conditions on the summit were miserable, with clouds, wind and blowing snow. On the way down I was practically blind! But soon I was out of the maelstrom, and cantering back down the basin, where I met many snowshoe parties. Note: Only go here if snow conditions are stable, because I had to cross and climb many avalanche paths. 5 hours round trip.

Red Mountain 5,890' November 18, 2001

On a climb of Kendall Peak the day before we had enjoyed such a amazing view of Red Mountain that I decided to see how far I could get toward the summit.

I left Guye Cabin at 10 am and headed up Commonwealth Basin. I wound up bushwhacking mostly. When I saw the trail it was a flowing creek. However, I was thrilled to see so much water in November. There was water everywhere as the unseasonably warm temperatures melted the snow. I had the illusion of a real wilderness and had great fun.

On the lower flank of Red Mountain , traversing to the east, I ran into two dayhikers, who looked at me like I was crazy, climbing a waterfall, when the trail was 30' away! Maybe I should update my 1973 edition of Becky' The trail was easier than bushwhacking and ascends to Red Mountain Pond, a beautiful little basin, mostly frozen and covered in snow.

The climbers trail ascends the slope to the summit. There is plenty of loose rock but the going was east until the final 200' on snow and ice. Another solo, Brian from Kirkland, joined with me to make a strong team. Crampons and ice axe were required to gain the summit 5,890'.

We spent about 8 minutes on the cold, windy summit, admiring the views and putting on warmer clothes. We were the third party of two for the day. I couldn't find a summit register. We had a fantastic view of Mount Thompson, and close-up views of Lundin Peak, Snoqualmie Mountain, and Kendall Peak. Brian had been on Kendall the Sunday before with the climber who had bagged his final Snoqulamie Peak (20).

We carefully started back down the 45 degree snow and ice. Brian and I made good time back to the trailhead, taking the old trail.

There is very little snow in the peaks for November 17, and what is there is icy and crusty. 2,890' elevation gain and about 6 miles, three hours to the summit and two hours return.

The Red Mt Green Trail takes one for a pleasant 1 mile walk through old growth forest to the former site of a forest lookout. The site is thousands of feet below the summit but has clear views of Sloan across the Sauk Valley. Take the Mountain Loop Highway turning in at the road for the North Fork of the Sauk River. About seven miles up the road, near the Sloan Creek Campground will be the start of the trail. After the lookout site the trail continues with a discerning eye to about 5,540 feet. It then enters heather slopes and one travels ENE to the summit. Most of the route up is in the shade of forest which is a big plus on a hot day. The name Red Mountain is so bland it probably drives people away. But this summit is a hidden gem. Once on the top it is hard to decide which view is the most pleasing. In all directions the beauty will astound you. As an added bonus we traversed over to Point 6697 and had delightful surprises. The basin beneath that peak has rocks with iron pyrite crystals(Fool's Gold)in them. Along the ridge from the north, close to the summit itself, can be found gemstones (probably garnet) embedded in the matrix of the rock. Give this Red Mt a try. Three hours of fast hiking will bring you to the top from the car.

This is a much less crowded and a shorter alternative than the Commonwealth Basin Trail. Even though abandoned, it is in better shape than many trails still in the Forest Service inventory. Some trees across the trail and a few brushy spots. The trail continues down a couloir from the pass and appears to be in fairly good shape. It's a pity that North Bend doesn't put any effort into rebuilding these historic trails. Pearly everlasting, lupine and thistle were seen. Pikas were active and there were a lot of annoying bugs. Skies were clear with moderate temperatures.

We arrived at the N.F. Sauk trailhead to ten cars in the parking lot Saturday. We were surprised to see so many cars considering the recent poor weather and early hour. The trail was in great shape and the recent rains made for a dust free trail. The valley is a lush valley of prime old growth Firs and Cedars that extends over five mile up the valley that is a real treat to hike through. The Red Creek crossing went okay on small logs placed by others. Early season the crossing could be a problem. We passed through two brushy areas (~200 yds) that got us a little wet from the morning dew. We stopped at Mackinaw shelter area. This area had around 10 tent sites and looked heavily used. At the river we met a group of three who had been out for the last 10 days. They looked very relaxed and fresh for being out for so many days. From the shelter, the trail climbs 3000' to the PCT in 3 miles. Water is available (year round) at 1/3 of the way up and .1 miles before the PCT. A trail crew had recently brushed and re-treaded the upper sections. The last mile, we had some nice Blueberries and super views of Sloan Peak.

We hiked up White Mtn from the 6200' foot level. The slope consisted of meadows and a game trail on the ridge. We were treated to wonderful views and well worth the visit. Glacier Pk showed signs of new snows from the past weeks storms and Sloan stood in full beauty. We also could see over 5 miles of the PCT. Looked like there is a bootpath from White Pass (good camping there).

We scrambled Portal Peak from Red pass following a bootpath. We continued from Portal Peak to Black Mtn and on to Red Mtn. At Pk 6910, we dropped to 6450' and side-hilled to the ridge, then followed over Skullcap to 6700' on the shoulder west of Pt 6844, then dropped into the basin and ascended up meadows to the ridge west of Black Mtn. A scramble leads to the summit where we had more great views. To continue west down the ridge, we ended going down a dirty gully to the northwest of Black Mtn to gain a snowfield on the north side of the ridge to get to the saddle between Pk 6824 and Pk 6716. The gully I choose was very loose and Ian was not real happy at this point (he wondered about the mess I got him into and if he was going to make it to work the next day or get fired). From the saddle, the up's, down's, and side-hilling seemed to go on for forever (stay high on the south side of the ridge, nothing technical). The final 1000' ascent to Red Mtn went nicely on meadow like slopes but the long day was keeping our energy level low. The only problem was we had little time to enjoy before heading down 4900' to the car. I almost made a major error by loosing the faint bootpath at 5250' and going down the wrong ridge (right) that would not go. Good thing I did not like what I saw and got to the correct ridge (left most) with only a five minute loss. The path became pretty good (5200') once we reached the fisherman trail to Ruby Lake. The path was hard to follow in the dusk conditions though. We completed the final link by taking the Red Mtn LO trail the last mile, which had one log to climb over.

If doing only White Pass/White Mtn/Portal Pk, allow 2days. For the more adventurous, allow 3 days if doing the full traverse. There is great camping at many places along the ridge between Portal and Red. The best places would be on the summit of Skullcap w/water from snowmelt and at 6000' saddle below Red Mtn. We encounted a few bugs but only the horse flies were a little annoying.

WHAT A GLORIOUS SUNNY AND WARM DAY TO GO TO RED PASS AND CLIMB THE FALSE PEAK BELOW LUNDIN PEAK WEST OF RED PASS. PCT FROM TRAILHEAD IS LIKE A FREEWAY, NICE,CLEAN AND WIDE. COMMONWEALTH BASIN TRAIL IS SNOW FREE MOST OF WAY, WITH A BIT OF ""JAM CONSISTENCY"" MUD FOR FIRST 1/2 MILE TO TWO CREEKS WITH CROSSINGS WASHED OUT. THE ELEVATION GAIN IS REAL ""EASY ON THE KNEES"" WITH SWITCHBACKS WELL LAID OUT: NO ""KNEES IN THE CHEST"" STEEPNESS. EVEN TALUS IS PRETTY SECURE ON TRAIL. DEER FLIES STARTING TO GET A BIT PESKY AND THEY WERE HUNGRY FOR A PIECE OF MY HIDE. FOUND THE BASIN BELOW RED POND STILL HAS 2' OF SNOW AND TRAIL DISAPPEARS. HALF WAY TO POND THE TRAIL TAKES OFF ON RIGHT SIDE, AND I MISSED IT, HAVING TO SCRAMBLE UP TALUS FIELD. TRAIL STILL HAS SOME EASY SNOW FIELD ABOVE POND, AND ICE AXE ADVISED. PASS IS CLEAR, WITH BEAUTIFUL VIEWS NORTH AND SOUTH. DROPOFFS TO NORTH A BIT DICEY. IF I HAD HAD MY KIDS WITH ME(WHEN THEY WERE YOUNGER) I WOULD HAVE BEEN WATCHING THEM CLOSELY. I FOLLOWED A CLIMBERS TRAIL W. OF PASS TO FALSE SUMMIT OR FIRST NOTCH JUST BELOW LUNDIN. THE WAY IS EASY WITH MAP, BUT DROPOFFS SEVERE. THE VIEWS UP THERE WERE WORTH THE CLIMB. OVERALL, A GREAT EXPERIENCE, AND FEW PEOPLE ON TRAIL FOR A SATURDAY NEAR JULY 1. ONLY ABOUT 4 OTHER PARTIES AT PASS.

I hiked the Red Mountain at Snoqualmie Pass yesterday and have to say it's in reasonably good shape. Commonwealth Basin is a bit muddy and the creek bed that doubles as trail is actively flowing water, but it's shallow. There's still a lot of snow at the lake, so if you're not familiar with the summit trail, you'll want to be fairly comfortable with your route finding skills. The (abandoned) connector trail up to Lundin is also in decent shape, though i stopped at the eastern sattelite summit where it changes from hiking to climbing. Overall, it was a great hike for those that don't have ice-axes but want to get out.

This is the Red Mt which is located south of Polallie Ridge near Salmon la Sac. It takes almost as long to drive to as to climb but after an elevation gain of 3,400' it tops out at 5,880' with spectacular views of mountains which include Stuart, Daniel, Bears Breast, Lemah, Three Queens, and HiBox. The forecast for the day included rain so this eastern Washington peak was selected as the chance of rainfall would be less. Drive I-90 getting off at the Roslyn exit and continue on the road toward Salmon la Sac turning left onto the Cooper River road. A little less than 2 miles down this road on the left will be a trailhead sign at about 2,400' for Red Mt. The trail is in great shape traveling through second growth forest and reaching a basin at about 4,600'. Once at the basin I chose to leave the trail which climbs toward a saddle on the left. I went up a more direct route to the summit and the route had good rock with no exposure. There are several possible routes to the summit which one can wander and find. Saw four deer on the ascent with the lead buck in velvet. Goat prints were in the snow near the summit. You can leave the ice axe at home as very little snow remains. Left Mercer Island at 6:15AM and returned at 3:00PM missing the rain which undoubtedly dampened a number of hikers today.

From the trailhead, off Cooper Road, head directly up hill. The trail is generally steep but in good shape, and probably because of its minimal use; evidenced all the leaves, and pine cones on the trail. It does need some brushing, waterbars, dips, and some light risers. The lower section passes through a forest thin, and there is no real brush. Snowbrush, trilliums, and calypso orchids are on display.

The trail crosses an old logging road, and soon turns left to cross Red Creek. A blocked trail goes right, stay left. At this point a little encroaching brush and vanilla leaf creeping into the trail. Overall this would be a good place to hide from a hot summer sun.

The trail continues up and crosses a more substantial road, but still looking unused. This location signed. Continue upward. Many small trees down over the trail, perfect size for those waterbars and risers. The trail flattens to emerge at the bottom of a very picturesque scree field. The trail works around it on the right. Views back to Sasse, Jolly, and Hawkins emerging. Even China Point, and the Guard Station’s mint green roof can be seen. Right after this, a waterfall to the right, which the trail soon crosses over the top, for another smaller cascade. Here the trail really goes up and emerges in a lower basin. Lots of slide alder in season along the creek. And another set of falls at the upper end.

From this point, there was snow, making the job of keeping on trail impossible. Consistently, from this point to the saddle I saw parts of the trail, so hikers later should not have a problem. I moved up to the prospects, the real trail is closer to the creek (left), I think. From here trended left to the snowed in upper basin, just below Red Mountain- face snowfree. This basin was so charming, with the trees holding last night’s snow and good runs between the trees, I almost wished I had brought my skis.

Instead of just scrambling up (Class 3). I worked left of Class 3 stuff (had my dog) looking for easy ground, but I should have just come up through the snow and trees even farther left straight to the saddle. The trees along the ridge and on the No Name side were plastered with rime. From here it was a fairly easy ridge walk to the summit. A flat spot with some wires, and nails made a good lunch stop.

Views from here are incredible: Cooper Lake, Chimney Rock, Chikamin, Three Queens, Mineral Creek Valley, Hibox, No Name Ridge, Thorp Mountain, Kachess Ridge, Cle Elum Lake (from a northerly shoulder), Easton, Sasse Ridge, Jolly Mt., Salmon la Sac Creek, Paris Creek, Stuart, Hawkins Mountain, Davis Peak, and Polallie Ridge.

After lunch walked from the saddle north on open slopes. Down there on my map, if not obscured by the trees was Little Joe Lake, and above that to the west the lovely Nichole Basin.

The trail goes all the way to No Name Ridge but takes some route finding skill either direction. The last time I came from No Name and losing the trail after the lake, I languished along the last heavily wooded ridgeline to Red Mountain climbing over large and small blowdowns, the cause of which was a clearcut on the north drainage. Only another ten minutes of frustration and I would have made it to easy walking and the summit.

2 hours up, 1 down.

Getting There: Take the Cooper River Road and park at the Red Mountain Trailhead. Pilar and I decided to do Red Mountain in glorious sun. We followed up the trail until it became too faint and then decided to go straight up through old growth forest until we hit open snow slopes. We stuck to the gentle ridge and summitted in 2 hrs. Views of Lemah, Chimney rock, Daniel, Hinman, Stuart, Bears Breast, and countless others were great. We decided to rest for an hour at the top and descend until we hit a logging road which we followed out. This eliminated a steep forest descent (hard on the knees). It was a pretty easy climb considering everyone told us it was dicey. 2hrs up, 1.5 hrs down with a long route.

Our group of five parked alongside the Cle Elum River Road (at a designated sno-park)and started walking up the Cooper River Road at 9:00 am. The roadway is entirely snow-covered but has been groomed for snowmobiling and is rock hard, so we simply carried our snowshoes. Within 35 minutes, we arrived at the Red Mountain trailhead. Surprisingly, not a single snowmobile passed us on this 1.8-mile segment of road, but we could hear them firing up back at the sno-park.

We donned snowshoes and headed directly up the hillside on a breakable crust. Although the morning air was cold (about 20 deg), the sun quickly warmed us up so that we each stripped down to just a shirt (made of ""performance"" fabric, of course). We stayed right (west) of the creek and climbed through sparse forest until elevation 5000 feet. Our original plan was to reach the old lookout site at 5722 feet, but we found ourselves too high and west of the little basin lying below this point. In trying to contour above the basin, we had to traverse some steep, hard slopes. With snowshoes on and no ice axes, this proved to be more dicey than we cared for. We retreated back to the crest of the ridge that descends northeastward from the 5850-foot true summit of Red Mountain. By now, the sky had become overcast and an icy wind had kicked up. Sweaters, shell parkas, hot cocoa, and cold pizza were the order of the moment.

After lunch, we divided into two teams. Those who wanted to go for the summit started ascending the northeast ridge, whereas those with good sense started descending. The summit team gradually grew smaller through attrition (apparently, good sense can be gained with an elevation increase) but eventually reached the wind-blasted summit by following the delightfully narrow and aesthetic ridgeline. The views of Rainier, Lemah, Chimney, Daniel and Stuart were a warm reward for a cold climb. Snow conditions were firm and crusty, but the snowshoe cleats provided excellent purchase. An ice axe would have been very welcome during the descent. A thin windslab was forming in localized areas, so caution is advised during future ascents; otherwise, the snowpack seemed quite stable.

Our two teams regrouped shortly above the Cooper River Road and finished the descent in dusky light. Several snowmobiles passed us on the road but most had gone away by sundown. Considering this road is a snowmobiling superhighway, we were pleased to encounter so few. Obviously, an early start and a late return are the keys to a wilderness experience on Red Mountain.

Stats: 9.5 miles (round trip), 3600 feet, 5.5 hours up, 2.25 hours down. This includes time and distance getting off route and backtracking.

Followed the winter route into Commonwealth Basin, bypassing PCT. It's a shorter walk to the basin, and you lose the highway noise faster. The trail leaves from the horse parking lot at the PCT trailhead. It heads through thick brush until turning left on an overgrown and abandoned logging grade. Within 1/4 mile you leave the eroded road grade and turn right at a downed tree, heading steeply up toward the basin. If you can find this turn, the rest of the trail is easy to follow until it meets the official one. The trail levels in about a mile and approaches the stream. The abandoned trail crosses the stream (low log bridge) and then recrosses soon after (no bridge). This section looks like it would be tricky with more water. (The winter showshoe route doesn't cross the stream, but there is no corresponding trail in the summer, as I discovered the last time I was here).

Soon after recrossing the stream, the trail climbs and reaches the official trail, at a point after it has left the PCT. Note the ""trail abandoned"" sign on the trail you have just come up. The trail crosses a stream and climbs onto a ridge which ascends toward the saddle. A short level section with a pond is followed by more climbing up to the saddle and the view to the north over the Middle Snoqualmie River valley.

An unmaintained trail leads higher toward Lundin Peak. Until this point it had been dry, but thunderstorms approached and we were in the rain for the trip down. The overgrowth on the winter route trail was more noticeable when soaked with rain. Sections of it would be very muddy under wetter conditions, although parts of the official trail have the same problem in the basin. Flags apply mainly to winter route trail.

Getting there: Drive SR 2 and turn left onto the Sultan Basin Road and follow it to Spada Lake and a little beyond, just past the Boulder Lake trailhead. Park just after crossing Elk Creek and start walking up the abandoned road.

The trail: Stefan and I were out to bag his peak of the month. This week the peak was the seldom-visited “Red Mountain” point 5738. We were coming prepared including three ropes to get passed two notches on Red’s upper south ridge. We began up the trail with some huge packs with the intent to set up camp just beyond the second concrete bridge and to go for Red from there. En route on the old road up Elk Creek we found lots of piles of “bear scat” dotting the trail... and at one point we ran into a very large, furry “depositee”! After crossing the third bridge we found a great camp spot out in the open on a wide spot in the road (it was already completely equipped with a fire ring, and cords of wood!).

From here we dropped some of our gear and continued up the road almost to its end before heading up through a clear-cut heading mainly east an a little bit north towards point 5,190’. Once at 3,900’ you need to drop into the stream basin (between Red Mtn. proper and point 5,190) angling ENE towards the saddle SW of Red (no need to go directly to the saddle), and gain the ridge just above 5,000’. Once on the ridge you have now come to one of the greatest views in all cascades, views into the mythic source of the Sultan River. This is one of the more “remoter” valleys in existence. The massive west face of Gothic Peak dominates the view along with the summit pyramid of Sheep Gap Mountain. In the distance to the NW are views of Vesper and the incredible east face of Sperry Mtn. After taking a lunch break on a flat spot on the ridge we continues up towards the summit. Once on the ridge you come to a couple of different pinnacles on the ridge. At the apex of the first one we rappelled into the notch below the second pinnacle. We fixed a rope from a mountain hemlock nearby and then scrambled up to the top of the second pinnacle. Stefan thought that rappelling down into this notch would be too time consuming so we continued our first rappel down another 100 feet or so, down a steep narrow snow finger (surrounded by a quickly widening moat). Once at the base of the second pinnacle we then traversed around on snow (easy but exposed on the west side of Red) and up an easier snow filled gully to the col directly below the summit. At the top of the gully it was an easy class 2-3 scramble to the top, over incredibly rotten rock. The summit register is a piece of PVC placed by the third ascent party of Mark Owen and Garth Warner in Aug of 1990. Also included are the original party’s register from 1958 and a group in 1971 that included the likes of Mike Bialos and Co., we were the fourth ascent party. We left a little gift inside for the “soon to follow up this peak groups” like Mitchy B, Mike T et al. We enjoyed the views for quite awhile before heading down. We rappelled down to the base of the second pinnacle (just to be safe), where we picked up our rope that we’d left for jumaring up to the top of the first pinnacle (two pitches). Stefan climbed first and then we hauled the pack up. I then jumared the section above the moat (freaky!) and then free climbed the rest of the route to the top of the first pitch while Stefan belayed me up. Now we had one more short section to jumar up so Stefan headed up our last fixed rope and then belayed me up the last rock section (I climbed the second pitch also but a few of the holds pulled out, did I mention that this was “manky” rock', if not, the rock is “manky”!). Now we were home free. There were a few tense moments…me freaking out, a bit of rock fall, snow crumbling below me… you know your standard cascade fare!

Well now that we were safe Stefan aka “The Hammer” had found one other 400 footer for us to climb in the vicinity. The peak is located SE of Red Mtn. about one air mile away. Dubbed “Lil’ Red Rooster” peak 5,040+ was an easy snow slog up its gentle north ridge. There was NEPA (no evidence of a previous ascent) but it was obvious that it had snowed in this area earlier in the year. Needless to say we didn’t dig for a cairn. The views of the Crested Buttes were quite nice from this vantage point. It was then time to head back as it was beginning to get late, we’d left our packs on the west ridge of point 5,190 at ~4400’. In no time we were back there and we began our descent. The down route was great except for the last 600’ above the road. Stefan and I were both in shorts and very sunburned and cut up from our ascent earlier in the day. This last 600’ was one of the most painful brush bashes I’d ever been through. Everything seemed to have stickers; salmon berry, devils club, and the absolute worst culprit trailing blackberry! Both of our legs were completely shredded, it is something akin to having someone run barbed wire across your legs over and over again! After reaching the road we grumbled a few more profanities before giving this section the old “two fingered” salute!

We arrived back at camp around 8:30 completely trashed (a 13 hour day). After taking off our shoes we set about making dinner, having something to drink and making a nice fire to relax around. In no time we were feeling much better and the mosquitoes seemed to have finally gone to bed making sitting outside bearable. Around 11:30 or so we decided to call it a night and hit the sack, pleased with a mostly enjoyable climb in fabulous area.

Take care kids! Everyone’s favorite climbing kitty! Pilar

Finally did what we thought we would never do: ski Red mountain. James Begley, Justin Carvitto, and I have been looking at the west face for a long time, wondering could we ever' Ranier Burgdorfer says this is a STEEP ski and that is an understatement. Unfortunately, the snow had not froze solid enough the night before, so our descent was a bit mushy, i.e. lots of falls! The good part was the four inches of soft snow kept us from falling for a long distance. For non skiers, this is a wonderful ice axe scrambling objective. Two things to remember: get an early start so the snow is firm for step kicking and the slide danger is low, and don't spend too much time on the summit. While we were enjoying the immense view, the sun crept over the top and shone through a high cloud layer onto the west facing snowpack. This was by noon. A few hours later and the descent could be dangerous with Spring avalanche conditions. All in all this peak is a great early season ski mountaineering or alpine scramble trip.

Spent the night in the upper Chiwawa Basin off of the Red Mountain trail.

The Chiwawa River trail is in perfect condition to the junction with the Red Mountain trail. After the junction, there are a few minor blowdowns and waterlogged areas. Major snow patches begin about a mile from trail end.

In the upper basin, flat spots to camp aren't easy to find but there are some. There is a fair bit of snow up there and it is quite hard, I'd recommend taking crampons if you plan to do any exposed scrambling up there in the near future. However, it is melting out fast.

Saw five other people in total, and one horse group on the way out.

RED MTN LOOKOUT #4965 USGS Gifford Peak, Wa.

Gladys & I parked our Camper at the locked gate at the junction of the 60 - 6048 roads. Hiked 3.5 miles on an abandoned logging road to the Red Mtn Lookout. Lots of intermittent hard snow & some blowdown on this pleasant road. See the ""Lookouts"" book, P108-9, by Ira Spring & Byron Fish, for some pictures of the Lookout. We enjoyed feasting on a cantelope while viewing the 5 volcanoes. We were too tired to hike down to explore the nearby Indian Race Track area. No other humanoids seen the entire day. Great!

The Glacier Peak Area
- Getting there: Drive US 2 towards Lk. Wenatchee St. Park and drive to the end of the Chiwawa River road. The Trail: Begin hiking past Trinity towards Buck Creek Pass. At the trail junction go to your right towards Chiwawa Basin & Red Mtn. Pass by an unmarked, but obvious, trail to Massie Lk. and reach a jct. with at app. 5 miles. Stay right and head towards slopes below Red Mtn., the trail is unmaintained, but being an old road is still in quite good shape with only a few windfalls in the way. My original intent was to take the Southeast route via the east ridge. After looking at the Beckey description it appeared straight foreward with ""no documented difficulties"". On the approach (looking up at the route) I noted a few nocthes on the east ridge that looked questionable as to their ease (of ascent) and a pretty verticle (but broken) southeast face that looked quite daunting. Well I trusted old Fred and began picking my way up towards the east ridge. Once on the ridge (some snow but could find an all rock route) I figured no problem there'll be a route on the North side of the ridge... welllll a fresh dusting of snow and some incredible exposure (not to mention notches to cross etc.) I was forced off the route, not willing to risk on of my ""nine lives"". Beginning to despair I tried to remember back to the Beckey book as to any other summit routes. I knew that the route to Fortress would entail dropping below the steep south ridge of Chiwawa on a long westward traverse. So with a little disgust I began a descending traverse towards a small notch in the ridge (the only place it looked feasible to cross without having to drop another 700'!). The notch worked (a small class three pitch) with some easy heather to descend on the other side and on to the much gentler southwest slopes of Chiwawa, this provided a much easier ascent to the summit. This is a long day with over 7,000 ft. of gain (less if you get on the correct route the first time!). The summit seems to be quite a popular ascent with the Mountaineers. There is also some debate as to whether or not the east peak is higher than the west peak, my vote is for the east peak (in the minority), you can decide for yourself (the views are pretty much the same from both). And by the way Fred ""difficulties have now been officially documented!"" Take it easy, see ya on the trail! Everyone's favorite Kitty, Pilar!

This trail begins as a
long fairly gentle assent with a short decent to the Commonwealth/Pacific Crest trail junction at 2.5 miles from the parking lot. After walking through a short meadow the real climbing begins (it is another 2.5 miles to Red Pass). This is a fairly steep assent to the cirque below Red Mountain. There is a little tarn (I hesitate to even call it that) at the base of the cirque. Just before the tarn, watch for a trail leading to the right marked by a couple of rock cairns. If you still have enough gas in your tank, take this trail up to the ridge and Red Pass. The views will recharge your battery! Just before the ""trail abandoned"" sign at the pass climb up on a knob overlooking the mountains and valleys to the North. Mother Nature put a rock ""chair"" on the top which will allow you to take a load off and admire the views, which are unbelieveable. Make sure to take plenty of water because it is a steep climb up to the cirque and not a lot of water is available. If your still itching to hike more, try walking along the ""abandoned trail"" to the west. Questions, comments. email Jay at jjano@emeraldnet.net

I
hadn't been to the Red Town side of Cougar Mountain for a few years and was surprised--dismayed--to see the enormous amount of development encrouching the park. But the area is still remarkably beautiful, and it provided a great spring hike. We started at the Red Town trailhead and followed the Wildside Trail to the Marshall Hill trail and took that up to DeLeo Wall through lovely dense forest. From DeLeo Wall we continued to Far Country Lookout where we ate lunch and enjoyed a fine view that even included the Olympics faintly in the distance. We continued to the Shy Bear Trail (which takes you through a particularly beautiful area with a long boardwalk to get you over a swampy section)to Fred's trail and then the Quarry trail, and finally to Cold Creek Falls. Although it was a sunny Sunday afternoon, there were only a few people at the Falls (which are quite wonderful at this time of year). I am impressed with the well-tended trails and the great trailsigns.

After getting skunked
finding Circle Peak (our fault) on the last beautiful day of the year, the question was ""what now'"". We drove up to Rockport to get gas and just kept going down the North Cascade Highway. After Diablo, we decided to see if the road was closed yet. Despite severe frosting (and several newly flipped vehicles-yikes again!), the NCH was indeed open on Nov 15! After the glory of Washington Pass, we found ourselves a long ways from home on the East Side of the Cascades. Being only prepared for a cold dayhike, we were forced to bivauc in a cheap hotel in Chelan. What would be the season ender in the 'high peaks'' With our new map, we spotted Red Mt (trail #1330 across from Davis and Jolly), on the EAST side of Snoqualmie. To get there, drive I-90 E or W to exit 80 or S on 97 to 903 (as in our convoluted case). Stay on 903 until road 46 (on the left). The trailhead is about 2 miles up #46, barely marked, and parking for only one vehicle. Although dainty, the trail is easy to follow (recent work'). The trail starts steep, passing some selective logging reminiscent of an airy Colorado alpine forest. Eventually the trail crosses a stream several times; each crossing was in a different phase of freezing, creating various hazards. The snow started around 4500 and was icy enough to warrant ice axes. It started to snow around this time. Looking up at the gray skies I though, ""could snow at this time of year be benign'"". No answers. The trail became faint through a frozen marsh. An icy meadow gave views to boulder fields and rocky summits to the north. After the trail disappeared we scrambled up to the summit ridge, and were dismayed to see those rocky summits were still higher, with some exposed class 3 scrambling required to reach them. Braving the fierce wind, I scaled the first, only to find the next one was higher. I scaled that one to find the next one MIGHT be higher. However, the clouds were coming in fast, and even if it wasn't the true peak it was close enough! After some difficulties finding the trail again, we beat a hasty retreat as the snowflakes became larger and Jolly Mt. disappeared. Frozen ground and loose rocks caused ball bearing conditions (and several near-spills). The snow followed us to the car, but stopped around 1200 ft. Off to the Brick for a snack before dealing with the pass. Thankfully, pass conditions would be good for another 12 hrs or so...a perfect pre-snow hike. -Daytripper (the hiker formally known as troy)

The Alpine
Lakes - Trail in good condition all the way through Commonwealth Basin and up to Red Mt Pass. Only a couple of snow patches in the basin, off of the trail. Snow on trail just before Red Pond and snow surrounding Red Pond but not at campsites. Pond is ice-free. A glorious day for views, north and south of the pass. Could see two climbers on Mt Thompson. Wildflowers were at their peak on this trip - indian paint brush, tiger lily, bistort, yellow violet, spirea, valerian (surrounding the trail through the basin!) bleeding heart, pink monkey flower, lupin, white flox, fireweed, thistle, etc, etc.! Could hear the winter wren and pika, saw a small frog next to Commonwealth Creek, also saw Douglas Squirrel and finches at the pass. Flies and mosquitoes not too bad!