Trip Reports

Hiked out of the trailhead at 10:45am with full overnight packs for a quick training trip up the 7.5 mi (map says 8 mi - about 4 hours round trip loop to Annette Lake and back. The bridge over the creek just up from the trailhead was cool and relaxing as always. Stretched a little at the bridge and went on our merry way. The trail was great and has seen some recent maintenance. A little rocky in spots higher up and wet in a few others but nothing out of the ordinary this time of year. My memory and my lack of prior conditioning did not serve me well as the trail quickly picks into some switchbacks up the hill just past the junction with the old train tracks that lead back through the tunnel to the Hyak area.

Been up this trail once before w/o gear and failed to remember the 1500 ft elevation gain. Easy for most, sucks humping 40 lbs. The weather warmed up quickly and I soon began to realize I was getting a workout I hadn't expected. Bugs were also out but again it wasn't all that bad. Getting to the trailhead early didn't hurt as as we didn't see many people heading up but was suprised at the number of people coming up as we headed back down. I imagine the lake was starting to get crowded by 1:30 and was glad to avoid it.

No snow on the trail and the flowers were out.

All that and home in time to watch the Hydros...

The trail starts on an easy grade and then gets moderately steep as it climbs to the summit of Thorp Mountain, where there are excellent views. There is a manned lookout on top. There are many very brushy areas. Penstemon, pearly everlasting, thistle, cow parsnip, columbine, early salmonberry fruit, dewberry, daisy and paintbrush were seen. Deer and squirrel about. Bugs were biting. Sky mostly clear with moderate to warm temperatures. The connector trail from the junction with the Thorp Lake Trail to its junction with the Kachess Ridge Trail is labelled Thorp Mountain #1315.2 from below and Thorp Creek #1316 from above.

This was my first time up to Siouxon creek. What a beautiful place. The forest road to the trailhead is in good shape without any complications. My wife and I hiked up to wildcat creek and camped. The only thing that was a slight bother is the honey bees in the brush and the fact that I pitched the tent next to a bee hive. Ouch I was stung and it was a first time experience.

The trail was in excellent shape and the waterfalls are wonderful. We headed back out around 10am the next morning. Good thing because the mountain bikes were starting to take over the trail. Although I must say that they were all very polite and respectful but if your looking for solitude don't look here. When we arrived back at the car the parking lot was full. This is an easy hike and would be a great place to take the kids.

There is never a bad time for this lovely trail. We started in a bitter wind, with rain and fog, and ended in the bright sun and heat. Get there soon while the flowers abound ; we’ve never seen the area so splendid. Don’t let the crowded parking lot deceive you; there’s no one there after the trail begins it’s descent.

Fleetfoot and I started hiking at 1:15. One couple in front of us. Parking lot full.

Couple of guys just came down. Many cedar stumps with springboard notches in them. Temp. is great for hiking. Many ups and downs- we begin to wonder if we are going to get to the river crossing. We pass young couple and lone hiker just before river. Large campsite in here is taken. We break at river- lone hiker goes on. Just on other side of river we meet a guy trying to give away food before going out. We trade a quart of water for a can of spam. Just about 4 o’clock as we head up rocks. Gain several hundred feet quickly then traverse uphill some. About 12 ladies come down from dayhike. Even though it is overcast it gets warm in here. Lots of bugs on lower section but not too bad as we go up. Pass lone hiker and break at Memorial Bridge. Couple adults with kids going down to site by river. About 800 feet of elevation from here but with lots of mud, rocks and roots. Trail seems to go on forever. Hopefully most people are out as we are tired and now plan to stop at first spot we see- had hoped to go to Ilswoot. On and on but we finally reach Jade lake- site at north end is taken. We spot another tent at south end- lucky us there is another spot. We stop. Lone hiker comes right behind us-he finds a spot. It is 6:45 –put tent up and get dinner going. Young couple come by. Call it a night at 9o’clock. Up at 7o’clock. Have warm Spam on bagel. Would like to see Al and Locket lakes but first to Emerald with lighter packs. Pass tents at Emerald and Opal lakes. Check at shelter built in 50’s.Trail is friendly in here as we go to end of basin. Take a break to decide if we want to go up by La Bohn lakes. No ice axes so we go toward Foehn lakes. Follow stream up rocks and decide to go for saddle between peaks 6263 and 6585. Take break by large rock- we set a 1o’clock turnaround time- 9:30 now so we leave our packs and head up more. Sloan peak and Glacier Peak come into view. Still some snow fields in here. Fleetfoot finds glacier glasses under a rock. About 10 o’clock we are heading up to saddle. Lots of loose rocks as we get off snow-little better above. WOW! What a view-Summit Chief, Chimmy Rock and Overcoat Pk..We can see a little of IronCap- La Bohn lakes and Foehn lakes. Our turn around time has arrived so we will not get to Tank lakes. Slowly down this section and back to our packs by 110’clock. Marmots and pika in the area. We want to get to Ilswoot as the food guy said the color was out of this world. A group camped here. We ask if a short swim will disturb their fishing. No! It has been sunny this morning but overcast now. I am not to sure about a swim but fleetfoot goes for it. I must also get the first swim of the year in. Cold- in and out. Little cross-country gets us to Jade at 1:15. Side trip to Ilswoot worth the delay- will have to get to Al and Locket some other time. Start back at 1:40. One couple and group of four going in. Back to car at 6:30-very tired. First backpack of the year. Excellent!!

Spray Park (G.T. Mt. Rainier west )

Just as in 1996 when I first came, it was a cloudy day and the great mountain above was invisible. But the wonderful the flowers, meadows, streams, tarns and forest made up for it just as before. And Spray falls is the bonus attraction which makes for a 5 start day.

The trail is in excellent condition all the way with just a tiny bit of mud. The upper sections were rebuilt in the late 90's with flagstone steps and gravel . In ""50 Hikes in Mt. Rainier N.P."" Manning & Spring say ""... this is the supreme flower garden in the park. Pond sprinkled meadows, easy roaming ridges, endless and delightful nooks and crannies"". And so it is. Only Berkeley park on the North East side of the mountain can compete for flower honors. High up we had vast sweeps of white Avalanche lilies with accenting blue Lupine , white and pink Heather, magenta Paintbrush and several yellows. In the forest clearings lower down Mertensia, Larkspur, Queens cup, Shooting star, Hellebore, & Cordyalis starred. In deep forest Coral root, and wild Rasberry. Over 30 varieties , maybe 20 million blooms. The trail starts at Mowich lake campground elev. 4950 ft. and 26 rough miles south of Buckley. Take SR-165 south from Buckley and go thru Wilkeson and Carbonado ,go over the high one lane arch bridge over the Carbon river gorge and stay right at the junction at about 13 miles. Then bounce and jiggle over rough road the rest of the way to the trailhead. 86 miles and 2 hours from north Seattle. From beautiful Mowich lake (a worthy family day outing in itself) the trail proceeds about 2 1/4 miles with moderate ups and downs to the Spray falls vantage point. This section is thru outstanding high elevation old growth forest. Cross creeks, a little talus, a couple of avalanche chutes, small flower gardens, look at the bottom of Mowitch glacier from Eagle cliff viewpoint and then stare up, up , and up at Magnificent Spray falls. After visiting the falls the main trail starts up steeply for the next 3/4 mile taking 13 switchbacks to climb thru the forest next to a gorge up 600 ft. to the lowest meadow of Spray park elev. 5500 ft. Here we were much too hot due to climbing and sun breaks so shed layers of clothing. This would be a great view spot on a cloudless day. Now the trail climbs thru a succession of meadows , views , clusters of Alpine fir , and rock outcrops to top out at 6400 ft. on the ridge dividing Spray park from Seattle park. We had a cold windy lunch with all layers of clothing back on. On the way back down the marmots played for us in the meadows. Mountaineers club hiking groups are usually diverse: this one had ages from 20 thru 65, 5 men 6 women, people from N.Y, Texas, China, Hawaii, Tenessee and New Zealand and 3 Eric's .

Ratings for the day: views 2 waterfalls 5 flowers 5 animals 4 forest 5 meadow 5 weather 3 solitude 3 insects 4 access rd 2 trailhead 5

Stats. 9.5 miles (including detours) 2200 ft.rise. 3 hr. 30 min. up 2 hr 30 min. down Temperature 44 deg. at high point (6400 ft.) with 15 knot wind wind chill about 30 deg.

Robert Michelson 8/4/01

We packed our bags and headed for Jacks without any permit and tried our luck on the lottery. We must have been living right that week for our name was called so we celebrated with a couple of beers ( okay maybe more ) thus the late start. Started the hike at 0900 and it did not look very promising.The fog was so thick you can barely see 25feet in front of you. It got a little hairy on the rock pile but we moved on. We stopped for a quick lunch around 1pm and encounted a few hikers coming down. We were told that it was so cloudy at the top that you could not see the crater, but we decided to continue in the hopes of the wind blowing the clouds away. On our last mile the most amazing thing happened The skies literally opened up and OH what a sight! We finally got to the top and IT was worth it. We had quite a crowd up there and we stayed longer than planned.You can clearly see Mt Ranier and Mt Adams from the top.Sad as it was we had to come down and it was quite a challenging descent since the clouds started to roll back in. Nevertheless we made it down okay. We packed all our gears and headed back to the city and indulged in a high calorie meal.All in all it was one of the best climb of this summer. NEXT STOP.... MT ADAMS ON THE 28TH AND 29TH

Less than 10 cars at the TH! We started on the very flat Whitechuck trail, at 1.5 miles found the Meadow Mt cutoff, still mostly level. Some switchbacking attains another bench. This area was a photographers dream. Big trees, highlighted fallen logs, green carpet everywhere, and overcast skies. Cross Fire Creek easily, and start gently uphill. The trail is well graded, if a little brushy. (meaning wet today) The old 'routes and rocks' shows a couple of paths to attain the south ridge. We did not see these, but instead took off eastwardly from the basin at 5300'. There was intermittent unpleasantness, but up is up, sometimes using vegetable belay. Finally found a game path to the ridge proper. Follow open meadows up until the ridge narrows down. Now it's highlander type walking to the top. There is one low class 3 move on the ridge, or use the grassy slopes 30 feet below on the east side to bypass. Saw the biggest red-tail hawk ever take off from the summit just before we arrived. Sunshine made a few cameos, but it was mostly cool and cloudy. Dakobed, ie Glacier Peak, finally broke through the clouds and it looks HUGE from here! Serious food and lemonade. While descending the meadow, we found a climbers path.(through fields of tiger lily) We followed it lower than where we joined the ridge, the going much easier. We lost it, found it , lost it, and then stumbled onto the trail. There is a blaze on the uphill side of a tree just past the switchback at 5100' . You can leave the trail anywhere between here and 4600', heading up and east, and the going will be OK. We finished strong, running most of the last mile of trail! A great time with Cap'n Calm and Banana Man. Stats: 15+ miles R/T, 4350' gain, 4:45 up, 3:05 down. A truly spectacular hike with some of everything!

Chiwaukum Mountain Loop

We started up the Chiwaukum Creek Trail (#1571) and camped at Timothy Meadows, some eight miles from the trailhead. The trail was in good condition, dusty due to horse travel and a bit overgrown. There is a good log crossing over the North Fork Chiwaukum near the junction. The forest was dry due to the drought, with ripe huckleberries along the path.

From the junction with Trail 1591, the main trail climbs slowly to the junction with the Painter Creek Trail. Then it climbs to Timothy Meadow for a total of 2200 feet, 9.7 miles from the beginning of the road. Timothy Meadow has a huge aspen groove. There is a large horse camp, with a nearby hiker’s only camp. Water is plentiful from the creek. The camp can be buggy but is relatively dry and sheltered due to the heavy forest cover. There is an active colony of wild squirrels here.

From Timothy Meadows, the Chiwaukum Creek Trail climbs through meadows and strips of forest into the upper basin of the South Fork, with increasing views of the steep slopes of Snowgrass Mountain. The trail climbs abruptly out of the basin (5200 feet) to the junction with the spur trail to Lake Flora and then climbs to another spur trail leading down to the tiny Lake Brigham (5800 feet). From here, the trail climbs through stony basins and billowing flower gardens to Ladies Pass (6800 feet). The pass is very barren and windy. From here, we turned towards Lake Edna, climbing over a shoulder of Cape Horn and dropping down a steep, rocky path to barren basin of Lake Edna (6735 feet). The lake proved to be a popular destination for people coming up the Chatter Creek Trail. We were able to locate a relatively secluded bench below the lake. There are more camps available in the basin below the lake off the hiker only trail leading up to Grindstone Pass.

The Icicle Ridge Trail from below Lake Edna is very vague, almost completely overgrown in places through meadows and very brushy through the forest. We pushed our way through bushes and down the steep switchbacks to Index Creek, losing 2200 feet from Lake Edna. Out of Index Creek is a stiff climb, gaining 1800 feet in just over a mile to a pass above Painter Creek. The trail drops quickly down to meadows and basins near Carter Lake, losing itself in grass and flowers. We picked up the trace to the east of Carter Lake and followed a vague path up through rocky, flowery basins and a steep pass (1100 feet gain, 7300 feet) to Lake Augusta (6800 feet). The lake is gorgeous; a sapphire set in a polished silver granite setting. It is also very lonesome. There are views from the outlet looking over Icicle Creek towards Mount Stewart and the Enchantments.

It was at Lake Augusta that we lost the Icicle Ridge Trail, the section to Cabin Creek. The map claimed the trail came in on the southern end of the lake, but the trail actually comes in on the northern end of the lake. Unfortunately, we were unable to find the trail to Cabin Creek and decided to be safe and backtrack down Painter Creek and out the Chiwaukum. We climbed back up to Augusta Pass and found the junction below Carter Lake with the Painter Creek Trail. Then we followed this vague trail, finding and losing it periodically through beautiful grassy meadows. Late in the day, we finally arrived at the junction with the Badlands Trail and then dropped down the steep Painter Creek Trail in the increasing twilight, forded Chiwaukum Creek and reached Timothy Meadows around 9 p.m., tired but happy.

The next day, we hiked out the Chiwaukum Creek Trail, footsore, but happy to be on a real maintained trail. The Chiwaukum Mountains are quite beautiful, but the trail system has deteriorated quite a bit since I hiked in the area 20 years ago. Since horses have been banned from the upper lake basins, Many of the trails have been allowed to pretty much disappear. It’s too bad, since the area deserves more notice. If you want solitude and are willing to do some route finding, this is definitely your kind of country.

Stats: 34.4 miles, 8240 gain

Happy Hiking, Flora

Great hike in; no mosquites or black flies at lake as I was able to fish and read without bugjuice. Lotsa fish action on lake early and late. I fished with crimped hook spinner and caught 8-9 and put back; only one I felt keepable but a couple of others showed their sides to me and were definitely interesting. I just didn't want to try for them. A few flies hiking out but a baseball cap in hand to keep brushing the legs and they were kept off easily.

I thought this would be a great hike for an overcast day, and it was. I would like to do it again in the spring since there is a possibility of observing avalanches safely and up close.

Great easy hike. Towards the end there are a couple of mudholes that can swallow up your entire foot, so look out.

Driving: The North Fork road was in pretty good shape - Issaquah to Trailhead, 1 hour. No other cars.

We hit the Bare Mt. trail at 8:30 am. The trail is in good shape, having a wide swath brushwhipped along the ferny second mile. No blowdowns or obstructions noted. The small grass on the side of the tread is growing up to the boot tops, and gaitors would work well here on a wet day.

We hit the point where the Bear Basin route cuts off from the Bare Mt. trail in 1.5 hours. This is where the trail switches back up the hillside to Bare Mt. after traversing for about a mile. We put on full rain gear for this section of the route, as the brush was head-high and wet (but easy to follow). After about 10 minutes, we bushwhacked down to the old mill site on Bear Creek (UTM coordinates: 613109mE 5277587mN) The mill site ruins are visible down on the creek soon after the cutoff, but cannot be seen as one gets closer.

The route continues into the woods towards Bear Basin. Soon after a small waterfall, some machinery can be seen sitting immediately on the left of the trail. Just after this is a fork in the trail. The left fork turns a few hundred feet to the site of the mining headquarters (more on the right fork later).

The headquarters site contains some junk used for 'furniture' and a large barrel being used as a garbage can. (UTM: 613391mE 5277546mN) There are limited camping opportunities here as well. A better camp can be found by backtracking a few feet from the fire ring, and following a tread north a few minutes down to the creek. Some old pipes have been used for bridges over the creek, leading to a camp area in the trees.

Our next target was the old donkey engine, and mine adits 6 & 7, which are close together on the basin's north wall. To find these, follow the trail down to the camp on the creek as described above. Look uphill in the woods for 2 trees with BIG blazes on them. This is the location of the donkey engine trail. (We preferred to schwack up the wet brush instead, and found the correct trail on the way down.) Ten minutes or so will put one along the cables leading eventually to the donkey engine (UTM: 613600mE 5277933mN).

After exploring the adits, we backtracked to the site of the mining camp, to the original ""Y"" in the trail. We followed the right-hand fork over a creek, for about 10 minutes to the SE head of Bear Basin to where the large talus blocks meet the flats (there is a marshy area on the left). There are some rusty iron artifacts here, and an old tree girthed by a cable. Here one can follow the cables up the talus to adit #3. (adit #3 UTM: 613587mE 5277271mN). We finished exploring here at 4:00, and plodded back down to the trailhead at 5:30. Still no other cars. A gloomy day well suited visiting mines.

Headed to the Purcell Mt Lookout trail at 11:30. Walk abandoned road for 2/3 mile to start at the trailhead. Trail climbs gradually through forest for 1 1/2 miles then reaches flowery meadows where trail starts switchbacking. At 3 miles a junction left heads 8 miles to Hwy 12. Take the right branch and ascend the ridge still among a profusion of wildflowers. After a short forested stretch the site of the former lookout is attained. There the views extend to Mt Rainier, Mt Aix, Goat Rocks, Tatoosh Range and Mt Adams. My hiking group of 5 had the trail (and access road) to ourselves. Highly recommended.

Arrived at the PCT trailhead about 8:15. The lower parking lot was about half full. The beginning of the trail is on the PCT. It climbs slowly through some nice forest with some long gentle switchbacks. The trail was in very good shape. It then leads onto a ridge above the valley. This section of the trail goes through a large boulder field and then decends slightly to a branching of the trail. The trail that goes to the right and up is the PCT and leads to the Kendall Katwalk. The Commonwealth Basin trail goes down and to the left. The trail then levels off and crosses the creek for the first time. The trail here is in a little rougher shape but still pretty good. After crossing the stream bed, the trail begins its climb to Red Pass. The trail gets steeper and rockier the higher you go. It then levels off near Red Pond which had a little patch of snow on the rocks above it. The trail then continues to climb up, passing an area of rocks where you had to be careful of your footing. Made it to the top of the pass where the weather was improved and the sun was making an effort to break out so the views weren't too bad. Descended down and decided to take the old trail back. It is marked ""Abandoned Trail"" and it starts just before the trail reaches its junction with the PCT. The upper part of the trail wasn't too bad. A couple of shallow stream crossings and some tree blowdowns. This portion of the trail is nice as you follow the creek and you go near some nice rapids and waterfalls which you only hear from the new trail. The lower part of the trail (through newer growth forest) is a lot rougher, narrower and steeper. The trail comes out at the upper parking lot. Good hike overall.

We tried to climb Mt. Challenger via Easy Ridge, but weather and routefinding issues shut us down. We hiked in over Hannagan Pass Friday night, reaching Copper Creek camp in the Chilliwack valley. All of this trail was in great shape. Our morning crossing of the Chilliwack was easy, then the Easy Ridge trail begins in thick, wet, underbrush, eventually becoming a pleasant trail in timber. Sadly, we were socked in with occasional rain, and schlumped along Easy Ridge, finally coming down to the ""Imperfect Impasse"" at 5100 feet. We couldn't find a safe way across this incredible gorge. Camping on the valley wall at about 4500 feet, we awoke to clear skies and another chance to find the route. We looked everywhere, with increasing dismay, finally realizing we'd lost our chance. We packed up and enjoyed some great views from Easy Ridge, until a fast storm came. We walked all the way back to the car in pouring rain. Better luck next time!

It was extremely dusty at the start but thankfully bug free. We crossed the well constructed wooden footbridge over the North Fork of the Teanaway River and hiked up the first leg of the trail, took the right at the fork and looked at the other trail we would be coming down if we succeeded in completing the loop we wanted to do. Pleasant forested walk. We had come prepared to ford the North Fork Johnson Creek twice but we found dry creekbed with a log across it, didn’t need the log. We filled up our water bag at a spot where the creek had surfaced so we were ready for the dry trail ahead of us, steady uphill.

This trail is beautiful with views fairly quickly after it starts the climb uphill. At the top the view is 360 degrees, 5440 feet we were on top of the world as we started across what we thought was the unmaintained path crossing the divide to join the South Fork Johnson Creek trail and take it back, making a loop.

We wandered for an hour or so looking to find our way when the trail we were on disappeared several times but we didn’t find the way through and had to turn back in time to find our familiar trail before the sunlight was completely gone. The weather conditions were perfect for a night hike and we reveled in the still, warm air as the fire colored full moon rose giant peeking over the lights of Ellensburg. But the trail was difficult going in the dark, even with our headlamps.

Overall it’s a great trail that’s in the rainshadow of the Cascades, the dust at the start dies down as you cross pine needles, water on the trail in one spot and lots of rocks. Motorcycles are allowed and we saw some tracks but didn’t even hear a motor all day. Also some sign of horses passing through in the past but not much. We only encountered two other couples on the way up the trail, one couple with an adorable pair of English Springer Spaniels that they pulled aside as we passed and another with a well behaved Black Lab.

The views at the top are stunning and it’s a great place to watch the sunset but if you stay after dark be careful on the way down!

Our group headed up to Hidden Lakes Peak Lookout, but didn't get the views we were hoping for on a cloudy day. About 3/4 mile from the trail head, we did find some wild bees who decided to sting a few of the hikers in our party. Never did see their nest, but it must in the ground next to the trail. Some trail work had been done since I was up to the lookout last year. A small bridge was built over a muddy section, a set of very tall wooden steps were built just up ahead from the wild bee area (they must have been designed for NBA players with really long legs) and after leaving the forest, the trail through the open hillside meadow had been brushed out. The old cedar pucheon needs to be replaced, as it is rotten in places with broken boards. When walking across the puncheon, watch your step as they are very slipper when wet. Once up into the higher meadow area, the local scenery is great. Several small waterfalls, big granite bolders and fields of heather. When you get up to the small basin, there is some snow to hike on and you can see the lookout out cabin on top of the peak. After getting to the pass, you head around the back side where Hidden Lake can be seen below, now thawed out. The trail makes a few small switchbacks and then it is just a little boulder hopping to the lookout. We spent about an hour on top, eatting lunch, taking some photos and signing the register book. We did meeting several groups of backbackers, both going up and when we headed back down. The high lite of the trip was seeing a black bear grazing in a meadow way above the trail. We also saw a few marmots running around checking us out. And of course the person or two, heading up without even a day pack. Heading down through the forested section, watch for slippery tree roots. Some are hidden under needles, as a few in our party found out. All in all, it was a good hike, as the only bugs we met were bees.

The trail is in fine shape. There is just a little snow in two or three places getting to the lookout. The last one is a fairly long stretch of snow but not terribly steep. Watch out! There is a wasp nest on the trail! Many of us got stung -- ouch.

This is an outstanding backpack to beautiful meadows in the Leavenworth area. I was surprised to see that no one has reported on this hike since 1999. The trip starts at the Icicle Creek trailhead and heads through pleasant eastside forest. At one mile the trail crosses a brand new bridge over French creek. At about 4 miles a magical grove of ancient cedars is encountered which looks out of place in this relatively dry eastside climate. Another new bridge takes you over Icicle creek at 4.5 miles. There is a good camping site on either side of the bridge here. We ended up camping here and then day hiking up to the high meadows the next day. The turnoff for the Frosty Creek trail is just another 50 yards up from the bridge. Some impressive fire scarred Douglas Fir are seen about ½ mile up the trail. These trees are 500 to 1000 years old. Check out how tight the growth rings are on ones that were cut after they fell on the trail. In another couple of miles an excellent grove of old Grand Fir trees rounds out the forest feast. The trail from Frosty Pass to Mary Pass is a meadowy delight. The meadows are surprisingly lush for this eastside real-estate. The trek up to Mary’s Pass is chock full of a variety of colorful flowers. The great views from the pass make for a fine grand finale. This place seemed very uncrowded and I did not see any signs of recent horse use once we left the Icicle creek trail. I suspect this is due to brushy conditions along some portions of the trail. Round trip 20 miles and 4000 ft. Mosquitos were moderate and the entire trail was snow free. Beware that the Frosty Creek trail was rerouted a few years ago to a take off a few miles west of the original trail. Both TOPO and the 1993 100 Hikes book show the old route. The 2000 100 Hikes book shows the new route. I could not find the takeoff for the old route, which shortens the hike by 1.5 miles but apparently requires a ford of Icicle creek.

A remarkably lonely Saturday. The unofficial route to Mason Lake, following close to the stream, was a joy - as always. Lots of roots, blowdowns, and mud. Stopped at Mason Lake for breakfast; only one tent in view. Going east on #1009, the route was free of obstruction and there were too many wildflowers to count. At Blazer Lake, I watched lots of tadpoles struggle for life while the mother frog sat submerged in the middle. Near the junction where the Pratt Lake trail joins the Mt. Defiance trail, I stopped for lunch. There I met a volunteer ranger who was wandering the Olallie Lake area. He was 74 years old. We traded stories than went different ways. On the return, I choose the official route, across the boulder field, which appeared to be hardly used. It is steep without remorse.

I'd been wanting to do this one for a long time and finally got around to doing it today. Yes, just as I'd heard, finding the trailhead is a bit of a challenge. The roads are not marked.

The trail is 4 miles to the summit and I believe this is to the first summit. I figure the second summit is about another half mile or so. The trail starts out in the lovely forest. I wish I'd have seen this part when the rhodies were in bloom because it's loaded with them! After a couple miles you break out of the trees and onto a beautiful slope of colorful wildflowers and views (provided you're not in the clouds) and ...and switchbacks. Once you've gotten here, you're pretty exposed the rest of the way, so could be hot and sun-burning on a clear summer day. Noticed a handful of side trails that I'm curious as to where they go. They're not on my topo and they're not signed. The trail is somewhat steep pretty much the entire way - at least until you get to the ridge not far from the summits. The gain is 3000 ft. in 4 miles. Unfortunately we never really broke out of the clouds so we didn't get the views we'd hoped for, but it was still beautiful and we did still have some views. Perhaps the clouds and the breeze had something to do with our not seeing any bugs! :) Had the summits to ourselves for about an hour before we headed down and saw the masses headed up. Whew! Just in time!

This is a very nice trail. One thing I thought kind of unusual was that it was very smooth. I mean, not a lot of ankle-twisting rocks and roots. You know, the kind of trail you might be able to walk ok on without tripping too much if it got dark and you forgot your headlamp or something! :} The top actually was not what I'd expected, but VERY scenic. Very bare but green at the ridge and summits. I definitely recommend this one!

The parking lot was over-full, so it stood to reason that Ingalls Lake would be crowded. Opted for Lake Ann instead.

The Esmeralda Basin Trail is a moderate to easy grade. The County Line Trail is fairly steep to the high point at 6400 feet and down to Lake Ann. There are several trees across the trail. Pearly everlasting, cow parsnip, paintbrush, harebell, heather, buttercup and columbine were seen. Pikas were heard. Western meadow fritillary butterflies were about. No bugs. Scattered clouds and moderate temperatures.

I liked this hike for the strenuous work, spectacular views, abundant flowers and secluded destination. Camped in the sandy bedroom above Tatoosh Lakes just over the top of the trail. Fresh water from the melting snow fields and a front seat view of Rainier were welcomed amenities. The lookout site made for an easy day hike from the top with views of Adams, Hood, the Cowlitz, down the throat of St. Helens, etc. Better views than this are only found by plane. The strenuous climb seems to have prevented overflow of the crowds from Rainier. Saturday morning, four teens from Packwood arrived early to fish. They were noisy and helped themselves to my food stash - an uncommonly rude experience. Met four day hikers on Sunday. The trail was clear and mostly bug free from the high mountain breeze.

I went into Umtanum valley, hoping to loop with the ridge trail as the guidebooks promise. After a few miles, the trail was impassable due to steep canyon walls and too much brush in the middle. So I hiked out, and began the trail rising to the crest of the south side, which I assumed was either the Umtanum ridge or the Yakima Rim trail. There are simply too many divergent trails up there. I went in about 7 or 8 miles and the trail never stopped climbing. Lots of rocks, steep steps, and sun. Bring sunblock and lots of water. I gave up going further since my trail was clearly leaving both Umtanum and the Yakima River. On the way out, I finally saw the ""ATV trail"" some of you have referred to. It must have been the Yakima Ridge since it followed the river. I recommend staying in the canyon for those who just want a nice, scenic camp with no humans. For those who want to push the physical boundaries, try the trail on the left. p.s. no rattlesnakes, only coyotes

The Eagle Peak Saddle above Longmire in Mount Rainier National Park was today's hiking destination. After hearing me talk of my hiking adventures with various buddies, my sweetheart Mavis wanted to give hiking a try to see what the buzz was all about. Under gray skies and threatening rain showers, we parked in front of the Longmire Community House, walked a short distance to the signed trailhead, and commenced the hike. The trail starts out in beautiful forest and provides an excellent path through the woods. The trail's grade is moderate, its wide, and the footing is solid. The moderate grade is conducive to liesurely chit-chat on the trail, but when Mavis directed the conversation towards the differences between men and women, that was all the prompting ol'Goober needed to put it into overdrive. Ahh, the joy of solitude and silence on a wilderness trail! Before I knew it, the trail broke out of the deep forest into a mix of subalpine tree groves and open meadows. The trail begins to steepen here with many switchbacks. I noticed lots of shortcuts between switchbacks (bad hikers!!!) that people had worn in the terrain despite rangers' efforts to guide their way with branches, sticks, and stones. The lower meadows' bloom appeared to have already occurred but the upper slopes just below the saddle were truly spectacular with the variety of wildflower color they offered in this optical smorgasboard. A sign at the saddle told me I had arrived at my destination. A brief walk to the right afforded me better views of the clouds that were shrouding the mountain from Paradise on up. Mavis joined me shortly and we enjoyed a snack, the company of several gray jays, and watching the thin clouds swirl up the vertical canyon in front of us like geysers. Though the clouds denied us what surely would have been a grand view of the Mountain, the hiking gods gave us just compensation by placing a mountain goat at the saddle precisely at the same time we returned for our descent. Although he seemed friendly and was even wagging his tail, I assured Mavis that we should keep a respectable distance which we did. On the descent we also crossed paths with two deer who seemed equally at ease with our presence. The excellent conditions on this trail allows for a speedy descent as one can lengthen their stride and let gravity provide a helpful hand back to the trailhead. Total hiking time was four hours and no hazards of any type were noted on the trail. A great hike rain or shine!

A nice trail to a meadow with lots of good campsites, but also a lot of people by the weekend. We spent the first night at the beginning of Spider Meadow due to our late start. The next two nights were spent in Phelps Basin which avoids the crowds of Spider Meadow and the altitude gain of the hike up to Spider Glacier. Phelps Basin showed few signs of human passage. Hike up to end of Spider Glacier to view Lyman Lake's was easy snow walk. Trails all nice, no bugs to speak of and great weather. Lots of water.

Silver KING Peak - via Crystal Mountain -- 10 hikers left Starbucks at Coal Creek (Newcastle) enroute to Crystal Mountain and Silver KING Peak. Fred D, Bill T, Tom T, Dave M, ADAMHAT, Don P, Dick M, Chuck A, and Ron K and our gifted leader, Paul A. Well, what do you know, the chair lift was not operating, which meant a hike all the way from the parking lot at 4500 feet elevs to 7012 feet at the top of Silver KING peak. Eight of the hikers summited, and two others got darn close. The last pitch is a steep 45 degree, through a lovely wild flower patch, with no trail. Then, a little rock work, not serious. Coming down through the flower patch, the hikers had the wonderful perfume of lupine, plus all the usual suspects of wildflowers at this elevation, this time of year. Back to the parking lot, with a stop at Wapato Woolies, and late home, but a wonderful day. SCRIBE didn't make this trip, but got a full report from Fred D.

My feet hurt.

Well my girlfriend was off to Vegas for the week and the only way to avoid the dull, boring depression which was surely to come was to keep myself as busy and preoccupied as possible. What better way to accomplish this than by taking a five day 50 mile hike! Of course I just had to go solo because people suck. I much enjoy the ability to go at my own pace and not be accompanied in my misery going uphill and my sublime satisfaction at the top. So I chose this loop trip as described in 100 Classic Hikes in Washington because it seemed about as remote and wildly scenic as I could find.

So I started off Sunday as the weather improved heading east until I left my car under sunny skies at the Buck Creek Trailhead near Trinity. I parked down there to avoid the three miles of road walking at the end of the hike (I highly recommend this idea). I started walking up to Phelps Creek Trailhead but was quickly picked up by a couple fellow backpackers (thanks Martin and Juanita!). As I headed up towards Spider Meadows I was amazed at just how fast the weather can change. It rained, poured really for at least a half hour as I waited it out under a big tree at the lower end of Spider Meadow. This of course meant I had to battle the sopping wet hip high brush of the meadow. That was no fun. Made my way steeply up to Larch Knob (just before Spider Glacier) and set up camp for the night. The trail conditions to this point were quite good but that last mile to the knob is very steep. No fun at all with a pack on, but it's well engineered and is safe and wide.

In the morning, the sky was completely clear if a little hazy, and I prepared for a long, hot day. The first section up Spider Glacier with my big pack was no fun because of steepness, but not once did I feel my safety was in danger. Because of the light snow year, some crevasses are already showing up on the glacier but are easy to avoid and I don't think a rope team is necesarry. The view from the top was grand and very alpine. Just rock and ice. The snowfield down the other side was not as hard as expected. It was fairly early morning and I very much expected the snow to be icy, particularly with the rain the day before. But it was no steeper than Spider Glacier and was not icy. I had my ice axe with me for this section but I feel a trekking pole is all I really needed.

The trail below the snow through upper Lyman Lakes was anything but. For awhile, one must attempt to follow rock cairns until it proves impossible, and then just make their way cross country until the trail becomes more apparent half way through the basin. This basin is a fantastically raw and austure place filled with glacier remnants, rock debris, glacial lakes, and beautiful larch forest at its lower end. Definetely a high point of the trip. This was the one place on the trip where the bugs were truely terrible. I wouldn't suggest camping here. Larch Knob and Cloudy Pass were much more tolerable (nearly no bugs at all!). After the drop to pretty lower Lyman Lake, another climb commences up to Cloudy Pass. This is another beautiful place. The flowers were at their peak when I was there. Then came the descent to Suiattle Pass (yes three major passes in one day) and a nearly level traverse for 3.5 miles first through high forest, then through high meadow to Image Lake. The meadows here are past their prime. From here I could tell for sure that the weather was changing again. Glacier Peak remained obscured by clouds. It fogged up overnight and I never did get the perfect image at Image Lake. After the Railroad Creek Trail is intersected, conditions and engineering are very good all the way to the lake.

Left early in the morning and backtracked to Suiattle Pass and headed down the PCT to Miners Creek where I saw some bear tracks. Big ones and little ones; a little creepy considering I was by myself. Then came the long and relatively steep climb up to Middle Ridge (good views of one arm of Fortress Mountain) and a descent to Small Creek and then another climb up to Buck Creek Pass where I pitched my tent. I must admit that this was probably the most boring day of the trip but trail conditions are very good and the pass is a fantastic and unique place.

Since this was the one major destination I had not previously visited, I decided to spend two nights here and take a day hike to High Pass on Wednesday. Fortunately the weather was looking promising in the morning and I started up the well maintained former sheep herder's path switchbacking up Liberty Cap. The meadows here are the most outstanding I have ever seen! The lupine and paintbrush form mats thick enough to change the color of entire hillsides. The view of Glacier Peak here is fantastic (I think that from Miners Ridge is a little more aesthetic, but this is extremely spectacular). Views expand with every step and soon enough, most of the north cascades come into view. Soon enough, the official trail ends at a small pass (NOT High Pass) and is replaced by an extremely steep but well defined climber's path leading quickly to a high point from which you can see the pass. I didn't continue because of a steep snowfield at this point (and I didn't feel like dropping down and coming back up). The views from here are absolutely fabulous anyway. So, on a whim I decided to climb the peak just east of this high point. This was quite steep but there was a faint path all the way up. This peak was one of the finest viewpoints I have ever come across. It provides massive open views to a part of the cascades that I don't know very well. Some of the views here to the mountains on the other side of the Napequah would more readily fit in the icy BC Coast Range than here in the cascades. Spectacular.

The hike down was quick and uneventful making for an eight mile day trip. It was only one in the afternoon so after resting for an hour I decided to make the hike out Buck Creek that evening (I really wanted a hamburger). So this I did, making for a 20 mile day and capping off a 50 mile four day trip. Trail conditions were good but quite brushy in a few spots.

So this was a very good trip. Absolutely worth all the effort and I accomplished my goal of keeping myself busy...until now. That's why I'm writing this very detailed and long winded report. I'm bored, sorry.

And as for the large number of flags, you must understand that this covers 50 miles of remote difficult trail. Conditions were actually remarkably good.

I went in for a quick two-night backpack. Starting out at the Denny Creek trailhead, I proceeded up to Melakwa lake. As you might expect from this highway of a trail, it is in very good condition, with lots of traffic even on a weekday. The stretch between Hemlock Pass and Melakwa Lake does have a number of muddy stretches that are well trampled. Leaving Melakwa Lake and descending to Lower Tuscohatchie Lake also meant leaving the crowds and clear trail behind. There are a number of blowdowns on this trail, but all are easily passed. Once the switchbacks are passed and the traverse down to the lake begins, there is quite a bit of brush growing over the trail. It's never enough to lose track of the trail, but it's thick enough that you often can't see where you're stepping, which can be a little treacherous with even small mud holes. The brush is neck high in places -- since some of it includes thorns, long sleeves and pants are highly recommended. Right as Lower Tuscohatchie Lake is reached, there is a lovely campsite. It clearly sees regular use, including by those burning illegal campfires, but is pleasant nonetheless. I made the mistake here of trusting the weatherman's forecast of no chance of rain, and had to scurry around putting up the rainfly in the middle of the night when the forecast was proved wrong. The next day I headed over to Windy and Kaleetan Lakes. Prior to my start I was a little nervous about the reported blowdown and the intersection of trails #1010 and #1011, but those fears were totally unfounded. Although there is a large blowdown that does block both trails, it is easily clambered over, with handy protuding limbs for climbing. Even with an overnight pack, this blowdown should not do more than briefly slow you. The same can not be said about some of the other blowdowns on trail #1010 heading down to the Pratt River. Although all are passable, one or two are somewhat difficult. Be advised that the biggest, nastiest, multi-tree blowdown need not be crossed at all -- I fought my way across it just to find the trail switchbacked about ten feet further on, and headed right back across the same blowdown! So rather than fighting across, one should clamber downwards instead and hit the trail below; I did this on the way back and it was much easier, though it does still involve some ginger stepping on and around various pieces of shattered tree. The crossing of the Pratt River is either by log or by ford; given the extreme slickness of both the rocks and log I opted for the undignified, but safe, alternative of a butt scoot across the log. Beyond the river, the trail is a steady climb, on not very good tread -- narrow, sloping downwards, and eroded away in places. It's easy enough to follow, but does require some careful stepping in places. Note that the trail is marked incorrectly on both USGS and Green Trail maps -- after the second switchback (which is actually a quick triple switchback) the trail continues to climb in a straight line until it rounds the ridge and descends to Windy Lake. The shown third switchback and series of small switchbacks climbing the ridge do not exist, and there's no trace they ever did. The morning I hiked the trail was cool and foggy, so I was quickly soaked by the brush. On the other hand, I imagine the climb would be more arduous on a hot, sunny day. Either way, this trail will have problems, but be well worth it for a lonely and lovely hike. The campsite at Windy Lake is small but pleasant, on a knoll overlooking the lake. I would recommend camping here rather than Kaleetan Lake, as the campsite there, though larger and flatter, is surrounded by marsh and further from the lake. Don't just stop at Windy Lake, however. After setting up camp, make sure you do take the short (~15 minute) easy walk over to Kaleetan Lake, which is quite beautiful, especially with Kaleetan Peak looming above it. The final approach to Kaleetan Lake is quite brushy, primarily with blueberry bushes. As with the trail up from the Pratt River, the tread is eroded and narrow in spots, so step carefully. The next day I retraced my steps (and butt scoot) to Lower Tuscohatchie Lake. There are many ripe blueberries in the vicinity of the lake, which make for a nice reward after climbing back up from the Pratt River. The trail over to Pratt Lake is in good shape, but starting to get brushy -- not as bad as the trail down from Melakwa Lake, but intrusive nonetheless. Once Pratt Lake is reached, you're pretty much back on a highway of a trail, with little to mention in the way of problems. There is one large mudhole coming down from the saddle above Olallie Lake, and various other muddy patches. The cutoff to Talapus Lake also has muddy patches, and the Talapus Lake trail itself is almost continuous mud from the lake down to the first switchbacks -- but the mud is starting to dry out, and can already be easily walked through in good boots. All in all, a fun little loop if you can arrange transportation at both ends. You'll have good trails and plenty of fellow travelers on the two ends, and lonesome hiking on trails where you earn your scenic rewards in the middle.

This was my first trip up to the famed Kendall Katwalk, and I was more than pleased. Basically, I was able to hit the trail at 8:30am so on the way up I had the trail pretty much to myself. Just when the route was getting a little tiring at the 4 mile mark, I looked over my left shoulder and lo!, there was Rainier in all its splendor. The ol weather guy on KIRO had called for a cloudy and rainy afternoon (but hey, what does he know!), yet the clouds were high enough that all of the Mountain was visible and quite gorgeous in the background.

I arrived at the Katwalk 2 and on-half hours from leaving the trailhead, and crossed it just before plopping my weary butt down for a good Picadilly Sub and Doritos from my food mart in Bellevue. On the way back down, I encountered all sorts of hikers coming up as I was going down, even on a Wednesday. I continue to be impressed with the variety of folks on the trails around here, after only having moved here some 3 summers ago. Anyway, I got down down to the parking lot by 2:00pm, just in time to cruise over to Snoqualmie pass for a big energy drink! I would highly recommend this hike, yet its not for sissys (over 10 miles) or the squimish as I did encounter one little three foot snake on the rocks going up. It made me feel at home (being from the Southeast) to realize that we have snakes out here in the Cascades!

I'm just a little bit out of region, but if anyone cares, and webmaster permitting, of course, I thought I'd enlighten you all with the Dslayer Montana chronicles. To put it simply, this hike was awesome-Moon Lake is about 10,400 feet in elevation, and Shelf Lake about 300 feet lower. To get to the trailhead, take I-90 to Laurel, MT, go south on Highway 212 (The Beartooth Hwy) through Red Lodge and take forest road 2420 to its end. This is the Glacier Lake trailhead, the trail to Moon Lake is non-maintained and takes off right before the Glacier Lake Trail crosses Moon Creek on a log bridge. At around 9500 feet, the trees end and you're in true alpine contry-the trail's a little hard to find in spots but with a little intuition, common sense and numerous rock cairns in tricky spots, the trail is pretty easy to follow. It's about 3 and 1/2 miles to Moon Lake, about 1800 elevation gain. Moon Lake has big cutthroats-I saw lots, but the wind was blowing so hard, gusts to about 60 I'd estimate-I had a little experience with wind in my days fishing the Columbia R-that it was absolutely impossible to fish-I literally had breakers hitting me. I dropped down into Shelf and found a little protection and caught a mess of healthy brookies 11-14 inches long. Also saw two moose in the drive up Rock Creek to the trailhead-fairly rough drive-you don't need a 4WD but something with high clearance is advisable.

This ""trail"" goes to Found Lake, Neori Lake, Skaro Lake, Snowking Lake, Cyclone Lake and is the climbing route for Snowking. It is no longer listed in the hiking book, perhaps because it is not an official trail, but a fisherman trail, strenuous and risk of getting lost. Access is via FS road 1570 off the Cascade River Road. Drive to the end and park, approx 2 miles from turn off of river road and around 2000 ft. The trail goes straight up through a clear cut and into old growth. There are no switchbacks, it is steep, there are plenty of logs to climb over, brush to push through and eroded gulleys to clamber up. It climbs 2400 ft straight up over 3 miles to a pass and then down 800 feet in 2 miles to Found lake.

If you intend to continue on to the upper lakes, the trail is very hard to follow out of Found lake. There are two ways to go depending on your destination. For the tour of Neori, Skaro and Snowking, cross the out flow of Found and skirt around the lake to the west and up the creek that flows from Neori down 500 ft to Found. The trail disappears around the lake but you can find it again when you near the creek. Don't try bushwhacking up the ridge as it can lead to cliffs. When you get to Skaro, the trail crosses over a 200 ft ridge to Snowking. Don't try to shortcut that...it also leads to cliffs above Snowking. You can skirt the north side of Snowking to the outlet, cross the outlet and climb up the ridge to Cyclone and the Snowking climb. Once you top the ridge you will find a ""trail"" again.

If you would like to go straight to Cyclone from Found then the easiest and shortest way is to skirt Found to the east to the creek from Snowking to Found and bushwhack straight up 500 ft and 1/2 mile to the ""trail"", from there it is fairly easy across heather. Best to allow one day to get to Found and another to Cyclone.

Mosquitos at upper lakes are truly amazing this year, did you know that they can even fly unabated through a summer of 2001 downpour'

Its a beautiful area, but a brutal hike in and out with at least some bushwhacking as you lose the ""trail"" often, big time bugs and marginal weather. Snow patches around Cyclone, which is melted out and snow fields above to summit.

i did kaleetan from the south ridge. this turned out to be the easiest approach and did not require any dangerous exposures. i ran into two others comning down as i was going up who said that the route from upper melakwa lake was much harder and more dangerous than the south ridge route. to find the beginning: go to melakwa lake and follow the trail to the toilet up on the ridge. watch for a climbers trail that heads off to your right straight up the ridge. it is easy to lose the trail but just keep heading up the ridge then follow the gulley to the summit. If the marmot with her babies is there, just be polite and she will let you pass. the top had few bugs, but on the climb up bugs were a little annoying(not enough to require deet). Low clouds engulfing the peak, the lakes and the surrounding area prevented me from gaining much of a view. but the hike was great fun.

Man, never has a trail kicked my rear end so much. I felt as if my knees were going to fall off after I got in the car. Anyway, did the Foss River to Delta Lake. Road 68 blah blah, 1.5 miles to Trout lake, blah blah, everyone knows all this stuff already. Left the trailhead at 12:00, made the Copper Outlet by 12:45, wormed down to the Foss, pausing to photograph the waterfalls between.

I ended up crossing on an as yet unspecified log, situated about 20 feet upstream from the confluence. Looked a lot sturdier than Alpinejo's logs, and Scrooge, I wasn't about to cross at your location. Nice and big, ran diagonally up across the creek, which made things interesting to say the least.

Picked up the trail about 50 feet upstream (an easy rock walk with the creek at lower levels). Needless to say, this trail (path, route, whatever) needs a lot of work. I was imagining something in a little better shape than it was, but after doing Cherry Lake, I wouckly realized it wasn't all that bad. Trail wasn't too hard to follow, I spent a few moments casterating some Devil's Club and Blackberry bushes for poking me in the arm (I do love my gloves :o).

Came to the lower falls and began uttering every curse word known to man. This is by far the steepest trail I've ever done. 1000 feet in 1/2 mile! Gimme a break (actually, like 30). Anyway, VERY pretty falls, and like Scrooge, I stood in the mist for a few minutes just taking it all in (while my Camera did the work). Then on to the upper falls - twice as tall (maybe 400' total in 3-4 drops). Unfortunately, only the uppermost tier is completely visible without putting yourself in undesired locations, but still darn impressive. Passed a couple of guys going overnight at Delta, who we passed on the way down again, camping below the upper falls.

Then even more climbing and finally, after swathing through the mess before the lake, reached Delta at about 3:00 (not bad time, eh'). DIDN'T eat lunch on the logjam (I know, what kind of crazy guy am I' ), but gave up after a minute and chowed at the first campsite. Then proceeded around the lake for photos of the Angeline and Big Heart Falls (hmm, I like the sound of that). But before I could get to where 'Big Heart Falls' was totally visible, I just gave up. I was just plum tired and couldn't go further (I know, I'm out of shape...that's what sitting in front of a computer 5 days a week does to you). But I vowed to return for an overnighter. Possibly with an inflatable Kayak, so I can scoot across the lake and not have to deal with that horrid section of trail above the cliffs near the outlet.

Started down at 4:00 and made the parking lot by 6:45. Then made Monroe for dinner at Taco Bell (again, breaking tradition by not eating at Zeke's, what's wrong with me), and finally an hour long scrub with steel wool to remove the inch thick layer of sweaty trail grime from my body...fun way to end a day, right'

Note to people who haven't hiked this but are looking to, START EARLY so you'll have time to explore (not to mention time to get up to the lake without giving yourself a hard attack).

We took the shuttle from Stehekin, so began hiking around 9:00. A very nice trail. It gains 1000' every mile. Coon Lake is nothing to spend any time pausing at. We had to be back to the shuttle at 5:30, so no matter how far we had made, we had to turn back by about 2:30. By 1:30 we had made it to the basin below the peak at about 6500' and that was enough since we would run out of time before reaching the summit. This is a hard summit to do in a day from Stehekin, but a great trail. Highly recommended.

If there could be a better place on earth, it is hard to picture it other than this area. I went with high expectations from what I've heard and read, but this trek was as good as it gets!

The day had me concerned how well it would go---at 3:17am heading over Tiger Mtn on Highway 18, the one car in front of me ended up being a hay truck I had to SLOWLY follow! Ugh. The fog over Cayuse Pass was frightenly hard to drive through at 4:30am, and I almost had to stop driving. Alas, I made it in one piece, and was heading up to do this classic loop by 5:55am. Brrrr...wearing short sleeves isn't so smart hours before the sun rises over the ridge! I opted to head up the Snowgrass Flat trail first so the main elevation wouldn't be immediate, but rather 2-3 miles in. The trail to the crossing over Goat Creek was fast and already lines with flowers, the 1500 foot climb to Snowgrass steep at times but never too much of a burden, and the creek/waterfall off a switchback 2/3 the way up was grand. But what awaited me at Snowgrass was out of this world. Thus began the most amazing wildflower, high alpine stretch of trail one can imagine: alpine fir trees a mer 3-4'tall, carpeted by a solid mat of colorful wildflowers. Views in all directions, sun to my back for perfect photography, and no wind. Being up to Snowgrass Flats by 7:55am brought me perfect timing for the sun to burn off the low clouds and provide magical light throughout the basin. The hike from SNowgrass to Goat Lake took me until almost 11:00am for what was maybe 2.0-2.5 miles! ""Walk three steps, take four more photographs"" was my motto. The incredible flora party can be thanks to Mount Saint Helens dumping massive amounts of ash here in 1980, killing off a lot of stuff, but making for an amazing show that will be fun to watch change throughout the rest of my lifetime---I'm sure I'll return here every couple of years to see it unfold.

Goat Lake was so beautiful, with the icebergs and 3/4 ice cover it still (and usually) supports. The reflection of Goat Ridge in what water there was made my head spin. Oh, and Mount Adams dominating the backdrop view looking over the massive Goat Creek valley to the south from here is an image you cannot draw up yourself. Oh, and that view from the approach to Goat Lake of the outlet waters of Goat Creek plunging off the top of the world from the Goat Lake basin and dropping down what must be 1500 feet to the basin below before it becomes a ""creek"" instead of one long constant series of waterfalls. Oh, and then came Jordan Basin on the route out (the only snow patches all day that are left up there are just as you leave Goat Lake to head to Jordan Basin, and they are small but hide the trail a bit). Wow! Here is where the wildlife was: elk, deer, pika, marmots, and one huge coyote roaming the talas slopes...likely hunting for the fat pika, marmots, and you just read my account of natural history putting on a play for me, the one with the front row seat!

I could write a book on my day. I'll leave that for another time. Stats for the day include 1 cow elk, seven deer (all in and around Jordan Basin), many pika, four marmots, one fat coyote, a Northern Flicker family of four jumping around on a tree snag, not able to fly yet, and then 51 species of flora identified!! Much of that was in a solid carpet of color throughout 7-8 miles of this 13+ mile day. Seeing vast views of lupine, paintbrush, lousewort, pasqueflower, bistort, and aster as a solid canvas as far as the eye can see was a sight no film or painting could ever catch. But my memory has an exact replica of my day, and that's the best part of all!

Set off on a monday hoping too find some solitude and great views of Dome Peak. Well, at least i got one out of two. I found a lack of solid info regarding this trail and conflicting info from previous WTA entries so to set the record straight here's a detailed account: The Downey Creek trail has been maintained quite nicely for the first two miles (thanks to the WTA) After a slight climb in the first half mile it follows through forest above the creek. There is a minor ravine crossing just before mile three; after that the trail gets a bit brushy in spots but is in pretty decent shape up to six mile camp (which, just as the map says, is 6.6 miles from the trailhead). This took me 2.5 hours. Here's where the real fun begins. Crossing Bachelor Creek is no problem if you pick the right spot (for me, just slightly downstream). Then, the trail unexpectedly climbs at a moderate grade for a little under a mile as it parralels the North side of Bachelor 'Waterfall'. The first couple miles of the trail are very easy to follow through the woods, although there are at least a dozen blow-downs to contend with. Then the trail begins to alternate between brushy and wooded sections, and by 2.5 miles the brush gets pretty thick! Sometimes you just have to blindly push forward when it seems as though the trail dissapears, but for the most part it is always visible (below the brush!) as a trail. At three miles a prior poster recommends staying on the north side of the creek rather than crossing, but i could not find a trail continuing on the north side, so rather than hacking my way through dense brush, i crossed the creek to the south side with the trail. The next half mile is very brushy, but then thankfully enters woods again for a while. Excellent campsite at 3.5-4 miles. Took me over three hours to get there. The trail resumes through more brush, interspersed with swamp, until finally climbing back through woods by mile 4 or so. The trail once again becomes easy to follow as it climbs up to the ridge in a southerly direction. I reached the ridge top in about 1 hour from camp; unfortunately i was fogged in and had no views other than a few glimpses of lakes below. I imagine the view would have been great! On the way out, i made much better time but got very wet pushing through rain-soaked brush. This was not a horribly pleasant hike. Saw noone until i got to the lot, as three people were heading off to do the Ptarmigan Traverse. I warned them that the weather was going to make their life miserable, but wished them luck. If youre thinking of doing this hike, make sure you do in in the middle of a protracted dry spell!

We got started from Cedar Camp about 8, as we were hoping to reach the 3 PM shuttle from High Bridge on the Stehekin Road. We hiked an hour, and then ate breakfast at Swamp Creek. The trail was in very good condition all 10 miles north to the road. Views of the Agnes Gorge were interesting, but the black flies prevented us from taking any significant rest breaks. The hike was through lovely forest, which changed to dry, spindly forest as we approached High Bridge. Try as I might, I didn't reach the shuttle until 3:10. Fortunately, my comrades had proceeded me and detain the driver. There were 49 people on that shuttle--the most the driver had seen for a while. It costs $6 for the ride to Stehekin. We were delighted to have a room in the North Cascades Lodge waiting, and the shower after 4 days (from Holden)made all the effort worthwhile. The restaurant has great food, and we lingered a couple days in Stehekin before heading home on the ""Cat"", the fast boat that makes it back to Chelan in a little over an hour.

This is an easy hike- day or overnight. We went in overnight and were thus able to wait for clearing of Baker and all the peaks to the east! Wonderful views! Great camp area, looking right at Baker. A few bugs. Also marmots to entertain us. Enjoyed watching climbers coming off the summit in the a.m. Flowers are out.

We had always wanted to hike to the Hidden Lake Lookout and with a promising weather report off we went. The weather report was wrong. It was socked in the whole way. However, the meadow was fantastic with an amazing display of wild flowers. We crossed two small snow fields following the path left by weekend hikers. Ahead was a much longer snow traverse but it too had an obvious, well beated path that lead us safely across. Oops! Wrong! There was no trail on the other side. We spent 30 minutes looking for the trail. It was back on the other side of the snow field. It switchedback up just at the start of the snow. Lesson learned (again). Just because others have gone that way doesn't mean they know where they are going or it's where you want to go. We continued up but stopped at the pass. We could barely see Hidden Lake and the lookout peak was totally in the clouds. Naturally, as we drove away it began to clear. Got to do this one again.

Rock Creek Trail (July 29)

I walked westward about 2.5 miles on the Middle Fork trail from Goldmyer Hotsprings to the intersection with the Rock Creek trail. The Middle Fork trail passes through open second growth forest and is in good shape.

The lower three or four miles of the Rock Creek trail are in forest and are so little used that virtually every foot is covered with moss or pine needles and cones. The first mile of this section is in second growth forest sprinkled with the decaying stumps. At about mile two the trail enters ancient forest and passes the only campsite on the entire trail. It is marked by a rectangle formed from several courses of crossed logs – possibly the remnants of an old coral.

Although you can hear Rock Creek the whole way, it is in a steep, wooded ravine and is virtually inaccessible. There is no water at all on the trail until you reach a long, brush-covered, rock slide about 600 feet below Snow Lake. This section is very unpleasant to climb because of the dense brush . It takes about a half to three quarters of a mile of switchbacks to cross the rockslide, but it seems longer. This section of the trail desperately needs maintenance, but because of its light use will probably never get it.

From the intersection with the Middle Fork trail to Snow Lake is 5 miles, and it is up all the way, gaining 2400 feet. This trail is secluded, beautiful, and little used -- primarily because it takes off from essentially nowhere. I didn't see a boot track from the junction with the Middle Fork trail all the way to Snow Lake.

The trail is very wet, the directions given via this site are poor, and the first half of the trek is rather boring. Lots of mud. Way too many bugs. Hikers were leaving the lake with their heads covered to protect from the mosquitoes. I'd say find another trail.

After camping at Lyman Lake the night before, we moved our camp to Cloudy Pass. The 2 mile trek from Lyman was glorious--though lovely forest and then exquisite flower meadows with amazing views of Upper Lyman. We decided to day hike to Image Lake. We used the ""hiker"" trail cutoff to Suiattle Pass, which started about a mile west of Cloudy Pass. That trail was well marked on both ends and took about half an hour. There is good dirt tread on the first and last third. The part in the middle is rocky, and at times steep. It wasn't a problem with a day pack, but clumsy types like me would have a little anguish carrying a full pack over the rough terrain. We followed the PCT south from Suiattle Pass about a mile, and then turned on to the Miner's Cabin trail going west toward Image Lake. The trails were in good condition. We met a lady with two horses headed to ""Lady Camp"". I had to turn around about a mile before the lake to insure completing my return to camp before dark. Faster hikers in my party managed to reach the lake. Glacier Peak was hiding that day. Such a pity, since we had made such an effort (12 miles round trip). Two in our party had carried their packs and slept there (in the rain). Their faith was rewarded when the peak cleared off perfectly early the next morning, and they were able to capture the classic reflection on camera.

Trail is in good shape all the way up to American Ridge from Pleasant Valley. Only on blowdown exists and that is at about 5000 feet. There is no water along the way.

Trail is in great shape. Not a single blowdown exists. Low inclination trail too which makes good for horses. The American River ford requires you to cross on a log.

Drove to the Staircase Ranger Station and trailhead. The dirt road leading to the park entrance wasn't too bad although it was rutted in a few spots and had to slow down a bit. The weather was absolutely perfect over there. Started down the west side of the staircase loop. The trail was in pretty good shape and well maintained. Nice river rapids and some older growth forest. The bridge crossing over the river to complete the loop was out. Decided to continue on the Four Stream trail. You can really tell the difference between old growth and newer growth as the trail goes through an area hit by fire in 1985. This part of the trail is a little more rugged and it looked like it had received recent maintenance. The new growth will take the trail over very quickly if left to its own devices. Went to the end of the trail where Four Stream enters the Skokomish. Had lunch at a nice location right on the river. Overall a very nice trail. The dead cedar laying on its side is very impressive (14 foot diameter).

The day promised and delivered lowlying clouds and mist for the better part of the day.The decision was made to remain on trails to avoid the wet branches that can leave one drenched. Alaska Mt lies just off the Pacific Crest Trail about two miles past the Kendall Katwalk and it was just the right length hike for the day. Beckey's mentions a route from Bumblebee Pass (located between Thomson and the PCT) along the ridge to the summit of Alaska. That is bad advice. I went up that way for 1/2 hour. It is steep, slippery, and not worth the added effort. Just continue on the PCT about 1 mile further until the PCT makes a hairpin turn to the NW at about the 5,400' level. Jump up onto the heather slope there and make the easy 350' ascent to the rocky top. The top lies along the crest which separates the Columbia River drainage from the Puget Sound waters and thus King County from Kittatas County. It looks down toward the deeply blue waters of Alaska Lake and across to an impressive near vertical cliff wall on the side of Huckleberry Mt. We left Issaquah at 6:00AM and were back to the car by 2:30PM.

I did not hike this trail, but be warned, there is no trail marker on trail 999 that says, ""This is Kettle Creek"" There is a sign that points to the left showing the right way for the Pleasant Valley trail.

Been busy reconfiguring my experimental servers - testing Active Directory migration tools and preparing two of my servers to run clustering services.

There are many trees across the trail from the point where the trail first enters forest (0.7 miles) and thence along the entire length. There are also some brushy spots. Because of the unseasonably cold temperatures overnight, mosquitoes weren't a problem. Pearly everlasting, lupine, tiger lily, cow parsnip, foamflower, dewberry, columbine, thistle, heather, daisy, mertensia and butterweed were seen. Pikas were heard. Grey jays and quail were seen. Overcast skies, occasionally giving way to broken clouds with cool temperatures.

Sparky (aka Kenny McCormick, Clutch Cargo, Wayde Preston, etc., etc.)

Hiked American Ridge from Goat Peak to just below point 6162 above Swamp Lake. There are many blowdowns along the way--however the blowdowns are spaced far apart from each other. Horses can get around them except for one large blowdown between the intersection of trail 958B and the summit of Goat Peak. There are many places you will lose the trail when the trail enters meadows becuase of not enough tread and the meadows taking over the trail.

Commonwealth Basin/Goldmyer Hot Spring (July 28)

I parked at the PCT trail head and took the old PCT to Commonwealth Basin. It is a great trail, good surface, and in excellent shape except for a few deadfalls once you pass the area that was cut. Once in the Basin, the trail is in fine shape all the way to Red Pass. There are a number of good campsites in the Basin and in the area around Red Pond (in this low water year really ""Red Puddle"") and both areas are quite beautiful. The Snow Lake area is more popular, but I think that this is by far the better short hike from Snoqualmie Pass.

100 Hikes says that it is possible to hike the abandoned trail from Red Pass to the Middle Fork. This is literally correct, and I did it, but I wouldn't do it again, and I strongly recommend that hikers don't try it. The upper part is so steep and badly eroded that I consider it dangerous without ropes and technical knowledge.

Once past the steep, rocky upper part, there is a section of the abandoned trail above tree line that is spectacular – the trail goes down a steep rib with vast rockfields and unseen roaring creeks on both sides and great views in practically all directions. Clearly the trail hasn't seen much use for years, but recovery is so slow in the fragile alpine elevations that is easy to follow down to tree line and for a ways after that. Once the brush becomes thicker, it becomes very hard to follow, and finally I lost it in a steep brushy area with many fallen trees. Fortunately the terrain is pretty clear, and I just kept going down a very long way until I hit Burn Boot Creek near Goldmyer. There are several logs to choose from to get across Burn Boot.

We did a ""car shuttle"" hike, starting at the Beverly Turnpike trailhead, and coming out at the Iron Peak trailhead on the North Fork Teanaway Road.

Trail conditions very good - no deadfalls, no snow (apparently hasn't been for some time), and only a couple of minor wet spots. Flower display excellent, especially at higher elevations. Among our favorites which are present in some numbers were skyrocket gilia, columbine, both red and yellow paintbrush, harebells, amd monkshood. Lots of yarrow, buckwheat, various compositae, penstemons, and much else. Some lupine left at higher elevations.

With mostly cloudy conditions and cloud bottoms 7000' or so, didn't see some of the more impressive mountaintops from the Iron Peak area, like Stuart. But the panoramas were pretty impressive anyway.

Rain, fog, gusty winds. What a great day to hike the vast flat lands of the southern William O. Douglas Wilderness near the Cascade Crest. I came prepared for the rain that I was driving in, and upon my departure from the PCT North trailhead at White Pass, it was raining pigs-n-chickens out! Ah, but with rainhat on, pack cover in place, and cover in place over my chest harness to protect the majority of my camera gear, I was a snug critter in the woods today.

The forest was spooky with the rain and fog, and downright scaring me when the winds picked up as the cold front passed at 8:42AM near Sand Lake. The rain stopped, the fog blew out, and gusty cold wind started. The trees were making some STRANGE noises up there. Alas, the famous mosquitoes of the area couldn't come out to play on such a wet and windy day though! I saw only one skeeter...and of course he nailed me on my finger of all places. Deer Lake was nice, Sand Lake was stunning, and the volcanic rocks in the shallow waters of the lakes were very interesting to check out. One shore of Sand Lake was ablaze in lupines for a stunning image. I continued on the PCT until I headed over to Dumbbell Lake, and then debated on whether to head up Cramer Mountain or not. I chose not since the fog and low clouds wouldn't offer a view anyhow. Of course, as soon as I was south of Cramer Lake heading back out the sun came out! Cramer Lake was peaceful, and the meadows of grass in the alpine fir forest were stunning (as were all those over by Sand Lake and beyond along the PCT). From a very far distance I enjoyed 4 elk south of Cramer Lake. I then made fast time with the almost flast trails in this area and headed back toward Dog Lake, then cut across Dark Meadows trail to return to the White Pass trailhead on the PCT. A perfect day to pick a hike that isn't big on vast views, but on forest, lakes, and meadows.

Jim and I enjoyed a ""country-club start"", leaving the Ingalls Creek Trailhead shortly before 10:00 am. The trail was in great shape - the only blowdown was around mile 7, consisting of a 1-foot diameter log preceded by a downed spruce whose branches made a curtain across the trail. On our way out, we noted that apparently some horseback riders got to the blowdown and turned around, as there were not signs of recent horse passage upstream of the blowdown.

Our goal was to climb McClellan Peak, in the Enchantments, using the Crystal Creek approach. We watched the time and the trail junctions to know when we were at the 7.5-mile point where Crystal Creek crosses the Ingalls Creek Trail. It was supposed to be about ½ mile past the junction with the Cascade Creek Trail. At one point we saw cairns on the right side of the trail, but not having passed the junction, we just blew by. Well, we should have investigated, because that was it! Unfortunately, we kept going until we reached the Hardscrabble Creek junction 1.3 miles further! Nothing like an extra couple miles on an already long approach! I guess the Cascade Creek Trail has been abandoned'

The cairns were right on the money just to the east of Crystal Creek. The cairns marked the beginning of the Crystal Creek informal trail, but we lost it in the undergrowth, but regained it shortly thereafter. The travel was not difficult, except for the fact that the hill was steep, and our feet were already tired from 10 trail miles with overnight climbing packs. After a grueling ascent to the first basin at 6000 feet, we eagerly anticipated finding a camp spot. The basin was dry. Lush undergrowth belied the fact that there was currently no running or standing water, despite Crystal Creek that gushed down the hillside just 1000 feet below. It appears that shortly after exiting Crystal Lake at 7000 feet, the water heads under the glacial boulders some 50 feet or more below the ground surface only to emerge on the hillside below.

Our hopes of unshouldering our burdens dashed, we dug in and scrambled up relentless talus and boulders to Crystal Lake. Mere words cannot do justice to the beauty that unfolds as one emerges over the pass. Couple that with the exhaustion 12 miles and 5200 vertical feet bring, and you have the recipe for euphoria!

We planned to bivy, but with the occasional sprinkles and constant breeze, we deployed our new Mountain Hardware Kiva. It performed superbly! The next morning we were treated to blue skies. Our summit lie 1400 feet above, but soon after we started heading up, the valley clouds boiled up and engulfed the surrounding peaks. Picking our way through the talus, we ascended to a notch in the summit ridge just east of the Chessmen. From here it was a delightful scramble to the precipitous summit. The clouds began to lift, and we had glimpses of the entire Enchantment basin and the surrounding jagged peaks.

Our hike out was uneventful, save for some very sore feet. We managed to stay on the climber's path most of the way down, except for the last 100 feet of vertical. It is well marked with cairns and tread most of the way.

On a sad note, we had the unpleasant experience of encountering the remnants of a sloppy camp on our hike in. What I saw in that abandoned camp made me sick. A red-hot campfire still smoldered. A kindling pile was stashed within a foot of the fire ring. A piece of burnt aluminum foil containing the remanants of last night's dinner (a large chunk of red meat) was splayed out over a log by the fire. Three empty glass bottles of Mike's Hard Lemonade were stashed behind the log, along with a red plastic bullet casing. The melted remains of a fourth bottle lay inside the fire ring. A spent 44-magnum shell was perched on an adjacent log. A newspaper, still in its plastic sleeve, was stashed behind a tree. A few Marlboro butts littered the bare dirt.

I made eight trips to Ingalls Creek with one of my Nalgene bottles to drown the red-hot coals. It was breezy that day. I hate to imagine the conflagration that may have happened had we not been so vigilant to check the camp. I don't know if the dirtbags were stupid, ignorant, or just plain arrogant. Probably some of each. We packed out their trash on our return trip.

Last Saturday we started the first leg of our circuit from Holden Village to Stehekin Road. After a pleasant boat ride to Lucerne and lunch at the Youth Camp, we finally got going at 2:30. After only 20 minutes walking we encountered four lovely and tame deer on the trail. The tread became rocky as we approached Hart Lake. There were inspiring views of Bonanza peak and the spectacular falls at the head of the valley. The stream crossing just past the lake was a little challenging. Aqua boots proved helpful in the ford. The crossing is not frightning, but it is wet. Long stretches of brushy, steep trail above made for slow going. We didn't reach Lyman Lake (8.5 miles) until 8:45. We managed to set up camp and cook a little supper before dark. There is a proliferation of good campsites. The route to Upper Lyman involves crossing a flattened log with no railing high above a rushing torrent. The young people in another group didn't seem to think it was a big deal. They said Lyman Glacier was awesome.

For those crossing Spider Gap, Snow conditions are good for a safe walk up and down Spider Gap. Beware of a high trail that looks like the obvious route from Spider Gap. You will quickly find yourself above cliffs and forced to turn back or walk the ridge almost all he way to Lyman lake. This is an old miner's route and dissapears and reappears without rhyme or reason. It's safer/easier to use the snow and drop to talus in the upper basin. It's not steep and an ice axe is unnecessary.

Somehow I missed my trail companions today and ended up doing a solitary hike to Palisades Lake. The weather report had been horrendous, with rain/showers and the possibility of snow at 6500 feet. Well, the rain shadow effect at Sunrise pulled through, again. It was a day of clouds shadows, sunbreaks and cat's paws.

I've hiked this trail many times, but today I hit it at the height of the flowers. Usually I go later in the year and I was amazed at the beauty and variety of flora. I found even a few solitary specimens of Oregon anemone and shooting stars that seemed to want to catch my eye.

This is an upsy downsy hike, dropping down perhaps 700 feet to start and going over a couple of humps on the way to Palisades Lakes. Several lakes and ponds are hidden away in protected pockets and there are many beautiful open meadows. Scrambling opportunities abound in the gentle landscape. Camping is limited to Dick's Lake and Palisades Lakes. Green Park, above Hidden Lake offers an opportunity for backcountry camping.

I had lunch at Palisades Lake with a marmot for company and then proceeded back to the side trail to Hidden Lake. This pretty lake hits in a cirque with basaltic columned cliffs reflected in the clear blue waters. I spent a peaceful bit of time reading at lakeside,listening to the babble of water and the occasional rush of wind. Clouds like spindrift soared overhead across a very blue sky.

I spotted my first pink moneyflower in bloom for the season, as well as numerous other mountain meadow favorites of all colors and sizes. There were two deer eating in a meadow and even one that wandered through the parking lot at the top of the ridge when I got back to the park. All in all, it was an excellent day.

The schedule called for a Rampart ramble Saturday but the forecast called for rain, so I decided to try the Eastside thing - and it worked, almost. Light rain in Kirkland Saturday morning, dumping in the Pass, sunshine in Cle Elum; 970 was bare and dry but when I turned up the Teanaway there was a rainbow arching across the valley and clouds up at the end. Still, Ingalls Lake was my hike of choice (Ginger's on vacation this week) so I decided to keep going. The rain started about two miles from the roadend. I sat in the parking area for fifteen minutes while the rain got heavier. Okay. Back to Stafford Creek, where the sun was out

The Stafford Creek Trail is well built, very well maintained and surprisingly uneroded, given the heavy horse traffic. It's also dull, a long walk in the woods with very little to distract you. The trail is within sight and sound of Stafford Creek much of the time, which is pleasant, but not more than that. Only the last 1/4 mile, where the trail crosses a section of the serpentine barens, does it really get interesting, and it's only from this area that there are any views out to the coloful cliffs around the basin.

Since Mt Stuart is not visable from Navaho Pass I decided to climb a little way up the side of Navaho Peak so I could get a view of the whole Stuart Range. I had no intention of going to the top. Then I spent the next hour telling myself it was really time to turn around, and I really didn't need to prove anything by going all the way up, and I'd just go a little further and then bag it. So I tagged the summit rock and headed straight back down. It was too cold and windy to relax and enjoy the view (Stuart never did get its head out of the clouds). For the record, the unofficial trail up to the peak is very obvious, steep and loose but nowhere difficult.

Going up I'd had the trail pretty much to myself; going down it was a circus, several dozen people and a dozen horses. Still. I'd managed to avoid the rain, except for a few sprinkles, and gotten a much needed workout: 14 miles, 4200', 9 1/2 hours - not bad for sixty.

Nevermind what I feel like today :( - No bugs, which was a pleasant surprise. - And one last comment: horses eat too much.

Two ladies on our tail as we drove into the parking lot were the only indication of others around at the moment. Unfortunately they didn’t know what trail passes were and after a bit of half hearted exploration had to abandon their original plans entirely, in favor of a short walk down the Cady Creek trail. Ben and Casey were quite interested in sniffing them and their hats (when offered) but still wary, ready to bark and bolt away.

Early on we came into waist high (3') overgrowth, the trail is crossing avalanche fields and you might as well get used to it! My hiking poles held out at arm’s length in front, earned their money’s worth detecting hidden boulders. Forested areas were a welcome break from the overgrowth but there are few of them. Lots of mud bogs to go through, some of them quite stinky. We came to the first campground which was full, looked to be a trail crew, after that we started uphill and were amazed to look back and see how far we’d climbed. The switchbacks go up the mountainside quickly but don’t seem to be that steep as you’re going. What a relief to get to the place where the trailcrew had stopped working for the day! No overgrowth from there on(they are working their way down, YAY!). But no suitable camp spots too steep. Topping out at the first meadow we needed to camp, we were wet and cold and tired. But alas, a tent in that spot and another over there and there and what looked from a distance to be an open site turned out to be occupied at the moment, a rainsuited person walked out to greet us, the wilderness ranger pointed us to where he thought we might find a site. We wandered back and forth and no luck, wanting to stay away from people we decided to continue up the trail. The wilderness ranger’s friend came out to us and offered the site they were cooking in which was available for camping, they would remove all their stuff…We were so tired and cold we accepted and decided to take our chances with whatever might be attracted to their cooking smells. It turned out to be a safe bet. The morning showed us a lovely meadow view, Ben and Casey were in their element bounding through the tall grass, we watched them almost disappear then spring up in the midst of a full run as English Springer Spaniels were bred to do.

On the way back in the morning we heard the bullfrog like sounds of Grouse, lots of birds and squirrels, a small mouse-like creature ran out from where Ben and Casey nosed through the grass, between their legs and back into the grass again behind them, the place where a herd of deer or ' had bedded down for the night and smooshed the plants down…lots of interesting rocks and mica…Lots of flowers!

We intended to hike to Silver Lakes via the trailhead shown on the Tyler Peak Green Trails map as starting off road 2820. The signage and roads were so confusing and visibility too poor for identifying landmarks, so we followed the Polecats advice (see their report of 8 Jul 2001) and used the trailhead at the end of the service road. We have only a couple of additions to the Polecats' report.

#1: The wildflowers are out of this world! I have never seen so many different varieties of wildflowers in bloom over the course of 5.4 miles. This was a very good thing, since the mist heightened to a steady drizzle for most of our hike in and we knew we were hiking through a beautiful valley, but couldn't see anything further than 50 yards away. #2: There are about 5 places to camp around the upper lake. There are two along the east side on the slight rise above the lake, one at the flat area on the south side of the lake (and an unfortunately large damaged area where someone built an illegal fire), one on the west side near a very large boulder, and the one we used, up a steep way trail on the west side, fairly high above the lake.

During the night, we could hear rock falling from the craggy ridge to the west of us. We saw deer, a rabbit, gray jays, juncos, chipmunks and quail. Two fisherman camped at the lake were having no luck. We rose early enough to take advantage of the brief sunbreaks in the morning and hiked up to the junction with the Mount Townsend trail during the only clear part of the day, then it was mist all the way back to the car. This trail is in excellent condition, whether it's up or down (there isn't a flat stretch on it), and worth every minute for the lovely blooms.

Took lower Elliot trail in which was fine for about 2 miles then becomes overgrown in places with some water on the trail until it meets the upper Elliot trail...The rest of the way to the lake was fine although the last half mile to the lake is rather rocky and steep in places so watch your step...just past the falls as the lake comes into view the trail becomes overgrown again but only for about 75 yards...until you reach the first access to the lake....ate lunch while soothing my feet in the lake...followed upper Elliot out which has some nice views of the mountains..until you reach the first switch back and then you are in forest until you reach the trail head....total distance about nine half miles round trip.....only saw 10 people all day...

The road to Twin Lakes is very difficult, requiring a sturdy vehicle and a lot of patience. Once there, the trail to High Pass and Mt. Larabie (sp') is generally in good shape. The final section (approx 1/2 mile) is a series of steep switchbacks that climb to High Pass. As it climbs the trail repetitively crosses an avalanche chute, with some very dangerous sections. They aren't large, but require careful attention.

The views throughout this hike are tremendous, and High Pass is an excellent lunch stop.

We had beautiful weather on July 28. Western Washington was overcast, but we got above the clouds as we went up the Mowich Lake road.

The trail begins at the Mowich Lake ranger cabin, and starts out as the Knapsack Pass trail, signed ""trail not maintained."" Follow the trail as it gains about 500 vertical feet above the lake. At about 5200 feet, look for a small brook just to the right. The beginning of the Fay Peak trail is obvious across the brook. The trail traverses meadows and then ascends the sharp ridge directly to the summit of Fay Peak. Trail condition is good, snow-free, and easy to follow, with mostly open meadows carpeted with lupine, avalanche lily, and Indian paintbrush. The final 50 feet to the summit requires some easy scrambling. Skip it if in doubt, and enjoy the magnificent view of the lake below. If you do go to the summit, there are additional views toward Spray Park and Rainier.

Fast hikers could do this hike in 3 hours. We preferred to take our time and enjoy the scenery.

Bookmark this one for sure! This is a destination for all tastes. We did a loop-ish trip clockwise from the Entiat Rv trailhead to the beautiful Cow Creek Meadows trail, along the flanks of Fifth of July Mountain and returning via the Entiat River Trail. I recommend taking the loop this way, as the first view of Larch Lakes from the high spot on the trail pops up unexpectedly and is very dramatic (I find it a letdown to see what should have been the first view of your destination after you have already been there).

For the flora fans, the flowers in the upper meadows are now at their height. You can’t beat the variety of colors and types of flowers growing in the rocky meadows clinging to the contours around Fifth of July Mtn. Millions of flowers!!! For the larch fans in the fall - well they didn’t name it “Larch Lakes” for nothing. For the lake-swimming fans in summer, the littlest Larch Lake is among the best swimming lakes you’ll ever find, complete with a sandy shallow edge, sunning rocks, and a homemade “Huck Finn” style raft resting on it’s shore. It’s a great place for kids.

The trail begins in Wenatchee National Forest and is a hiker/horse/motorcycle trail to Myrtle Lake, and then enters Glacier Peak Wilderness. One bridge is out, but construction on the new bridge is finished enough to cross easily. You’ll have to ford the Entiat on the return trip, but the water was only crotch-high and running fairly slow at the crossing.

After reaching its high point at Fifth of July Mtn, the trail then wanders down amongst fantastic views of the Borealis Range and the glacier-carved Entiat River valley, through the rock and flower laden meadows to beautiful Larch Lakes surrounded by an expanse of meadow, where the air is alive with MOSQUITOES. Prepare for battle before dropping down to the lake. I don’t care how hot it is, you’ll want to wear everything you bought with you. Take a bug hat and neck gaiter, too. In spite of all your armor, you’ll come out with battle scars on body parts you didn’t even know you had.

Do take the time to wander slowly around the meadows. Its full of wonderful surprises - meandering creeks with tiny waterfalls, now dry gullies full of flowers, millions of blue and orange butterflies, and a lake chock-full of tadpoles and flopping fish. At sunset, you can see the alpenglow of surrounding peaks and the half moon mirrored in the still little oxbow ponds left by the winding creek.

For the return trip, the Cow Creek Trail then continues down and affords wonderful views of the Borealis Range, Pinnacle Peaks, and a long, beautiful cascading waterfall spilling out from Larch Lake above, before reaching the Entiat Rv Trail for the trip home.

Trivia question: How long does it take to get 12 and 13 year-old first-time backpacking girls 5 miles down the trail'

Answer: 10 hours.

Its sorta like hiking with mules, only they’re more stubborn (the girls, I mean).

But they were worth every excruciating step.

Beautiful hike, the road crew on the pass was very noisy on the first and last part of the hike. I imagine they will be futher on soon. The traffic getting through the pass was not too bad, we came in on Friday when the road is not closed completely. We did have to walk through construction on the way back to the parking lot. We identified 9 different wildflowers and there were 3-4 that weren't in our small field guide. When we stopped to look at Bench Lake, there was a group of very noisy hikers that interrupted the peacefullness of the view- try to remember that voices carry and ssshhhhh!!!!

West Cady - Pilot Ridge Loop

For a person like me who loves loop trips, the green Trails Benchmark Mountain map (#144) is a wondrous thing. There are at least 7 obvious loops that jump right out of the map at you. And if you are willing to extend your search to adjacent maps, the possibilities for loopers begins to overwhelm. Almost all of these loops take advantage of one of the most scenic sections of the marvelous Pacific Crest Trail.

Since I prefer ridge walking to river valley hikes and wanted to spend some time on one of my favorite portions of the PCT, I chose a loop which starts and ends at Sloan Creek Campground (See Green Trails map # 111) and includes road 4920 to Curry Gap, Quartz Creek (trail # 1050) to West Cady Ridge (trail # 1054), the Pacific Crest Trail from Saddle Gap to Dishpan Gap, the Blue Lake High Route (trail # 652A) to Blue Lake and Pilot Ridge (trail # 652) back to Sloan Creek Campground.

The loop is approximately 38 miles total distance with total elevation gain (as plotted by TOPO!) of 14,115 feet.

You need 4 Green Trail maps to cover the whole route: # 111 (Sloan Peak) # 143 (Monte Christo) # 144 (Benchmark Mtn) # 112 (Glacier Peak)

The Monte Christo group of peaks and Sloan Peak are the centerpiece of the first third and last third of this loop. You see them from high and far away (Blue Lake and Pilot Ridge) and from close up and low down (Curry Creek Road). Glacier Peak and the peaks east of the Crest are the main features of the PCT portion of the loop. And if the mountains aren't enough, there are the flowers! I found 27 different species I could put a name to and a few more I could not name.

SLOAN CREEK CG to FS ROAD 63

The first part of the loop was the least appealing part of the whole trip in that it involved a 2.5 mile walk up FS Road 49 plus 2 more miles up the now disused Curry Creek Road to Curry Gap. This part of the trip was bug heaven/hiker hell, due probably to low elevation and abundance of water. But there were a few redeeming features even here: this trail is as close to Monte Christo's Pride Basin and its glaciers as you will ever get unless you learn to use crampons. Further up the trail I found Curry Gap to be a very pleasant place. Nice open meadows, water, mosquitoes. The trip from Curry Gap down Quartz Creek to Road 63 is nice, but unremarkable except for one stream crossing below a small waterfall with one of most perfect 'plunge pools' I have ever seen.

FS ROAD 63 TO SADDLE GAP

West Cady Ridge is a dry ridge. Be sure to collect water within 2 miles of the trail head because beyond that point there are 6.5 miles without any flowing water til you get to the PCT junction (there are a couple of stagnant pools 5 miles from the trail head).

I made it 3 miles up the ridge trail and set up camp at the 4600' level of the ridge. During the night the mist was so heavy it might as well have been raining. I could see where all the vegetation on this ridge gets it sustenance. There may not be flowing water for the hiker but there is plenty of moisture for the plants. In the morning I set out in the mist along the ridge top. On a clear day you can get a great view of the Monte Cristo group and Glacier Peak from here (though it does not compare with the view from the Curry Creek Road), but the best part of hiking West Cady is not the mountain views, but the meadows themselves. At the western shoulder they are scraggly in the summer (until the Huckleberries come) but as you work your way up the ridge they become more expansive and luxuriant until, near Benchmark Mtn, they are full of flowers and grasses: Alpine aster, sitka valerian, green hellebore, lupine, purple heather, snow buttercups, glacier lilies, rosie spirea, columbine and many more.

Its a long way along this ridge, but you haven't really seen it at its best until you go all the way to Benchmark Mtn.

SADDLE GAP TO BLUE LAKE

Just 1.5 miles beyond Benchmark Mtn is the PCT and flowing water at Saddle Gap. Heading north from Saddle Gap, the PCT begins a rapid descent of 600' to Pass Creek and then ascends 1,000' all in 3.5 miles. After that whipsaw is over, the trail is as nice, scenic & dreamy as any trail can get. The trail dances along the shoulder of Skykomish Peak, almost completely unobstructed by tree cover. Sometimes you can see the trail ahead of you for what seems like miles. By the time I got to this point most of the morning clouds had dissolved and I could see Mt. Saul, David, Johnathan and other peaks of the east side. But Glacier Peak was still hidden in cloud.

I don't know how plentiful the water is here in wetter years, but it was not until 4 miles beyond Pass Creek (just short of Lk Sally Ann) that I again encountered water.

After leaving Lake Sally Ann, I was beyond the shadow of Skykomish Peak - truly on the crest- and could see both to east and the west. About a mile beyond Sally Ann, at Ward's Pass looking across the Skykomish River valley I could see the thin line of some trail sweeping along the valley wall, just below Long John and June Mountains rushing up to meet me at Dishpan Gap - the Bald Eagle Trail.

I had originally meant to camp on the second night of the trip at Dishpan Gap, the end of the PCT segment of my loop and the confluence of many trails - a ridgtop clearing with a signpost at its center - signs pointing in all directions: 'North Fork Sky Trail', 'Blue Lake High Route', 'Bald Eagle Trail, 'White Pass', Steven's Pass'!!! No other intersection could be as sweet as this.

But since it was still quite early, I decided to leave the PCT and push on to Blue Lake - only 2 miles away - over the Blue Lake High Route. Gasp!

After strolling along the sedate PCT for 8 miles, I was not prepared for the Blue Lake High Route. You get to the High Route from the Bald Eagle, about a mile after leaving Dishpan Gap. Then you scramble 700' up over the corner of June Mt and 800' down the other side to Blue Lake - all in less than a mile! There is a reason they call this a 'high route' and not a 'trail'. Not really dangerous, but a shock to my system, coming as it did at the end of a long day.

BLUE LAKE TO SLOAN CREEK CAMPGROUND

Blue Lake is located in a large cirque formed by Johnson and June mountains at the eastern edge of the Sloan Creek valley. When the weather is clear you can see all the way down this valley to the Monte Christo area peaks at its western end. While the weather had been pretty good on the PCT (just east of the Cascade crest), this area west of the crest was more or less socked in by clouds when I arrived. I camped the night near the outlet of Blue Lake and when I awoke in the morning, the clouds had rearranged themselves into a cloud deck occupying just the floor of the Sloan Creek valley. Out of the cloud deck 10 miles away to the west rose the Monte Christo peaks, perfectly framed to the north by Pilot Ridge and the south by the June-Long John Mtn Ridge. This perfect view of the Monte Christos has got to rank in quality with the view of Glacier Peak from Image Lake. If I ever finish rebuilding my large format camera, I will hire a mule to haul it up here so I can try to capture the glory of the place. I doubt if a 35mm camera could do the job.

The 12 mile trip from from Blue Lake back to my car at Sloan Creek Campground involved a ridge walk along Pilot Ridge which is as nice as the ridge walk up Miner's Ridge. More flowers here than I found on West Cady and continuously changing views of the Monte Christos to the west. The ridge is open and meadowy at its eastern end with the trail so smooth and level that you can just sort of float along looking at the views and flowers without worrying about your feet. Truly carefree! After the trail leaves the shadow of Johnson Mtn and reaches the apex of the ridge, you can finally look north! The N Fk Sauk valley is below you and you can actually see, across the valley, the N. Fk. Sauk Trail as it ascends from the valley to its junction with the PCT, and the PCT all the way from White to Red Pass. Floating above Red Pass is Glacier Peak.

I counted at least 16 flower types on this ridge that I had not noticed on West Cady:

White, orange and magenta paintbrush, tiger lily, woodnymph, sickletop lousewort, phlox, 2 kinds of penstemon, white heather, jacob's ladder, pearly everlasting, colombia lewisia, partridgefoot and more.

Carry a lot of water! This ridge is even drier (and longer) than West Cady. With a 40 lb pack on your back, the descent is kind of brutal. This was the first place in the entire loop where I ran into trail blockages - some of them massive - with as many as 4 or 5 large trees at a time down on the trail.

When you finally reach the bottom of the ridge you cross the N. Sauk on a very large tree down across the river. From there it is a mere 2 flat miles along the river to Sloan Creek CG.

Bon Voyage

Headed up out of Paradise on a glorious day. Got to Pebble Creek in no time. After reaching the Muir Snowfield things seemed to slow down a little. Decided to head east and go up The Paradise Glacier to Anvil Rock. Needed a different route up this time. With all the rock exposed I wanted to scramble up Anvil. I read that there is an old fire lookout that was once up there. Also an outdoor toilet, with an 800' drop down to The Cowlitz Glacier. Those old-timers really knew how to have fun. You should add this one to your photo album catwoman. Be careful when you go up there. It's a bit scary.

After a long day in the big City I decided that a dash to reality was in order, and set out on the uphill trek to Sunrise as the RAMROD folks flowed downhill in the shade of the valley at the end of a long day on their bikes. Arrived at Sunrise at 8 p.m. with plans to hit the second Burroughs for sunset. A virtual jet stream of clouds were pouring up through Berkley Park and smothering the Burroughs in a flowing stream of white. Decided to head the other way instead toward Dedge Peak as wind and blowing clouds crested over the ridge from the NW and disapated over the valley below. As if sychronized, the setting sun triggered an end to the wind, the clouds disappeared and Rainier stood handsomly in the light of a perfect half moon. With binoculars, the tents of climbers camped near Camp Shurman could been clearly seen as Rainier glowed in the final rays of the setting sun. After waiting for darkness that did not come easily, I hiked as slowly as possible back to the truck enjoying the solitude of an area that is most often plagued with the madness of visitors. You do not have to go far to experience alot here at night on a trail I often ignore for the obvious reasons. Take a jacket as it was quite cool!

We spent Wed & Thurs night at Ipsut Creek Campground- it was not full and even by noon Friday there were spaces left. There is no water at the campground. The hike to Carbon Glacier was really nice and easy even for my 5 year old. The suspension bridge is still closed and crossing the logs was fun. We encountered a doe and 2 fawns on the trail, they were just as surprised as we were to see them so close!

We drove toward the Longmire entrance of MRNP. East of Ashford, we looked for a left turn to FS road 59, but the sign was down, so we got all the way to the park and had to turn back to find the road, not marked from that side either, but there was a sign about 50 feet off the main road. Road 59 is gravel, in good condition. We drove 8 miles to trailhead and followed Trail 248 down and up, past Beljica bogs, to Goat Lake, and beyond to boundary of park. Many, many mosquitos in this leg of trip. Within the park, we came to steep open meadows with fabulous flowers; However, the trail was in terrible condition, narrow, overgrown, and crumbling at the downhill edge. (Two of our party fell when the edge gave way beneath their boots.) Once in the trees again, the trail was fine. The trail to the lookout is well-marked and in excellent condition, and lots fewer bugs over there. View was fantastic.

When we got back to our cars, we found official notes on the windshields thanking us for having permits. If the government can afford to send someone to check permits at a trailhead 8 miles from the main road, why can't they hire someone to put up signs marking that road'

The trail begins at the Heart O'the Hills Campground, just before the entrance station to the national park on the Hurricane Ridge road. Two trails leave from the same parking lot: one to Lake Angeles, the other to Heather Park (and Mount Angeles). The trail sets off through second growth forest at a fairly steep grade, but the trail is smooth and beautifully maintained through the more than three miles of forest. After it reaches the more open area before Heather Park, portions are rubbly and hard to keep from slipping in the steep meadow. A hiking stick is very helpful. It's more difficult coming down, especially at the switchbacks. Heather Park is absolutely gorgeous--the flowers are spectacular right now: fields and fields of lupines in all directions. We hiked up to Heather Pass and then up the short climb to the first peak (ca. 5700). There we ate our lunch and enjoyed the marvelous view of the main peak of Mount Angeles, Hurricane Ridge, Port Angeles and the strait, Victoria in the far distance. To the east, Puget Sound was partially shrouded in fog, but a bit of Mount Baker was visible. We were the only people there (we had seen a group of five women who had camped there the night before on their way out near the beginning of the hike), so we had complete quiet and solitude the whole day. It was glorious. The entire hike was about 9.3 miles, 3900 feet elevation gain.

Well, I have put off doing this hike many times, because the recreation guide I got from the ranger station says the trail is mostly on an old road, and that didn't sound too fun. We took the lower Elliot trail on the way in, which is not on an old road, and is quite scenic as it follows Elliot Creek. The lake itself is very nice! Nice views of Cadet pk and Foggy pk at the southern end of the lake. Some views of Sloan pk on the way up. We saw many fish in the lake too. On the way back we took the Upper Elliot trail on the way back, in my opinion that was a mistake. The upper trail DOES follow an old road, and is quite boring. It is longer and there isn't much to look at. You can have some views from 2 or 3 places, but I would've much rather taken the lower trail again. If you are looking to hike this trail, definately take the Lower trail!

Nothing like being so close to Mount Rainier that a 24mm lens won't fit it all in! I finally made a long desired trek into the heart of the NW corner of the Mount Rainier to cross over Burroughs Mountain. Crystal clear blue sky was in store all day for perfect conditions, and very little wind.

I actually started my day heading out of the White River Campground to make a huge loop out of things. The drawback was an extra 2100' of elevation, so I did that haul up to the Sunrise area first thing as I was hiking out of ""Loop C"" in the campground up the Wonderland Trail by 6:03AM. Getting this steep forested portion of the hike out of the way in the cold of the early morning was wonderful, and by 7:45 I was at 6300' in bright early sunshine, wildflowers, and the first of a day long of magnificent views of Rainer. The Emmons and Winthrop Glaciers, with all the crevasses, looked so awesome in that early morning light. I took a side-trip up to Frozen Lake, then rambled down into Berkley Park for awhile to enjoy the party of marmots roaming around. Got great photographs of them including one who climbed up on a sunny rock and promptly did a belly-flop into a power-napping position in the sun, not to move again while I was there. Was very happy to have my 400mm lens along this day!

As I worked my way up to First Burroughs I was completely enjoying the masses of partridgefoot growing everywhere in the rocks. After a LONG delay for a lot of macro photography (yes, I hauled the macro lens as well in my 18 lbs of photography hiking gear) I stopped around the first high point to snack. Just as I was going to take down the tripod from massive image creation of the 7200' tundra lands and Mount Rainier atop First Burroughs, I spooked a couple who just crested to the top, and were freaked out what ""that thing"" was, which was my tripod with camera on it, me flopped behind it, etc.... They figured there was no way someone would be up there at 9:00AM already so I guess I spooked them. I continued up to Second Burroughs, crossing two lingering snow areas which were easy but slippery, and roamed atop 7400+ foot Burroughs Mtn for an hour. Incredible views of everything in all directions, especially of Rainier with Glacier Basin swooping up toward it until it ""ran out of green"". I could see the haze moving into the lowlands and was so pleased to have such crisp conditions way up there. Much fun was had using my 17mm lens for some great shots of unique rocks nearby with Rainier towering just a couple miles away!

I finally began my haul out of there, heading down the very steep two miles to the Glacier Basin Trail. I finally started seeing a lot of folks down there that all apparently were doing a short hike up into Glacier Basin. One group was headed up to Burroughs that way that I met at 6800 feet. Other than that, just the early morning departure of Wonderland Trail folks heading out of the Sunrise Camp area in both directions. The trail back to the White River campground was pleasant and easy downhill along the White River. One lovely huge patch of pink monkeyflower was particularly appreciated near the river.

I started at the western-most trailhead for the Tonga Ridge trail and headed east along the trail. The trail is in good shape though slightly brushy in spots with only one small blowdown a short distance in hanging a few feet above the trail. I climbed to the top of Mt. Sawyer. The trail was much longer than I expected with broad switchbacks making the trip to the top time-consuming though not difficult. I actually encountered a very tiny patch of snow (3' across) on the trail just below the summit. I headed back down to the main trail and continued east toward Sawyer Pass. The trail is really much more shady than I expected. In the open areas the wildflowers are in bloom - images of lupine, paintbrush and tiger lilies stick in my mind.

At Sawyer Pass I had to poke around a bit and ask some ladies camping nearby before I found the way to Fisher Lake. The trick is this: when you get to the west end of the pass, in a heavily trodden area, there is a tree to the south with two paths headed off. The one on the left is the main trail and heads down. Follow the one on the right for a short distance (couple hundred feet), turn left for a short distance (another couple hundred feet) looking for the trail to Fisher Lake on the right. It's really pretty obvious though unsigned. Once you're on the right trail you will start climbing steeply along a stream bed. From there on the trail to Fisher Lake is easily followed.

A father and son were at the lake fishing, but complained all the fish they were catching were too small. I continued across the outlet of Fisher Lake and followed the rougher, more obscure way trail down to Lower Ptarmigan Lake. The fish here were jumping and the mosquitoes were evil. I started to wonder if lake trout could be trained to hang around the edges of lakes and leap into the air to snatch mosquitoes away before they could bite. I spent some time on this with little success. I did convince one of the brighter fish to roll over and beg.

My hope for the day was to see I there was an easy route up Terrace Mountain from here. I wasn't quite sure if I was at upper or lower Ptarmigan at the time so I headed around the rocky southern shore of the lake to reach the east side and continued due south climbing up through the drainage between Terrace and 6075. The traveling is easy through open forest and some light huckleberry. I soon realized this was a bad way to approach the climb. I should have headed north east after crossing the lake and gone for the northwest approach. The area is a neat place to explore, however, and I worked my way up to the Terrace Lakes. I hit lower the lower Terrace Mosquito Hatchery at my turn around time.

I stopped by Upper Ptarmigan Lake on the way back and went around the north shore which is the wrong way to go. Why does the traveling always look easier on the other side of the lake'

After doing the West-side of the Wonderland trail last year, Mike and I continued the rest of the way this year starting at Mowich Lake on Sunday and finishing today at Longmire. Our camp sites were: Sun-Dick Creek; Mon-Sunrise; Tues-Summerland; Wed-Nickel Creek Our favorite stretch of trail was from Summerland to Indian Bar. Our least favorite stretch was the ""jungle"" from Maple Creek to Reflection Lakes. The weather was great and the views were spectacular! We saw lots of deer and marmots but no bear or Mt goats. Every campsite along the way was packed with no vacancies and from talking to the Rangers it sounds like that might be the norm for a while. The bugs were horrid! I was chewed up royally even though I applied generous amounts of bug juice. Mike on the other hand came through OK. Besides the great views and scenery, the best thing is the neat people that you meet along the way. The guys from Texas who were a real crackup with all their ""tall"" tales, Robert from San Diego with all his hiking and climbing stories and the Sisters from Wisconsin who had every male-hikers hearts stirring along the way. Thanks to all for making it a memorable trip. See you on the trail. SR

Not a cloud in the sky and views to everywhere. The trail is in great shape and snowfree to the sahale glacier, minus one TINY snowpatch on the way to the pass which looks like it will receed across the trail any day now. The glacier was soft enough to walk a fair distance up without ice axes. I also had the pleasure of taking a friend on her first ""real"" hike. I was quite envious of the backpackers headed to skehekin and the sahale glacier camps. Go now because in a few weeks the bugs are going to be horrendous. The bugs don't quite set off my internal annoyance meter yet but they came close.

This is a long hike. Varying elevation gain reports go from a 3600' gain to a 4100' gain. Either way it's 18 (we counted!) long switchbacks up to a beautiful meadow. We saw the best variety of alpine flowers here yet! There is a nice trail through the meadow, but be careful to stay off the flowers even when it is muddy. The trail then rises to another series of very long and hard switchbacks that have slide areas. The footing can be treacherous, but it is very passable. The final few steps are rocky with a long fall down, but scarier on the way up than the way down. It was completely snow free when we were there and well worth the trip to the steeple. No bugs in July! Bring sunscreen and lots of water for the long climb!

Over four days from July 25 to 28, we walked up the East Fork of the Quinault, through the Enchanted Valley, and along the O'Neil Pass Trail into LaCrosse Basin and back. Had no serious trouble with bugs, bears, or blow-downs. Short-cuts on this route are definitely in order, though.

Since the 5-6 mile road up to the Graves Creek trail head is closed, we took our bikes and rode up the road with our heavy packs. That took some getting used to and adjusting of straps, but riding this road was way better than walking, especially on the way out! Pitched our tent on the first night at Noname Creek. Campsites along this part of the trail are spacious and very well set up. Earlier in the month, the section of the trail from O'Neil Creek to Lamata Creek had been closed to overnight camping due to some bear trouble. And on our way down a few days later, the Park Service had again closed the area to camping. So check this out before you do the Enchanted Valley Trail. If you are coming from the Puget Sound area and reach the trail head by early afternoon, you would likely want to stop for the night between O'Neil Creek (at 6 miles) and Lamata Creek (at about 11.5 miles), rather than walk 13 miles all the way to the Enchanted Valley Chalet. We saw lots of bear sign along the trail in this area, but no bears. Only bears we encountered were up in the high country.

A couple miles above the Enchanted Valley Chalet and about 1000' below Anderson Pass, we turned right on the O'Neil Pass Trail. We camped the second night around 3.5 - 4 miles down this trail in a meadow where the obscure Hart Lake Way Trail joins the O'Neil Pass Trail. This intersection is anything but clear. Bob Wood says it is 3.8 miles along the O'Neil Pass Trail, and that seemed about right to us. In any case, you will need to find the tiny cairn to the left of the trail in a large lupine meadow if you want to take advantage of this shortcut to the LaCrosse Basin. My brother and I scouted the faint path up to the ridge and over into the LaCrosse Basin in the afternoon. It is about 1000' feet up and maybe 3/4 of a mile from the O'Neil Pass Trail up to the ridge line, and as Bob Wood's trail guide says, it is steep and somewhat brushy in places -- certainly not a maintained trail.

The following morning, my brother and I walked to O'Neil Pass on the main trail and then on into the LaCrosse Basin, while our wives hung out in the meadow to soak up some some. Once in the Basin, we were able to return to our camp site via the short, steep Hart Lake Way Trail. The views around O'Neil Pass are great, but if I ever do this walk again, I will surely go in and out of the Basin via the way trail, saving something like 10 or 11 miles on the round trip via the main (O'Neil Pass) trail.

(Actually, if you are comfortable on snow fields and steep scree slopes, the way to go into the LaCrosse Basin would be straight up from the O'Neil Pass Trail where it crosses White Creek. This two mile, off-trail hike, which Bob Wood calls Rangers' Pass or Fisher's Notch, I think, puts you at Lake LaCrosse and saves probably 14 or 15 miles on the round trip into and out of the Basin via the O'Neil Pass and LaCrosse Basin Trails.)

When we returned to our camp in the late morning, we began to fear a change in the weather, so we packed up and headed down to the Enchanted Valley. At this point, we learned that camping was again closed between Lamata and O'Neil Creeks. We waded the Quinault River and walked all the way to down to O'Neil Creek, where we set up camp under some maple trees in the rain. Among the hierarchy of trees to get under in the rain, maple trees must be near the bottom; they dripped on us long after the rain had stopped. Spruce trees, in my view, would be at the top. The next morning, we packed our wet gear and walked down to the Graves Creek trail head. The six mile bike ride down to our cars was a great way to end this walk in the Olympics.

Trail to Kennedy Hot Springs is in excellent condition. Recent Maintenance has repaired washouts and removed windfall. Campsites at the hotsprings are plentiful, and are equipped with Bear wire. The most recent temp. of the Hot Spring was 95deg.

Continuing on Tr 643 to the PCT #2000 is in equally good condition with the exception of lots of mud holes in the trail. To reach Boulder Basin (basecamp of Glacier Peak), head north .4 miles at the intersection of Tr. 643 and Tr. 2000 on the PCT to a Campground at 3990 ft. Look for a Cairn leading you through the Campground to the East. This is an unmaintained trail and is very steep, but is however well marked and well trodden. Watch the trail closely during the first 1/8th to 1/4 of a mile....lots of windfall makes it hard to follow here. We lost the trail on the way down. Trekking poles are a must if you are carrying any weight. It basically goes straight up a ridge to Boulder Basin at 5700 ft.

For the summit, a fairly well marked trail leads to the base of the Sitkum Glacier. Boot Pack makes following the route easy. Head straight up out of the basin towards a Rock cleaver to the east. Go over the cleaver (if possible) to the snowfield on the other side, then proceed north, continuing up Sitkum Glacier. (This is much easier than going around the North edge of the cleaver on the glacier)

The boot pack will lead you around a couple of crevasse fields to the summit ridge, beginning at approx. 9000ft. From here, you are on scree and dirt for most of the remainder of the climb. A well trodden path leads up the summit ridge to the East, and wraps around to the southeast flank of the peak. The last 500 ft is fairly steep and loose, and some snow may be encountered.

Enjoy!!

Went up to Robin Lakes via the short and nasty route this past Wednesday. For those not acquainted with this hike, this involves ascending the 2,700 ft. vertical in about 1½ miles (usually this ends up being longer due to routefinding ""trials"") rather than going most of the way to Deception Pass and taking the trail past Tuck Lake. The ""regular"" way is no picnic either, but has a relatively lower level of danger. If you want to bushwhack, make sure you have good supportive boots that will give you a toehold on granite. This trip is not for the faint of heart or those not nimble enough to make critical boulder-to-boulder jumps. It's also a severe aerobic workout, and probably not adviseable if you are carrying more than 35 lbs. If you're still interested, here's the drill: Go south a bit from the Robin Lakes outlet stream that flows into Little Hyas Lake and start up through the thick forest. When the trees start to thin a bit and you are walking on rock rather than dirt (maybe ½ mile), move laterally to the south across two streams. The idea is to avoid the semi-technical rock inclines directly above Little Hyas and simultaneously circumvent the VERY thickly covered lower stream beds to your right (south) - mostly willow, scrub cedar, huckleberry and devil's club. You should then be able to find one of several slots of thinly forested dry dirt and make your way up another 1/4 mile. If you do it right, you should end up at the bottom of a large rock fall. Another half mile or so of boulder hopping (really BIG boulders) and you should end up on a huge slab of glacially-sculpted granite with good grip and be able to walk more of less unimpeded to Robin Lakes. Some routes on the granite are more exposed than others; our route going up was on the verge of needing protection, but we had neither ropes nor hardware. Going down about 200 yds. further south was pretty much a breeze, on the other hand, so you may want to take the time to hunt for a route you are comfortable with. Robin Lakes is as beautiful as ever, most all of the snow is melted out, and swimming in the 35º water was heaven, at least for the first 5 seconds or so. No one else was in the upper basin the afternoon of Wednesday the 25th, and the bugs were still down low at Hyas!

We hiked the Lake Ann trail from the Mt. Baker Heather Meadows area. The trail was generally in good shape and the valley floor was snow-free. There is one spot where a log crossing is washed out, but the solution is fairly simple. The final climb to Lake Ann ascends steeply and is still covered in snow, and the lake itself is just starting to melt. This is a beatiful hike.

The kidlets and I went out to explore some big trees and have some fun, so we ended up at the easy to get to Asahel Curtis area off of the Annette Lake trailhead parking area. My, even at 10am on a sunny weekday Annette Lake must be a zoo by the pile of more than a dozen cars there. Alas, Christopher and Elizabeth enjoyed a wonderful little loop of a hike in solitude with their papa. The loved Humpback Creek, the bridges, and the collection of little benches along the trail. Big trees were cool, especially the one across the trail that we got to climb under and over! ""Yeah, let's do that AGAIN!!!""

A fun hour spent by all, finished with ample rock throwing into the creek, and fir cone boats created to race down the creek. I'm glad I'm still a kid at 36 too, since I enjoy those types of games almost more than they do. I enjoy having a lollipop on the way home like them too---Mmmm, root beer!

In 18 years of hiking nearly all of the day-hike-accessible trails at MRNP, I had never gotten around to doing this one until now. What I had been missing! This is one of THE premier meadow and swimming-lake trails in all the Park! I did it on a glorious weekday (the only time to do such trails that are overrun on weekends), sunny, with temps in the 60's. There were only a few people on the trail all day--welcome solitude. The wildflowers are profuse, at their peak, and in all colors of the rainbow. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes and biting flies are also out in force--take plenty of bug juice! Saw a yearling bear cub on a wooded portion of the trail, but he took off before I could get my camera ready. Also did the side-trip to Hidden Lake; that trail is a bit steep and rough in places, but the lake is worth it. Altogether, to the overlook above Lower Palisades Lake, and including Hidden Lake, about 8 1/2 miles and 2300 feet of elevation gain, in and out. I will definitely do this one again!

Anxious to witness the flower display the park service was touting so highly of, I set off after work for an evening stroll to my favorite park within the boundaries of Mt. Rainier. In about an hour's time I found myself roaming amongst the likes of glacier lillies, paintbrush, bluebells, heather and many unrecognized species. The flowers are definitely putting on a show, though are at least another week from their peak - probably more. Lupine was reported up higher, but in limited quantity. The heather is just begining to bloom. Glacier lillies are everywhere (first tip we are early yet). The trail is in excellent condition, with the added excitement of a bees nest shortly below the park! Yes, I discovered it the hard way. Bugs were not a problem until the shadows crept over the meadows. This event presented the green flag for mosquitos far and wide.

Don

http://www.mountainscenes.com

Even after reading the warnings about this one I had to laugh at the name once I was up there. What a knee bender! An easy log walk across the bridgless stream can be had 1/8 of a mile downstream. Definitely easier than had been reported to me by guidebooks and other folks. The lower meadows have yet to bloom but the upper meadows are in their prime. For the best views scramble up the hill to your right from the pass. 100% snowfree to the pass and far beyond. No bugs! (yet)

well what a wonderful day for my first hike in 22 years to an alpine lake yup 22 just like the lake wow what an incline for this out a shape hiker and his 10 year old pooch well it was a great day for a hike sunny the waterfalls were beautiful! trail was wet in a few spots 5 or six mud holes not bad ones, the hike over the rocks in the winter avalanche area was hard but made it a good work out ! watch the trail well here a good place to twist or break an anckle lots of deer flies evey time I stopped for water we were attacked buddy biteing at them finally we reached the lake! It was sunny warm and beautiful (again lots of bugs) I stopped at the pool formed by the creek just north of the lake on my way out it was magical little brook trout jumping at bugs as I sat playing my native american flute all of a sudden at arms length a rufus humming bird hovered as I was playing a change in notes and he was gone it was magical ! Note there is a Toilet at the lake no walls or doors but still nicely built by the wilderness rangers (good job guys) all in all a good hike But i am am glad i have been practicing climbing hills in the issaqauh alps and st edwards park ! Jeff

We did a four day peak-bagging trip. Starting up the Chiwawa River trail (in good condition) we headed up in good weather towards Red Mt. A little towards Chiwawa Mt, we made camp and headed up to Chiwawa. The route in the new 75 scrambles book didn't seem to go, but after messing around the far side we took the SW side which goes fine. But the weather had changed to clouds and we didn't get much of a view.

The next day we headed down towards the Chiwawa west fork on the Fortress high route. But due to some discomfort with the ""official"" route, we descended all the way to the river, then joined the route at the saddle. Here we descended to the Massie Lake high route and followed it to near Pass No Pass. After setting up camp we slogged up Fortress Mt. It has a steep snowfield but the conditions were perfect. It was cloudy all the way to the top, but only 50 feet from the top we poked out of the clouds to an awesome view of Glacier Peak and a few other very tall points.

The third day we hiked to Buck Creek Pass, then climbed up Helmet Butte. This one ain't climbed often, the register is 31 year old. While following the High Pass trail we walked up Liberty Cap for some great views of Buck Creek Pass and a billion other points. Finally the weather was looking good. We continued to High Pass and set up camp. Then we climbed up Napeequa and Cirque Mts. Wasted after a day of four peaks, we enjoyed the nearly perfect sky and great views. As evening wore on, some lenticular clouds appeared. By late evening we were totally socked in.

The last day was to have a few more peaks, but all we could do was navigate by instrument down to the Napeequa. We got on that abandoned trail, which is very brushy and has some sections completely lost. But it's easy to navigate in the flat valley and we always found the tread. The ford across the Napeequa to Boulder Pass looked about waist deep, but hard to tell in the milky water. We continued towards Little Giant Pass. Here, we lost the trail but navigated our way to it. The trail switchbacks up and up like a Little Giant Slalom. It is also overgrown and has some sections of poor tread. And can be hard to follow. But we perservered and staggered our way to the top in very hot weather. The trail down to the Chiwawa is steep and a bit slippery (gravelly) in places. The ford across the Chiwawa is easy (shin deep or walk a tricky log). Then after a 4 mile run to Trinity the loop was complete.

It was raining lightly in Seattle on Tuesday morning but headed over to Sunrise anyway. Just some low clouds there when we got to the fairly empty parking lot at 10:30 AM. Only two small snow patches on Second Burroughs. The alpine flowers were in full bloom. Low clouds and fog gave intermittent views. After lunch, there were lots of people making the trek. Returning to Frozen Lake, decided to go to Berkeley Park to check out the flowers. They were terrific; the meadows were at their best. Lupine, paint brush, penstemon, partridgefoot, various buckwheats, Cusick's speedwell, cinquefoil, buttercups, American bistort, lousewort, pedicularis all made for a splendid show, and a playground for the marmots. No one else on the Grand Park trail, and best of all no bugs at all!

DAY 1: I awoke around 4:45 A.M. (almost a personal record!) anticipating an awesome couple of days of x-country exploration in the MFK area. I slowly got my gear together and drove out to North Bend where I was to meet Craig at 6 A.M. As I consumed hashbrowns and starred mindlessly out the window of Macdonalds, I watched in utter disgust as rain began to fall – over the course of ten aggravating minutes it became heavier and heavier. Ahh! Another friggin westside washout! Ahh! Not wanting to spend another wet couple of days hiding in my tent I made the suggestion that we head east and find some drier country. We scrambled to come up with a worthy destination (we had no maps or books pertaining to the eastside!), but finally we decided to just drive over to Cle Elum and go from there. An hour later we were under clear skies and warm temperatures and we decided to hit up Circle Lake. Without a map, it was the only off-trail destination we could think of that was easy enough to get to, made for a good 2-day trip, and had enough ""wow-factor"" to make up for the loss of wandering 5500’ ridges up along the MFK valley (Sigh).

We scurried away from the Cathedral Rock parking area around 9 A.M. and stomped out a good pace finally making the Peggy’s Pond cut-off 2 hours later. The trail up to this point was in sweet shape as it has evidently been subject to some serious maintenance of late. No blowdowns, mudholes, or washouts to speak of all the way to Spinola Meadows, 4 miles from the parking lot. Another 20 minutes of up and down hiking put us at the lesser Peggy’s Pond, about a tenth of a mile W from that main body of water. Here misguided connecting trails are everywhere, but we had no problem working our way around to the N of the large rock out-cropping just to the W of the pond. This put us in a nice starting slot for a quick traverse to Circle Lake (know as the ""Circle Traverse"" in certain fly-fishing, er, circles!).

Once in position, we opted for a slightly higher route than I had taken last year. We ascended about 60’ and then began an ascending traverse working through scree (the ground cover of choice on this route!) and several class 3 rock pitches. The route was easy enough even with overnight gear until about half way along the traverse. Here we encountered the gully easily noticeable from the trail to Peggy’s Pond, the only real challenge on the entire route. The difficulty here is that the gully is annoyingly steep and blanketed with shallow-rooted flora which provide not a single reliable foot hold – a two steps up one step back type of deal. Last year I bolted straight up it with only my day pack, but this time we ascended the adjacent dense fir stand as far as we could leaving only 80’ of gully to ascend and cross. Both Craig and I managed this section slowly, but easily, and popped out safely to the west of the gully at 6150’. We climbed more scree slopes heading NW for about 60’ and then headed W where we easily found the gap in the cliffs that leads one down 50’ to the last leg of the traverse. We walked and walked amongst heather and (you guessed it!) scree and finally bumped up onto the cliffs above the mid-section of Circle Lake (completely thawed) 75 minutes after leaving the pond. Total time from the car to Circle Lake was about 3 hours and 45 minutes with 2700’ of gain and 6.25 miles traveled. Next, we headed for the outlet (there’s actually a trail along the lake), but as soon as we arrived so did 5 other guys coming up from Deep Lake. Luckily, they were just up for the day and Craig and I had no problem acquiring a couple campsites with awesome views to the south! I spent the rest of the day wandering about the snow-free lake basin and lounging about on big flat rocks offering up spectacular views. Craig spent much of the afternoon sleeping, I guess he’d done the entire hike on only 3 hours sleep, whoa!

DAY 2: I awoke at 8:30 A.M. after 11.5 straight hours of deep sleep (that was a personal camping record!). Craig was already awake and milling about, so I made the suggestion that we climb the ridge to the west and get some good shots down to Venus Lake (completely thawed, from what I could see) and the rest of the area. We packed up, ate, and then started our ascent around 10:30. Twenty minutes later we were on top (elevation 6800’) and treated to spectacular views, far too many lakes and summits list! We walked along the ridge to the N as far as we could safely manage all the while taking pictures and throwing rocks. Soon enough though thoughts of burgers and fries pulled us down and back to camp. The descent from the ridge was darn fun to say the least. The initial drop-in placed us at the start of a 60º scree slope that dropped about 200’ before ending in larger rocks and polished granite. We dropped the 200’ in about 10 seconds of successive moon jumps - it was so fun we climbed back up and did it again!

We finally left the lake around 12:30 and set off to traverse along the same line we had used the day before. Once again the gully presented the only real challenge for the day (it’s really not that bad!). I had to be reminded on a couple of occasions that when and if I got off balance I was going where my pack wanted me to go not where my legs were taking me, argh! At one point I pulled off an unintentional 30’ hip slide down the gully finally stopping myself with a left-handed grab of a small fir tree, whew! Once again, we made it across in about 75 minutes. I’ve done this traverse 4 times now it doesn’t seem to matter how much weight I’m carrying – it’s always takes just over an hour to make the trip. We hopped back on the trail and steadily made our way back to the truck, the entire return hike from Circle Lake taking just a hair over 3 hours. Overall, a great trip considering that this was a totally unplanned and last minute outing.

The weather in western WA was cloudy and drizzly so I decide to head east. The trailhead is near the end of the Cle Elum river road. The weather was partly cloudy and cool. The trail starts off in a pleasant Douglas Fir forest and then opens up intermittently into steep dry meadows with lots of nice flowers in bloom now. There are great views across the valley to Mt Daniel and down to the meandering Cle Elum river. Heather is in full bloom as you near the pass. If you scramble up the rocky slope to the south of the pass you can find all sort of interesting low lying flowers amongst the boulders. Sprite lake is a real pleasure with heather covered meadows sloping down to the waters edge. The views to the east include The Cradle which looks like an overweight version of Mt Stuart. I only saw 5 people on this perfect tuesday. On the way out I stopped to take of the beautiful meadow of flowers blooming next to a lovely marshy section of the Cle Elum river. Stats: 8 mi RT, 2700 ft, tread mostly good except for a few moderately eroded areas. I highly recommend this one.

There is a great spring on the south side of excelsior peak if you plan on camping on the ridge. We saw signs of one other person (a tent) on Tuesday, but never ran into anyone. The views from either shoulder of Welcome Pass are well worth the trip there, but the pass itself is obstructed by trees. The slowers were also better at Welcome Pass. We could see the route to Yellow aster butte from above Welcome pass- it doesn't look too difficult, but we ran out of time.

ICICLE CREEK - CHAIN LAKES - DOELLE LAKES My friend Bruce and I tried the Icicle Creek / Doelle Lakes / Frosty Pass Loop on a five-day trip between July 23 and 27. We failed and had to backtrack our way out. There may be a few lessons in that for some of us. There certainly were some lessons for me.

Our trailhead was at the end of the Icicle Creek Road, outside of Leavenworth. On our first day we walked about 6.5 miles to a nice camp along the Icicle at the Leland Creek Trail junction. The camp had its own little gavel and sand beach and it was a sunny day so we got a good chance to wash up and relax in the sun. Tuesday was cloudy and cool, which we didn’t mind at all because it made the climb from 3800 feet up to 5600 at Chain Lakes a little easier.

All of the trails above the Frosty Pass junction need brushing and blowdowns removed. The climb up to Chain Lakes is reported as being steep, which about covers it. I’d class the first half of it as a Weepy Steepy Class 2, right up there with Mt. Si. The second part, where you’re sidehilling to the East is not so steep, but when we went through it was very wet. All the brush was soaked, we’d neglected to bring our gaiters, and I ended up pouring water out of my boots at the end of it.

We grabbed the first little campsite right at the exit creek, which might in the end be the best one because it’s sheltered and has easy access to water. You’ve also got a good view across to Mount Daniel and Lynch Glacier.

Tuesday was clear and warm. We got a bit of a late start, but really enjoyed the view from Bull Tooth ridge, between Doelle and Chain Lakes. There’s an unsigned intersection at this pass. An old trail goes to the left and straight down the throat of the gully. Not preferred. You want to go right and follow the nice new engineered trail down the side. This time of year in 2000 there was a report of snow blocking the route down, and the Leavenworth Ranger District is still reporting it as “ice ax required.” Not this year, it’s dry and clear now.

To find the trail across to Frosty Pass, stay to the North side of both Doelle Lakes. At the bottom end of the second lake there is an intersection. Take the trail going right and downhill. This trail is definitely not maintained and the part we walked is totally unsigned, even though it’s represented on the new version of the Green Trails Chiwaukum quadrangle as a “trail normally maintained.” We followed it quite easily across Doughgod Creek, through the meadow, and up through the forested, brushy and rocky stretches to the pass leading down into the basin above Wildhorse Creek. This pass is just to the Southeast of peak 6125.

Here’s where I screwed up. There’s a junction there. One branch goes left and down into the basin. The other goes up and right, continuing to sidehill along the ridge. You probably want to go right. We went left. If I had checked my compass at that point I would have seen we were turning North at this point, when we definitely wanted to bear Southeast. You can also see that others who’ve walked through here laid brush down indicating the other branch is preferred.

The branch we took continued down a definite path with fresh footprints into the basin, then petered out in the boulder field about a third of a mile below the junction. We continued pushing ahead, looking for the increasingly scanty traces of trail, and ended up more-or-less beached in the meadow above above Wildhorse Creek. Understand I had no idea at the time that we were above Wildhorse Creek. That comes later.

I was sure the ridge in front of us was Frosty Pass, and bushwhacked up to the top carrying a daypack and bottle of water. It definitely was not Frosty Pass, but I did find a way trail, getting more and more definite, heading across the next basin to the next ridge, which obviously was Frosty Pass. I could see Whitepine Trail coming in from the North, and the Doughgod Trail climbing up to it. Those of you that are hip to the situation here are tearing your hear out at this point, I know. The story continues.

I reported back to Bruce that I was “ninety percent sure” that next ridge was Frosty Pass. One hour’s walk tomorrow morning would put us at the pass, and it was an easy walk from there into Lake Mary.

We were up and across to that next ridge by 8AM the next morning. Of course it was not Frosty Pass, and nothing up there looked familiar. There was nothing left to do now but turn around and hike back the way we came. It was now Thursday. In order to be in position to make it out on Friday, we had to get all the way back to Chain Lakes that day. Which we did.

The weather stayed with us. We had two longish days on Thursday and Friday, but made it out in great shape.

Lessons' One: be careful with unmaintained trails. Two: be super vigilant with trail junctions on unmaintained trails. Three: always keep track of your path back out when you’re not sure of the way ahead. Four: when in doubt, use your compass frequently. No doubt you can see other lessons, too.

The mountain only revealed itself fully until very late in the day but what a show! The butte provides a better overall view while the RR grade seemed to provide more of an experience (the active demonstration of erosion is incredible). The butte has snow but it is not problematic, prepare to get your feet wet unless you have gaiters though. The RR grade is snowfree suprisingly high, basically all the way until you hit baker's glaciers.

Stopped at the trailhead by a snowpatch that had frozen over. Large steps had been kicked into the snow but it doesn't matter when it's hard as a rock. Start in late afternoon or forget it. It was balmy in the lower valleys but FREEZING up there. Although the artist point road is open the snow coverage is still significant in the area.

Wow! Let's give a round of applause to the WTA crew that was on the trail sunday. The first 2 miles have not looked this good in decades. Nice work on brushing and erosion control. The trail to the look-out is snow-free and the heather meadows are at their peak under the look-out. I was surprised to be the only one there sunday night, but monday morning proved to be glorious as islands of peaks jutted out from the sea of clouds below. This must be one possible nirvana!

Beware of the grading project going on on the spur road. The grader is digging up big rocks that will leave a piece of your car as a relic. This explained why one car at the trail-head had a flat. Rock and roll!

Cheers, The Hoofer

If there's anything better than being up at first light, warming yourself over a small fire, drinking a cup of coffee while watching fish rise on a mountain lake, I don't know what it is. I got dropped off Chinook Pass Sunday the 22nd, spent the night at Cougar Lakes, and came out at Bumping Lake the next day, about 20 miles all told. Cougar Lakes and Swamp Lakes have a plethora of small brookies, not too hard to catch. They're suppossed to have rainbows, too, but I only caught one little out of Swamp. The portion of the PCT and American Ridge Trail I traveled are in good shape, but the Cougar Lakes and Swamp Lake trails are about as bad a tread that I have ever walked-not that that should prevent anyone from hiking them-but be forewarned. There's all kind of flagging type on the Swamp Creek Trail as if there's a plan to reroute some of it-it could sure use it.

Anuway, Cougar Lakes is in a spectacular setting, nestled in a deep valley with high rocks towering over three sides. Of course, getting there wasn't exactly ugly, with the occasional glimpses of Mount Rainier to the west and flowers blooming. On the PCT from Dewey Lakes Trail to the American Ridge Trail, the view of the American R. drainage is beautiful. American Lake, Cougar Lakes and Swamp Lakes are being revegetated, so many of the old camping sites are closed-but there are good campsites on the west of Big Cougar Lake. Mosquitoes were bad in the high country and flies were bad around Swamp and Bumping Lake.

I did manage one big fish-out of Bumping Lake-as I was walking the section of the trail right along the lake I saw some bigger fish right in by shore eating, of all things, tadpoles that were swimming along in the water, then 'WHOMP,' one less tadpole. I thought the big fish were dollies, I remember as a wee pup my dad and I catching them out of Bumping. I made a couple of casts and on about the second I could see a big fish following my spoon, he hit it, then went nuts, coming clear out of the water and jumping over a stump that stuck about a foot and a half in the water three different times. I figured that I'd never land him, given all the obstructions in the water and logs-but I slowly wore him down and landed him, a 19 inch rainbow. Pretty cool way to finish the hike.