This was a hike I’d been wanting to do for a long time.   

A friend and I parked one truck in the empty Bumping Lake TH lot on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.  We hiked up past Swamp Lake to the American Ridge trail.  The grade was moderate for the most part, the trail was well maintained, and there were a handful of campers at Swamp.

Once on the ridge trail we hiked west for a couple miles to American Lake.  This was very nice meadow country, with occasional views, but nothing too grand as the clouds were coming in.

At the junction with the Cougar Lakes trail be sure to bear to the right - I didn’t, and added about a mile to my day.

Once we got to American Lake, the clouds were there to stay and the winds picked up.  There were about 3-4 other groups camping at the lake when we arrived, and a few more came in during the late afternoon and evening.  Lots of dogs….and no necessarily the obedient kind.

I fished for a while with no luck.   As the clouds were getting lower, the temp was dropping, and the wind was picking up we opted for dinner and bourbon around 7pm and then tucked in for the night.

It didn’t seem to rain much overnight, but it was definitely chilly and the winds kept up.

In the morning, things were pretty well soaked and I had a breakfast in the fog.  We didn’t linger too long and we’re back on the trail - heading towards the PCT - by 9am or so.

Once on the PCT we headed north towards Dewey Lakes, and got a few views along the way as the clouds began to break up.

Just south of Dewey, we turned east on the Dewey Lake trail and enjoyed a descent into the valley for the next several miles.  This trail was very cool - though the upper portion does not appear to have seen much maintenance in many years.  It would be unfortunate if this trail disappeared, and I am afraid it just might.

The trail started steeply downhill before crossing a few meadows and a marsh and returning to the big timber forest.  There is a 2-3 mile section which involves going over and/or around hundreds of fallen trees.   This really took some steam out of us.

However, we also saw a beautiful terraced waterfall and heard a bull elk bugle a few times.  I really thought this neck of the woods was a gem.

At the valley bottom (after a simple crossing of the American River), we dealt with a few more logs until noticing the horse poop - and then some trail maintenance.   This was a big relief as we were pretty worn out by now.

The last few miles amounted to a pleasant forest walk to the American River (another simple crossing) and my truck at the Mesatchee Creek TH.

All in all I’d guess that we did about 21-22 miles (including turn arounds and wandering), and our elevation gain/loss between the trucks and the PCT was around 2500’ or so.  I don't really keep stats.

Anyway, I hope somebody gives the Dewey Lakes (American River) trail a try.   It’s worth the effort.

Although Goat Peak trail was challenging, the views at the top and along the way made it all worth it.  There is no need for a parking pass across from Hells Crossing Campground.  The climb to Goat Peak is more like 3 miles (some sources state 2.5).  I took my 14 year old daughter with me and she did just fine.  There were a few obstacles on the trail to climb over but nothing to complain about.  The view along the top is incredible--Bumping Lake, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and many ridges.

We decided to take American Ridge trail down to Pleasant Valley Lake trail and then Pleasant Valley Loop trail back to the parking area.  A nice 9 mile loop.  However, I probably won't go this way again.  The American Ridge trail section was fine and not alot of obstacles.  However, the Pleasant Valley Lake trail had so many down trees and seemed just a steep in places (as the Goat Peak trail), that I regretted going this way.  It really slowed us down.

The Pleasant Valley Loop trail, west, back to the parking area was in great shape as it is popular trail in the area.

There were many butterflies and chipmunks to see along our hike.  

It is sad that so many trail on Chinook Pass haven't been cleared of down trees.  There are so many great views that can't be accessed.

This was a loop hike starting at the trailhead across from Hell's Crossing Campground going up to Goat Peak on trail 958C and coming back via trail 958B and the Pleasant Valley trail (999).

Trail 958C, the most popular way up Goat Peak, is steep and exposed in places.  At a very strenuous 1000ft gain per mile, it is the most direct route up the peak.  There is some downfall across the trail in the first half mile as noted in a previous report.

On the other side of the peak, we descended along the American Ridge trail 958 west to the 5700 ft saddle and junction with trails 959 (the old Goat Peak trail coming up from the Cougar Flat Campground) and 958B.  It is a nicer descent, but again there is downfall across the trail at the saddle and be alert for the junction with 958B.

Our descent down trail 958B went through a burn zone and was quite littered with downfall all the way down to the Pleasant Valley trail junction.  There is evidence of past trail maintenance, but nothing recent.  The forest is sparse and we were exposed to the afternoon sun while working our way through the downfall.  Party members were naming this section "the trail of the hundred blowdowns".  I hope this trail gets some love and maintenance someday.

The Pleasant Valley trail 999 was a welcome relief.  We stopped at the first creek to cool off after the afternoon's work in the warm sun.  It was a memorable long day, I packed an ice cooler of refeshments for the party on our return.

This trip was a WTA Lost Trails Found Crew going out for a week. Our two priority trails were American Ridge and Nile Ridge.
On American Ridge, we got 1.75 miles up, clearing the trail of blowdowns and scratching the trail in where it had appeared lost. Unfortunately, we had been thundered out a couple days in a row and didn’t have time to go further up on top of the ridge.
We then pivoted to Nile Ridge. We cleared logs out of the trail down the trail about 1.5 miles until we reached a 3rd creek crossing where the trail disappears. Up to that point, we marked new trails and cut logs in the way as well as scratched in the trail. This trail is hard to navigate even using downloaded gps maps, which are not accurate. Lots of downed and burned trees and lost tread past where we worked.