After getting to Skykomish I turned off on to the Beckler River Road off Highway 2 and headed for Jack Pass (elevation 2,589'). The gravel part of the road is in good shape and has no potholes. I wanted to hike the new trail up Frog Mtn. and checkout the views. I parked by the metal farm gate for the road going into an old rock/gravel pit that will be the future parking lot for the Frog Mtn. Trail. It is about 100 yards up the road to where the trail starts next to some big boulders. The trail begins on an old Forest Service road. After short distance I came to a new section of the trail that by passes a wet area, then back on the old roadbed. The road part has a few water bars to hike through. After a couple of switchbacks, I left the road and was on the new trail all the way to the summit. As I gained elevation the views started to show up. Higher up I entered the Braken Fern Forest on some open slopes. I could see Bear Mtn. and snow-covered Spire Mtn. to the west with the North Fork Skykomish River down below. When I got to the ridge of Frog Mtn. I now had views of Columbia Peak, Kyes Peak and Sloan Peak to the north. Glacier Peak could be seen to the northeast. The trail went into the White Fir Forest along the ridge and then popped out into a clearing with more great mountain views all around. I could see south down the Beckler River Valley all the way to Mt. Rainier and close by Evergreen Mtn. (I could not see the lookout cabin). You have more peaks to see then you can count.

From the clearing the trail continues uphill through some trees and then more switchbacks across open slopes of 45-50 degrees with more great views. It is a long way to the bottom of the steep hillsides. After one more section of the trail in the forest I reached the open summit area at 4,872'. I took my time hiking up the trail as I was taking lots of photos. From here I had grand views to the north, northeast and northwest with many peaks to see. No view to the east as there are trees on that side of the mountain.  There is an open area at the summit where the blue berry bushes have been cut down. A little west of the summit is a green obelisk structure that was a former radio repeater station. I could see it is now longer used as the solar panels are gone and a wire hanging down is cut. The cut patch of blue berry bushes was probably a helicopter landing pad for doing maintenance on the radio repeater when it was in use. For lunch I had to sit on the ground as there are no logs or big rocks to use. It would be nice to have of couple benches for lunch time seats.

After lunch I headed back down the trail with more great views to take in. Along the trail are many marmot burrows on the upper part of the mountain. On the way back down, I could see two of them had some fresh dirt piled on the trail. Did not see any marmots as they were in their burrows staying out of the hot sun. I did see one grouse, lots of butterflies and wild bees enjoying the flowers. Hardly saw any skeeters or flies on this hike and they were down where I had parked. Glad I had my large sun hat for this trip with all the open areas. My hike to the summit and back was about 7.6 miles and 2,200' gain.

For the most part the trail is a gradual grade with a few short steep sections. This trail is a freeway compared to trails like Mt. Pilchuck, Lake 22 or Mt. Si. Once the trailhead parking lot is finished, a restroom constructed and the trailhead kiosk installed, this will probably become a very popular hike because of the great mountain views.

There used to be an old trail up Frog Mtn. from the Garland Mineral Springs Resort. It is shown on the 1935 Forest Service map of this area. After the road over Jack Pass was built the trail went away. The resort was developed in the 1930's and had a lodge with 22 cabins. A flood in 1959, plus a fire that burned down the lodge in 1961 shut the resort down.

I have even seen a photo of the Snow Frog on the summit of Frog Mtn. from 1983. 

Did not see any other hikers on my hike up Frog Mtn., so had the trail and summit to myself today. George

Lovely, new trail at Jack’s Pass on the Beckler River Road. The trail starts less than ¼ mile up the road behind the falling-down metal gate. We parked at Jack’s Pass, walked around the metal gate (2^nd road on the right) and headed to the gravel pit.  The trail starts just before a big hole in the ground, and climbs slightly above the hole on the rocky hillside. Took us 2-1/2 hours going up, 2 hours at the top enjoying the views and eating lunch, 2 hours coming back down. Saw not a single human the entire day.

This trail has several zones:

1) old road bed – the first mile or two follows an old road, this section is wide, rocky, and not too steep. Lots of interesting plants, many with white flowers (bunch berry, queen’s cup, strawberry, thimble berry, etc)

2) switchbacks through dark forest – this section switchbacks more steeply (though still not too steep) through tall evergreens with less underbrush

3) switchbacks through open slopes and meadows with a few, shorter trees and shrubs – this section is still not overly steep, but the tread narrows and the plants (especially bracken fern) are trying to reclaim their property rights and obscure the trail, views begin to open up

4) almost there! When you crest a small knob and look ahead, you’ll see a stand of tall evergreens with meadows on each side, there are excellent views both north and south from this little knob, the south facing hillside is covered in beautiful wildflowers and Columbia and Kyes Peaks dominate the view to the  north. BUT don’t stop yet, continue up the trail as it zig-zags up the hillside, weaving between the forest and the meadows

5) the top – there’s a strange, green fiberglass structure with no clue as to its purpose (if you know what it is, please let us know), still a little snow that will soon be gone, and lovely views to the north, but the views to the south are obscured by tall trees, there were lots of birds, bees/wasps, gnats, beetles, and ants enjoying the summit also

 Notes:

* There is no water along this trail, though we did melt/filter some snow at the top, the snow will soon be gone making this trail a very dry trail.

* Bring plenty of water, the open slopes got rather hot even on a relatively cool day.

It looks like the old gravel pit has been graded for parking and by the size of it I guess they expect this to be popular. Figured it might be a good time to go before it becomes the new fad. It's a beautifully built trail with an easy to moderate grade for 90% of it. After the last built-up switchback, the trail narrows and is a bit more primitive, but still in great shape and obvious to follow. Long switchbacks lead you back and forth across the mountain until arriving at high meadows. The trail steepens and the switchbacks shorten, entering a pocket of forest and crossing a few small patches of snow to deliver you to an open ridge. It might be easy to think of stopping here but catch your breath and keep going. The top is only another short climb, ten to fifteen minutes away. The top has a significant prominence and is covered with a few feet of snow that's easily traveled on.

I took a risk knowing it was going to be cloudy part of the day. If I'd waited an hour later, I would have had excellent views. As it was, I spent 45 minutes at the top waiting for it to clear but it never quite got there though I did catch glimpses of blue sky. When it finally did, I was twenty minutes back down the trail. Oh well, I had a great hike anyway. I got to utilize my new mylar balloon zip lock bag by rescuing one down off the trail. <grumble>
I didn't track my mileage today, but WTA says it will be roughly four miles one-way (when completed). Didn't feel like eight miles round trip to me. Elevation gain was 2300 feet.  

The Beckler River Road is in excellent condition.  The gated road on the right at Jack Pass will take you to the gravel pit.  When facing it, the beginning of the trail is the old road heading into the forest on the left, just above the boulders.

Three days of WTA work here, located near the wilderness boundary about 1.8 miles into the trail. After our second day of work, we scouted the rest of the trail and did some light brushing. This trail is intended to be a multi-use trail, available for hikers and stock. After our work site, the trail becomes less suitable for horses and such, as holes appear in the trail, the trail is narrow, and the sides becomes quite steep, sometimes even as much as 45 degrees or more. For people, the trail is quite nice at the moment. Wildflowers appear here and there and the views steadily get better as you climb up the mountain. The only hinderances is the 2-3 fields of snow close to the summit, which were easy to cross with a good eye and balance. At the summit there were gorgeous views of everything except for Glacier Peak, which was hidden as usual. Bugs only became a nuisance when we were stopped and working at our site. In total, the trail is approximately 8.1 miles roundtrip with 2300 feet of elevation gain.

Joined a great work party up on Frog Mountain! I just wanted to leave a comment about directions (so people can avoid my mistake). When you get to the Jack Pass junction, don't take the first right. Google maps routes you that way at the moment, but that won't take you to the trail head. The second right with the gate out front leads to the trail head.

Trail is still under construction, but what's done looks good!