Beautiful day for a hike with views! And the wildflowers were blooming all along the trail.  A few pesky mosquitos in the shade.

To get to the trail:  French Cabin Road was not signed nor numbered (FR4308); it was about 13 miles from the Roslyn roundabout.  The branch road to Knox Creek off of 4308 was unsigned as well, and full of huge potholes and rocks, difficult in our Prius.  A high clearance vehicle would be a better bet!

The trailhead is unsigned but visible from the road.  The first mile is very brushy, and has steep areas with lots of loose gravel and dirt.  Our poles were very useful for the way back down.  The upper trail is in good shape.

This TR is for the Kachess ridge trail from NFSR 4818-01 to Thorp Mountain, I did not take the fork off to Kachess Beacon or see the trail from Knox Creek trailhead.

NFSR 4818 is wide and in great shape.  4818-01 is a little narrower and bumpier, but my Honda Civic did just fine.

I did allow the title of "ridge" to scare me into bringing more water than  needed: there are multiple places to filter water until the trail separates from Silver Creek on the way up to French Cabin Basin

The trail is largely in good shape, it felt a little more rugged after the northern Kachess Beacon junction, but I expect that when I'm hiking in this far.

After this Junction there's plenty of open meadow and forest that looks like great bear habitat; I did see scat in several places on the trail as well (but no bears).  There's a few log crossings in this area and slight encroachment of vegetation on the trail, but nothing that difficult.

Where the trail drops down toward French Cabin Basin there's a small patch (<50') of snowy side hilling where a fall could result in a collision with some trees, so be prepared for that.  Several more patches of snow remain on the other side (N) of the basin and beyond, but they're all easy to pass.

After the trail plateaus on the N side of French Cabin Basin there's a couple hundred feet where the understory becomes non existent and the trail becomes very subtle in the duff; it doesn't disappear entirely, but it's prudent to keep your eye on it here.  This was the only route finding difficulty on this trip.  The trail does deteriorate a little from this point to Knox Creek junction, with some (slightly) crumbly exposed slopes.  Again: passable, with a little exercised caution.

The trail from the Knox Creek junction all they way up to Thorp Mountain lookout is again in good shape, with no snow remaining on the final ascent to Thorp Mountain.  The lookout is slightly rotted and completely locked up.

The summit yields excellent views of Chikamin, Lemah, Hinman, Daniel, etc.  and of the enchantments, more in the distance.

Another great view on the hike looks over Knox creek as one passes by Hard Cheese, etc.

There are also plenty of vibrant wildflowers on the trail right now.

Note that the WTA mileage and elevation listings are for smaller legs of this route.  The entire Kachess ridge trail is 9mi one way and 4800 totaled gain (with 1447 loss, making it a little over 6200' round trip).  While I do enjoy bragging, this is an important consideration as it is a pretty burly day hike.

First the disclaimer, we did not make it to the lookout because we didn't calculate our time correctly. this report will talk about the trail up to the point where it intersets with the Kachess Ridge trail.

The good: the trail has beautiful views all the way up. There was a breeze , that at times was chilly and other times refreshing. The wildflowers are popping everywhere and are stunning.

The not so good: road 4308 is rough and I would recommend only trying it with a high clearance vehicle. the trail is narrow( about.
Fifteen inches), slanted, and steep. This wasn't too much of a problem on the way up, but it was a concern on the way down. We took it extremely slowly to avoid sliding or falling on the dusty, loose gravel trail.
The directions
from wta show the trailhead about 0.25 miles earlier than the actual location. There is not a sign.

Great day hike to Thorp Mountain Lookout via Knox Creek. As others have mentioned, the road is rough but we made it fine in an AWD Rav4. Also, as mentioned by others, the first about 3/4 of a mile is currently a bit overgrown, so wearing pants is a good idea. The views were spectacular at the top and we enjoyed our lunch while watching some fire suppression activity off in the distance )-: Enjoy!

Knox Creek Rd 2 from FR 4308 was rough with many potholes and rocks. Like others have said, only take this road if vehicle has high clearance and good tires. I suggest not taking it if the road is wet and muddy. Like the trail reports state, the first 1.3 miles is overgrown with bushes and very narrow trail with rocks. No shade but full of beautiful wildflowers. Wear sunscreen and eye protection on sunny warm days. Plus bug spray. The view at the lookout was incredible! One of the best views in the state - lakes, Cascades, Adams and Rainier plus beautiful colorful wildflowers. It helped that we saw no one on this trail and only one person coming up to the lookout as we were leaving. I'd be interested in coming to this lookout from a different trailhead and doing a loop including a stop at Thorp Lake. Enjoy!