A lovely 25 mile loop up North Fork Skykomish to Dishpan Gap, south on the PCT to Lake Sally Ann, up Benchmark Mountain and down West Cady Ridge. I did a resupply/trail angeling for friends doing the Washington section of the PCT. Road in is typical condition, potholes make you want to drive carefully but doable in most cars (high clearance helps). Trailhead bathroom is one of the cleanest I've seen in a while. Two other cars in the parking lot at 7:30 am.

North Fork Skykomish River: Starts pretty gentle for six miles or so before kicking up to Dishpan gap at the end. Brushy and muddy in places, definitely glad to be wearing long pants and waterproofed boots. Pretty easy water crossings most of the way, one tricky one at 7 miles or so that I crossed a little downstream of the trail on a bigger log. Plenty of opportunities to refill water if needed. Blowdowns here and there, mostly easy except for a couple that required carefully vaulting. In general, it is a lovely forest walk with lots of frogs. Near mile 8, around 5000 feet, snow appears, but doesn't become troublesome until the last quarter mile where the trail is steepest. I wouldn't have put on spikes if I had had them, it just slowed me a little. Met friends at Dishpan Gap and had the burritos I had brought for lunch. 

PCT from Dishpan Gap to West Cady Ridge Trail: Similar to the top sections of North Fork Trail. Mostly clear, not a whole lot of brush or mud, just sections of snow left and deadfalls. Snow was not too hard as it was never very steep. Some blowdowns are challenging to cross, but most are relatively easy. Dishpan Gap has some nice views both East and West, could see a little smoke from the Pomas fire. Lake Sally Ann is very pretty, still too cold to comfortably swim with snow and ice still covering spots. Was very nice to be able to walk with friends for 7 miles or so and break up the solitude of the other 18 miles. Great views to the East and South for the first four miles, so nice to be outside in the wilderness. Turned off at the West Cady Ridge Trail and transferred the rest of the contents I had brought them.

West Cady Ridge to Benchmark Mountain: Little bit more brushy (in the form of small trees) and snowy than the PCT. Steep in sections too, it's slightly more of a battle to get up to the top. Routefinding is a little challenging across the snow, but trails can be seen in most places. GPS is helpful, especially going up from West Cady Ridge to Benchmark Mountain, but not fully required. Regardless, the views are for sure worth it. Can see a lot of the cascade range, both Glacier and Rainier, and the entire basin behind Blanca Lake to the West. Coming down from the summit was beautiful, as the trail winds through alpine meadows and along the ridge. Many wildflowers could be found here, as evidenced below. Super nice day to be out, clouds came in at around this point and provided some great lighting to enjoy the views. Glad I came down this way, and it was much steeper than the North Fork Trail. 

Garmin logged 25.5 miles and 6200 feet of elevation gain. Saw one other person apart from my friends all day, definitely a great place for some solitude and peace.

Been wanting to visit Lake Sally Ann for a long time and finally did it as an overnight from the North Fork Skykomish River trailhead. Now is a good time to visit if you prefer quiet/solitude, as there is a fire closure on the Pacific Crest Trail north of Dishpan Gap (at Mica Lake), as well as a few trail closures just east of the PCT (Little Wenatchee, Cady Ridge, etc), due to the Shoofly Fire, making Sally Ann rather inaccessible from the east.

Both the NF Skykomish trail and Pass Creek trail are relatively untraveled, and we didn't see another person on our way up on either. The Skykomish River crossing was straightforward with a few options, either rock-hopping, log-scooting, or wading in mid-calf deep water. We saw an American Goshawk near the river crossing.

At the camp where Pass Creek adjoins the PCT, there were a lot of obnoxious biting flies but we managed to have a nice lunch regardless, and met a fellow who would be the only PCT thru-hiker we encountered the entire trip, heading south after hiking the section until the northern fire closure.

The switchbacks up to the ridge from Cady Pass were very hot but mostly shaded in the forest until it opens up into a mixture of smaller trees and beautiful meadows with views. Here is where we ran into legendary guidebook author Craig Romano who was trail-running a large loop in the area with a pal! (They were the only folks we met on this section of trail).

We arrived at Sally Ann around 4pm and found one group already there, who were friendly and fairly quiet neighbors for our afternoon/night at the lake. We took a dip in the lake—COLD, but not the coldest alpine lake I've swam in! Pikas scurried around the talus slope behind the lake while we swam. I really enjoyed our campsite which had partial views of both the lake as well as ridges/mountains to the northeast. There was a little bit of haze/smoke visible in the distance toward the Shoofly Fire but nothing too dramatic. The skeeters were out—it didn't seem like there were a ton of them but somehow I ended up with bites all over my legs anyway!

In the morning we sipped our coffee while admiring the mountain view and the local birds. I spied a pair of Pine Grosbeaks preening in a subalpine fir just below camp.

Around 9am we set out northward, taking our time and enjoying the views and encountering no one at all—pretty shocking for the PCT! There are a couple of small springs to refill water here and there, though no water at Dishpan Gap. Here we veered left on North Fork Skykomish River trail, which gently descends for a bit, and eventually you start to see water trickling and then flowing downstream. The trail was in great shape and clearly had some recent work done on it. I really enjoyed the flat section with a million blueberry bushes with ripe berries. The first other people we saw all day were two other backpackers coming down from Blue Lake, who caught up with us while we were taking a lunch break at the camp by the second NF Skykomish River crossing (about 5 miles from the trailhead). The rest of the trail down was hot and fairly uneventful, passing through a beautiful forest with many small stream crossings (and lots of frogs!)

Happy hiking!

Left the North Fork Skykomish TH Thursday, 8/14. Stayed at a campsite about 3/4 mile (5000 ft level) from Dishpan Gap w/water available 200 yds up the trail. The trail is in great shape. Passed the Gap the next morning and took the long way, via Bald Eagle Trail and Pilot Ridge Trail, to campsite at Lower Blue Lake.  We had to get past a few deadfalls on the trail, but not too difficult. There are no sites at the lake itself. Fish were jumping in huge numbers. Stayed at a decent site with water available at flowing tarn downstream from the lake. My buddy side tripped up to Blue Lake and reported good campsites and a brand new sit down toilet right next to the main trail. Backtracked next morning to the Gap and followed PCT to Lake Sally Ann, clearly a popular stopping point for PCT hikers. Very busy! Lots of sites and a sit down toilet with a spectacular view. Smoke came in strong overnight from the White River/Irving Peak fires, so we scrapped our plans to go to Benchmark Mountain and came back out a day early via Pass Creek Trail. There is a sign indicating a toilet at the Pass Creek/PCT intersection and good campsites. The trail is in great shape all the way to the NF Sky River ford, where we opted to put on water shoes to cross. Right where the Pass Creek trail crosses an easy ford over Pass Creek, there is a good campsite next to the creek, including a swimming hole just downstream.

Biting bugs were intermittently plentiful, including deer flies, the little biting flies and mosquitoes. Bugs stay away from my hiking partner, but they love me. I had pretty good repellant success with consistent applications of Herbal Armor. Also, the clothes I wore that were treated with permethrin seemed to work pretty well.   

Hiked up the Cady Ridge trail from the Little Wenatchee "Ford". Set up camp in an old, slightly off-trail site, about half a mile short of the PCT. Quick side trip to Lake Sally Ann. Headed back down the same way next day.

Road Conditions. Driving the paved section of the Rd 65 required some care as there were occasional bumps, missing bits of pavement, and poor visibility due to encroaching brush. The last couple miles were unpaved and rough (a high-clearance vehicle seemed like a good idea, as well as AWD if there's any chance of rain), but was at least thoroughly brushed out. The trailhead at the end of the road has space for only about 6 cars, plus another 6 or so on the side of the road before the turnaround is blocked for horse trailers (didn't see any), or parts of Rd 65 are turned into a one-way road.

Trail Conditions. A dozen or so blowdowns, but all but one were small-to-mid-sized and easy to step over. The one tedious blowdown was on top of the ridge, and required some climbing or crawling (or a long detour). There was a half-mile section of trail that lead straight up the ridge and that had some loose dirt and rocks, but nothing as bad as a typical climber's trail. There was running water near the bottom of the ridge, a few trickles half a mile before reaching the PCT, and of course at Lake Sally Ann. Some lingering patches of snow, but none to speak of on the trails.

Ripe Berries. 2 ripe blueberries; unlimited quantities are still a few weeks off... 

Highlights. Meadows with plentiful wildflowers, including a lot of Sitka valerian and pink mountain heather. One fat marmot in the talus above our campsite.

Bug Status. Lots of small, non-biting flies on the way up. Manageable amount of mosquitoes on the ridge late and early in the day.

Crowds. Encountered a dozen or so parties on the trail on the first day, and saw people camped just below the PCT junction as well as at Lake Sally Ann. The parking lot was overflowing both days.

I did a three day trip, taking the Pass Creek trail up to the PCT, then north and backdown the North Fork Skykomish trail to make a nice loop.  Here are some particulars.

Road Conditions to the North Fork Skykomish river trailhead: Beckler River road (FS65) up and over Jacks pass was fine.  The last 4-5 miles along FS63 were also ok with the exception of a few large potholes and navigation over a previously washed out bridge that was recently repaired and looks to have had another washout, that has been temporarily repaired to allow some vehicle traffic.  I would be somewhat reluctant to take an average low clearance sedan over this; however I did see a Ford Fusion parked at the TH when I arrived, so try at your discretion.

Bugs: The usual nuisance for the summer with the mosquitos being quite bad at the TH, the first mile or two of the North Fork Skykomish river trail and up on the PCT.  When the breeze was blowing you were fine; when it stopped, it was quite bad if you did not have repellent on or weren’t covered up.

Trail Conditions:  Pass creek trail was in good shape from the bottom to the top.  Fording the two streams at the beginning were not bad with the water being only ankle deep at mid-morning.  The trail also had no blowdowns or other obstacles to navigate.  Once on the PCT, it lived up to its normal good conditions.  Many thru-hikers on this section, both northbound and southbound.  I camped at Lake SallyAnn which was snow free and had quite a few campspots to choose from.  The general camping area around the lake was also in better condition than I had expected.  

Day two took me up to Dishpan gap to stash my pack and continue on for a quick trek north to the top of Kodak peak.  There is a boot trail going up the east spine of the peak that starts where the PCT makes a loop around its east end.  The snow is mostly melted out which made the trek up straightforward with the top providing wonderful views of Glacier Peak and all around.  This section of the PCT that I was on is beautiful from Cady Pass to Dishpan gap.  After returning to pick up my pack, I traveled down the North Fork Skykomish river trail to camp at the confluence of two rivers (about 4 miles down trail).  This trail in general had a fair amount of debris on it as this trail probably doesn’t see much use.  A crew has been on it recently with many blowdowns removed and some brush trimmed down in the heaviest places.  Very thankful for the hardwork with all of the recent tree's to remove. It is a beautiful trail with varied terrain types throughout its length.  The only downside is the rather steep decent that occurs in the first few miles leading down from the PCT.  One thing not to miss is the waterfalls that is near the camp where two rivers meet which is where I spent night two.  One river is to the left of the camp when approaching from the PCT (south side), while the other is to the right.  If you walk over to the southern stream and look upstream, there is a beautiful and rather large waterfall.  I imagine it will lesson somewhat as summer wears on.

All in all, a great little loop that takes in one of the nice sections of the PCT.