I've had my eye on the Cady Creek-PCT-Little Wenatchee loop for some time, and it's the middle of July, so what could possibly go wrong? I did a solo backpack trip intending to spend one night at Lake Sally Ann, and the next night at Meander Meadows. I ended up doing only one night at Sally, and headed down the "short cut" of the Cady Ridge Trail. Here's my first WTA trip report! (And thank you to all the countless trip reporters that I've relied on over the years...it's about time I pitched in!)

I started off down the Cady Creek Trail, and after the first easy section, I encountered several enormous blow downs I had to navigate my way around, but not too much trouble. I came across a couple of snowfields which covered up the trail briefly, an omen of what was to come. Then a creek tributary took over the trail, so I had to bushwhack over mossy logs and swamp ground to get through that section. At some point, you'll see a three-rock cairn after this muddy mess--bear to your left to get back on the trail.

You'll also have to ford across a very strong current stream, but not a long ford. Water was almost up to my knees (I'm 5' 9"). Bring your water shoes. It's doable if you're used to this sort of thing. I'm not. Brrrr!

I went up the PCT heading north toward Sally Ann. Eventually the snow appeared and the trail pretty much vanished. I cannot emphasize enough that you must carry GPS to navigate yourself through this. A compass is helpful, too (for you Gaia devotees, you know what I mean...Gaia loves bouncing your position around, and doesn't pinpoint you exactly). As I gained the ridge, I was despairing about if I should turn around. By sheer happenstance, a group of hardy Canadians were through hiking the PCT in the opposite direction. So, I was able to navigate my way to Sally Ann with their snow tracks! (Of course, confirming my position with Gaia). This group was the only people I saw the whole trip.

I got to Sally Anne, and it's almost completely frozen and snowed in. Fortunately, there is a flat, dry piece of ground right above the lake, with room for about two tents. Whew! You can get water from Sally Ann, but be careful not to fall in her ice sheet. The night was restful, views were spectacular, and I played John Denver on my portable Buckshot speaker.

Since I was by myself, and I knew it would be just more snowy misery on the way to Meander Meadows, I decided to cut the trip short one day and head back to the trailhead via the Cady Ridge Trail. I got my fair share of snowy misery anyway, and there were no Canadian snow tracks to guide me. The first section wasn't too bad, I just had to be very careful navigating myself through endless snow traverses. Then a godawful bushwhack and slippery snow section followed. At one point, I slipped and slid down about 40 feet, catching a tree to arrest myself before I fell off the mountain. Ironically, that fall actually got me back on the "trail", so maybe it was the Mountain Goddess smacking some sense into me. I was rattled, to be sure. But nothing for it, I got back up, and bushwhacked my way until I finally reached the Cady Ridge. Here, I could see some footprints. Evidently, people hiked up to Cady Ridge, and then sensibly turned around. From there, there was more slippery snow to slog through, but at least the navigation wasn't too bad as the trail played peek-a-boo. Then finally the Cady Ridge Trail dried up, and I started the very steep descent down.

First day: 9.5 miles to Sally Ann via Cady Creek-PCT. Second day: 7.5 miles from Sally Ann to Little Wenatchee Trailhead via Cady Ridge Trail.

Road: Pretty crummy, bring your AWD high clearance forest road buster. Low clearance cars might be able to pull it off, but they will be punished.

Required: GPS, trekking poles, sunglasses for the snow glare

Recommended: Microspikes (gives you decent traction on that icy, slushy early summer snow), compass, gators, ice axe (I didn't bring an axe, but there are some steep angle snow traverses where some may feel more comfortable with an axe. But don't even try to attempt this without at least trekking poles unless you're Spider-Man!)

I hope you're aren't dissuaded by my trip report. It's an absolutely gorgeous hike. I would just say don't do it alone, and be ready to snow navigate. And as of now, there is dry ground camping at Sally Ann. Go for it!

All I can say is wow - fall colors were on full display and unlike anything I've ever seen before.  The trail is steep and slow going right after the switchbacks, but once you're up on the ridge, all the pain disappears and the views really open up. We could see Glacier Peak, Rainier, Mt Daniel, Hinman, Overcoat Peak, and tons of other peaks from the ridge. Fresh blueberries also lined the trail once we got close to the PCT. To top it all off, the sunset was incredible as well. Couldn't have asked for a better fall overnighter.

I wanted to check out White Chuck Basin, but because the North Fork Sauk trail is closed, took Cady Ridge to the PCT and went north.  

The last three miles of road to the Cady Ridge / Little Wenatchee River trailhead is very rough. I made it fine in a VW golf, but it was 10mph of weaving around rocks and large potholes most of that way and I was the only low clearance car in the lot when I arrived and when I left.

The Cady Ridge trail is in good shape, but pretty steep and also weaves along the top as you go up, so by the time you actually top out you've already given up hope. But the last couple miles have tons of ripe berries right now.  Once you're past the switchbacks and start heading straight up the ridge, there is no water.

Picked up the PCT, popped south to lake Sally Ann for lunch, then headed back north.

There is little/no water from lake Sally Ann until the ascent from Indian Pass. On the way up from there there's a small murky pond and a couple trickles coming down across the trail, then a larger pond maybe a mile from White Pass. Camped at the campsites down from the pass -- tons of marmots.

Day two took the Foam Creek trail to White Chuck Basin and Glacier Gap.  The Foam Creek trail is in excellent shape all the way to the top of the first ridge.  Coming down the first ridge and going up over the second ridge, the trail is narrow, rocky, dusty, steep, and slippery, but the exposure isn't bad -- it's just annoying.  Cross one more low rocky ridge -- some cairns but you can also pick your own way -- to get to White Chuck Basin.  The basin is a spectacular lunar landscape where the glacier receded recently, much of which still has no vegetation, just rocks and sand and meandering glacial streams running off the glacier with silty blue/green lakes and tarns everywhere.  Through the basin there is a direct-ish route to Glacier Gap that's cairned but it was great to just meander around and explore.

Headed back to the PCT then went up to Red Pass, but it was all in clouds at this point. Went back to camp.

Day three was just doing day one in reverse.

I ran into lots of through hikers motoring north about to finish the PCT. Not many backpackers though, two nights at White Pass and I saw only three other parties total, and had Foam Creek / White Chuck Basin to myself for the entire day. 

Friday-to-Sunday two-night backpack loop starting and ending at North Fork Skykomish Trailhead and traveling up to, along, and back from the PCT.

Route:
Day 1 - From the North Fork Skykomish Trailhead, we followed the North Fork Skykomish Trail #1051 with some additional party members who day hiked with us for the first few miles. We continued on up to the top of the valley at Dishpan Gap. We camped a little below the trail junction and actually made the gap the next morning.
Day 2 - From Dishpan Gap we first explored north up the Pacific Crest Trail #2000 about a mile, just past its junction with the Little Wenatchee Trail #1525, seeking to glimpse Meander Meadows from afar down in the valley. We returned to Dishpan Gap and followed PCT south past Lake Sally Ann, Cady Ridge Trail #1532 junction, Cady Creek Trail #1501 junction at Cady Pass, and Pass Creek Trail #1053 junction at Pass Creek. We finally turned off the PCT at its junction with the West Cady Ridge Trail #1054 and continued partway up the ridge to find camp.
Day 3 - From camp we continued westbound on West Cady Ridge, taking a side trip up the spur to the top of Benchmark Mountain. We then returned to our ridge walk and followed the trail westward down into the forest and back to the North Fork Skykomish Trailhead.

Conditions:
Smokey air and predictions of a "heat wave". No trouble breathing except the first few miles leaving the trailhead--higher up we got, the air seemed to get clearer, though still hazy for views. Smoke and haze improved gradually through the weekend to where it was almost gone by Sunday morning. Cloudless skies all weekend. Our cheapo thermometer read in the 80s during each day's high point, with Friday definitely the hottest and cooling a little more each day.

Parking/People:
The lot at North Fork Skykomish could hold a couple dozen cars easily. When we arrived Friday morning and left Sunday afternoon, there were only a handful. We encountered some bear hunting parties in the parking lot but never saw them on the trail.
-Encountered no other hikers at all on North Fork Skykomish Trail (Friday).
-Passed maybe five or six northbound through hikers on the PCT all day (Saturday).
-Encountered no other hikers at all on the West Cady Ridge Trail (Saturday and Sunday).

Toilets:
Vault toilet at the North Fork Skykomish Trailhead was clean and well stocked with TP. No sanitizer--BYO. Saw a sign for a toilet at Lake Sally Ann but did not check it out. Our party member who did said they could not easily find it.

Trail:
The PCT and West Cady Ridge Trail were both in excellent condition the whole way. The North Fork Skykomish Trail was in pretty good condition most of the way--a few individual blow downs here and there starting 3 or 4 miles from the trailhead, at least one of them so tall that it is hard to climb over and a boot path is forming to walk around it instead. Sections of North Fork were also quite overgrown with brush, but still navigable.

However, as someone else mentioned there is a major obstruction/lost trail on the North Fork Skykomish Trail I would guess around 2 miles (maybe less) below Dishpan Gap. Many trees have been blown/avalanched down lengthwise across the trail resulting in not being able to see where it comes out on the other side and the trail is totally lost (at least from a heading uphill perspective). This is in a section that feels like it might want to switchback so you may be tempted to just head straight uphill--don't. Instead, you will find the trail again by continuing on the same trajectory the trail you are on was already headed--it just keeps heading in basically a straight line. Whatever you have to do to get past the blow downs, try to follow the line you were on.

Camps:
Ample sites to pitch a tent around Dishpan Gap and Lake Sally Ann. More elsewhere around the PCT of course. A note on our second night campsite, though. We read our Green Trails Map to show a site around the junction of the PCT and the West Cady Ridge trail, and hiked our way up 700 feet with all our water from the campsites at Pass Creek to get to it. When we arrived at the junction, no site to be found. We looked at the map again and realized that we had misread it by a millimeter or two, and that it was actually up the West Cady trail a bit further...and a bit higher. It turned out to be another 300 feet, so the distance between Pass Creek and this site was something like 1000 feet total. Beautiful spot though. And it gave us less of the remaining ascent to cover in the morning I guess.

Water:
In the lower sections of the North Fork Skykomish valley, water was in good supply with creek crossings every half mile or less. We made the choice to clamber down to the river and refill for the night around where the trail crosses the huge field of major avalanche destruction. Even though we had to cart all that water up the big hill to Dishpan Gap, this proved to be invaluable: there is no water between this avalanche zone near the river and Dishpan Gap itself.

Along the PCT we passed small creeks at least every mile. Several of them were down to tiny trickles that could work in a time of great need but would be slow to draw from. Some of them will likely dry up soon.

Lake Sally Ann was beautiful--much more scenic than I had been able to tell from WTA and guide book posts...it's a little hard to photograph because you're right up next to it. A deep greenish blue with the hazy sky, sparkling beneath its mountain wall backdrop. A little waterfall across the way tumbles down into vegetation to supply the lake, and the trail crosses its outlet continuing down the mountain in its own charming cascade. The lake is edged with soft green grass near the trail where you can lay out and enjoy the scene, and it has easy access to the water all alongside the trail.

Pass Creek at the PCT was flowing strongly, also very pretty, and another good source of water. Again, even though it meant encumbering ourselves with the weight just before going up a steep 1000 feet of gain, it was the right call--water was absent between here and our camp. There is some meadow and lush vegetation around the junction with the West Cady Ridge Trail, but any creeks we found were still, stagnant, low, and muddy.

There was not a lot in the way of running water along the top of West Cady Ridge, but there were some small ponds here and there along the ridgeline. Back down into the forest (closest two miles to the trailhead) the switchbacking trail started crossing running creeks again.

Flora/Berries/Flowers:
Berries at arm's reach almost the entire trip! Starting where the old road becomes true trail in the woods of the North Fork Skykomish, and for virtually the entire rest of our hike all the way up, back, and to the bottom of West Cady, we were never more than a few steps away from fresh fruit. Black huckleberries prevalent down in the woods, along with some blueberries, red hucks, and occasional salmonberries and thimbleberries. Up at higher elevations and more exposed sections, the bloobs predominated. There is a huge--acres and acres--open, sunny blueberry field farther up the North Fork Skykomish valley, a little bit before the riverside campsite indicated on the Green Trails map. Skykomish Peak towers above as you meander and graze.

It is maybe getting a little later in the summer but wildflowers are still out and about. Fireweed, some lupine, a little bit of paintbrush, pearly everlasting, occasional monkey flower. Near Benchmark Mountain, anemone occidentalis/pasqueflower fields.

Fauna/Bugs/Bears:
Bugs were...there! But not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Still definitely mosquitos buzzing around and flies, even some big horse flies, but after more than 48 hours out I came away with maybe five little bites. I had a permethrin-treated shirt for camp which was highly effective, and was using a 40% deet spray and head net. Definitely not as bad as I've seen other places and I am guessing not as bad as trip reports a couple weeks before.

We were cautious of bear given all the berries, bear hunters at the trailhead, and trail guides describing them as frequent to the area. Made noise as we went and all that...didn't see any.

Views:
North Fork valley had views upward at the peaks around--Skykomish, Bald Eagle, June, Johnson. When we hiked north from Dishpan, we found some windows of vantages from the ridge. We were vaguely able to make out Glacier Peak from through the smoke haze. Much better were the midrange views back at the north side of Johnson, down into the valleys off the PCT, etc.

On our third day, when we were on West Cady, we had much clearer air. This was thrilling as the West Cady trail had us hiking along with open views south, then north, then south, then north depending on how the trail traverses the ridgeline. And then we got up on Benchmark Mountain--wow! 360 degrees! A very unglaciated Glacier Peak. Kyes, Sloan, Pugh, and Baker all in a row reaching off to the horizon. Stewart, Daniel, Hinman. A still hazy outline of Rainier. Evergreen, Frog, Bear. And in the vicinity--Skykomish/Vimy RIdge, Cady and West Kady, and the other valleys and ridges we had just hiked the two days prior.

This was my first backpack--actually my first time sleeping away from my own bed--in two years thanks to the panini and just being very busy and anxious. It was such a blast. Beautiful country, outside air, mountain sights and smells...we slept under the Perseids meteor shower and I got to spot a couple shooting stars. This trip was restorative for me, even if it kicked my butt a little. So glad to have gone. Thankful for the company I had and for the trails that we are blessed with in this region that allow us to experience places like this.

Too many photos to narrow to just four for this. My Instagram is linked on my WTA profile for more.

Greetings, my goodfolks! We left Seattle around 6a and got to the trailhead around 9 this morning. Handful of cars in the lot but nothing crazy. The road out there is so narrow I have no idea how people would let an oncoming car pass without a very long stint in reverse. Also, the last bit of road is bumpy but should be passable for any car.

My friend and I ran up Cady Ridge and split left (south) on the PCT, which I think the junction was around 6.2 miles from the TH. Went to Lake Sally Ann and had a very freezing dip. The mosquitos and biting flies had a heyday with us. Pretty much any time we stopped to fill water or eat or gaze off yonder into time and space the bugs would descend upon us. I recommend bug spray.

We then shot north to Kodak Peak. My buddy drank a blueberry Red Bull and I crushed some sour patch kids before we ran back to the Cady Ridge Junction and made for the car. 2/3+ of our run was exposed so I also recommend sun cream if you are into protecting your skin. The views were otherworldly almost the whole time.

Plenty of spots to fill up on water. Probably not more than a mile without a source. A nice leisurely jog today totaling at 20 miles with 4700 feet of climbing and around 4:15 to do it. 10/10 Chef RT recommends.