I only hiked Cady Ridge to Lake Sally Ann, but there was a detailed and relatively current ranger's report at the trailhead included as a photo here that gives some good information about other hikes that use this trailhead.

On my route, there were just a few small snow patches that should be gone soon. Lake Sally Ann is now fully melted out, although a couple campsites still have snow. There are some tasty ripe berries down lower, and there are lots of flowers once you hit the ridge. There were about 20 cars in the lot/on the road when I arrived at 8:30 and about the same when I left. Most folks were doing overnight trips - I saw only one other day hiker.

We did the two-night Dishpan Gap loop described in Craig Romano's "Backpacking Washington" book. There are some issues with the campsites listed in the guide--see below. We went counterclockwise: N. Fork Skykomish -> Pass Creek -> PCT North -> Dishpan Gap -> N. Fork Skykomish -> TH. But I might consider going clockwise if doing it again. And I'd definitely take an extra day.

The road to the TH is fine for all vehicles. I'm not even sure I'd call it "rough". Just a few potholes, but it did seem a little rougher on the way out. The lot was mostly full at 10am on Friday and mostly empty at 1pm on Sunday. Just down the road at the Blanca Lake TH, it was a zoo. 

Fording the N. Fork Skykomish was easy. We traded our boots for Tevas and the current was barely at our knees. 

Crossing Pass Creek was a little bit sketchy. You could ford it easily, but there's a log to the left of the trail. We took the log and it was OK, but it is decomposing and the bark is loosening. Use caution.

Shoutout to the WTA trail crew on the Pass Creek Trail. Thank you!

There are a few small snow patches on the PCT between Pass Creek and Dishpan Gap. The first is easy and relatively flat. There's a steep one about 1/4 mile past Cady Ridge. Was fine crossing with poles. The last is about 1/4 mile from Dishpan Gap and is flat but looks to be in a small gully. Could get to the point where you punch through soon.

The upper N. Fork Skykomish is easy to follow. It's slightly faint in parts, but was flagged. Nice big log to cross on at the river confluence point. Fairly brushy at points after the 

About those campsites. There's a large one on the Pass Creek trail before the N. Fork ford. At the PCT jct. there are numerous spots and water from Pass Creek. The guidebook lists Cady Pass camps, but there's barely a spot. After the switchbacks, there are a couple (dry) sites without much protection. Lake Sally Ann is completely melted. Didn't check all the camps but I'd imagine it's all dry now. Camp at the Cady Ridge saddle looked a little exposed but had a view of Glacier Peak. Ward's Pass had a site. Dishpan Gap had a few sites and a little snow and water remaining. After that, the guidebook is either outdated or wrong. We saw one of the "Creekside camps" .6 miles below Dishpan. We didn't find the "More Creekside camps" listed after that. At the creek confluence about 3.5 miles below Dishpan there is a large site, plus a tiny on the right after the big site.

It was cloudy during the PCT section, but distant views were still great. And the scenery along the trail is excellent, too. We passed through a few meadows of blooming wildflowers. Not too much wildlife besides numerous frogs and toads, a couple of marmots and one chipmunk. Bugs are definitely an annoyance. I wore long sleeve and pants and didn't get too many bites.

We took the Cady Ridge trail to get to Lake Sally Ann. It is a very challenging trail, with steep elevation gain and grade from mile 1.2 to 3.7 (2,000 feet of elevation gain). The trail is in good condition and we only saw one other individual on it while hiking. Bring plenty of water, as the ascent will be taxing.

Once ontop of Cady Ridge, the views are amazing, with Glacier Peak straight ahead (to the north) and views of the central Cascades to the south. 

If you press onto Lake Sally Ann, be prepared to encounter a snowfield for the final push to the lake from Cady Ridge. Yak trax or microspikes are advised and definitely trekking poles. 

The lake itself was still covered in ice for the majority of it, with parts exposed to replenish water supplies. If you plan to camp at Lake Sally Ann, be prepared for winds.

I've had this backpacking trip on my list for a long time and everything seemed to align for me to be able to check this one off my list. Getting there was pretty easy, the unpaved portion of the road was in pretty good shape, potholes were not too bad until FS road 49 and even then they weren't terrible but low clearance vehicles should go slow. I arrived around 12:30 pm and the trail head was packed. I didn't expect there would be very many on a weekday but it made sense as I figured everyone had the same idea I did. Fortunately there are some areas to park just beyond the stock only parking by the camping area (I didn't even know it existed, I didn't see any pay station so it might be free). I didn't want to park in any of the camp sites as I wouldn't be camping there and I don't know how they are regulated so I found a spot between a few trees. After getting the pup leashed up I hit the trail.

The first few miles to the Pilot Ridge junction where muddy but easy and the sun was shining. I took the path up to White Pass where I planned to setup camp.

The toughest part was the ascent up to the PCT from Mackinaw Shelter. I still managed to make pretty good time and hit White pass around 3:30 pm. The weather had started to turn from heavy overcast to light rain. Having planned for a 3 day trip I decided I would make it a two day instead as I wasn't expecting rain until the third day. So I pushed on from White Pass and planned instead to make it to Upper Blue Lake to setup camp.

I'd only come across 4 people on the trail to this point and on the trek from White Pass to Indian Creek I ran into a lot of other hikers. Most of those I talked to had the same change of plans that I did making their trips shorter due to the weather. Given the heavy cloud cover I missed out on all the views. The fall colors that I could see were fantastic though. 

I was not moving as fast as I thought, having to be a little extra careful with my footing as it had started raining pretty good. I made it to Indian Creek around 5 pm and I figured there was no way I was going to make it to Upper Blue Lake before nightfall so I decided to change plans and camp at Lake Sally Ann instead. Around 7 pm I was still a ways from my destination so I broke out the headlamp, it was the first time I'd ever hiked after dark. It was a little difficult to hear things over the rain making it a little eerie but otherwise it was peaceful and I figure if there was an animal or something approaching my pup would alert me. 

Finally made it to Lake Sally Ann about 8:30 pm and there were plenty of spots available. I tried to find one with some tree cover so my tent wouldn't get too soaked setting up in the rain. I finally found a partially covered spot and got the tent set up. Fortunately I was able to get the tent setup under the fly so the tent was dry leaving only myself my dog as the two wet things in the tent. I was surprised how much the pack had weighed me down  especially given I thought I had packed pretty light. I was exhausted and went right to sleep. 

I woke up around 6 am and it was not quite light out, it was cool seeing the trees kind of back lit in the fog. I took my time breaking down camp and had to break out the trash bags as it had rained pretty hard most of the night and the fly and underside of tent were wet where some runoff had gone underneath it. It didn't soak my bag or anything else in the tent so I was happy.

Had everything packed up and ready to go by 7:30 am and began my trek out. It was definitely slower going as the trail was very wet and muddy. The trail as whole was in great shape however even though it wasn't raining the rain soaked vegetation hung over the trail. Eventually it got to be too much for my boots to repel and they were soaked all the way through. I was hoping that there might be a parting of the clouds and I would be able to catch some amazing views on the way down Pilot Ridge but it was not meant to be. The sun did eventually make its way out as I was on the last couple of miles out to the parking lot.

Got to the truck around 5:50 pm and was very happy to strip off the pack, rain jacket etc and get on the road. All told it was a mixed trip but I'm glad I did it, got to experience a lot of firsts and good education for future trips. I'm definitely going to pay attention to how much weight I'm packing next time because on the way out I was feeling every pound of it. 

Cady ridge had been on my list for a long time and I finally had time to cross it off. I can see why this hike is so highly rated, the meadows and views are amazing! 

The road heading out to the trailhead is in great shape except for the last 3 miles. The last three miles are unpaved and full of potholes. So long as you go slow you shouldn't have any problems even in low clearance vehicles.

There's a decent amount of parking but I found that most of those parked there were backpackers on overnight trips given what I saw in the trail register.  

Overall the trail is in great shape, no blowdowns and not really overgrown but a little muddy in a few places. The only word of caution is there were a bunch of horses on the trail ahead of me and they ripped it up pretty good. It made footing a little tough in a few places with loose soil and rocks. Plus dodging the poo is always fun. 

The bugs were extremely annoying all the way up to the meadows, mainly flies which was probably due to all of the horse poo. After that they kinda died down, didn't really notice any mosquitoes.

The trail was unexpectedly quiet, didn't run into many other hikers. I made such great time getting to the PCT I decided I'd make the trek to Upper Blue Lake and then hit up Lake Sally Ann on the way out. I took Blue lake High Route to get to Upper Blue and it kicked my butt a little after already being a little tired from the climb up Cady Ridge. The lake was absolutely perfect on a warm sunny day. Spent a good amount of time enjoying lunch and letting the pup have fun splashing around in it. I met several hikers coming by that were doing the Pilot Ridge loop, I was surprised that there was nobody staying overnight at the time I was there. 

After lunch I felt decently rested and headed back stopping by Lake Sally Ann on the way. It was very busy, lots of people had set up camp and were hanging by the lake. I stopped to take it in and let my pup have a drink before continuing on. Side note there's not a lot of water on the trail at this point in the season so make sure to have plenty with you or fill up at the dwindling streams along the way as there are lengthy dry stretches.

On the way down I found what I think was gear discarded by the folks with the horses along the trail side. Hopefully they were taking a bunch of people out to camp and were coming back to pick them up along with the gear. 

It was a great trip that I'd highly recommend, however maybe not all in one day. According to my tracker I did about 26 miles in 7 hours.