We shuttled a car from Wenatchee Ford TH to Top  Lake TH.

Day 1: We hiked up the Top Lake trail to Pear Lake.  The trail was in great condition.  Pear Lake was beautiful with some really nice campsites.  (6.5 miles)

Day 2: We hiked the PCT from Pear Lake to Lake Sally Ann.  Some of the campsites at Lake Sally Ann are closed for restoration.  We found a good campsite a little south of the lake.  This section of the PCT was in amazing condition.  (10.5 miles)

Day 3: Hiked the PCT from Pear Lake to White Pass.  Wow oh Wow, the views are amazing on this section.  The wildflowers were out and the meadows were awesome!  We camped bit up the foam creek trail.  There are a few good campsites past white pass up the foam creek trail.  (8.5 miles).  That night I went up White Mountain and was rewarded with amazing views of Glacier Peak.

Day 4. Hiked back on the PCT to the Little Wenatchee Trail and hike out to the Wenatchee Ford TH via Meander Meadows.  The trail below the meadows is really overgrown.  You can still follow it without problem, you just have to watch your step as the trail is not too visible in some areas. (12 miles)

Began my excursion at 6:30AM on a Sunday morning, parking lot was mostly full with vehicles from backpackers though there was plenty of parallel parking space along the road.  Road in is as described, the last few miles are quite rough with lots of potholes.  I made it just fine in an old Prius so as long as you're will to take your time and weave when necessary you can make it just fine.

Trail is as described, a few little muddy spots in the first mile. There are 3-4 spots where the undergrowth brushes your legs, but nothing major (if you're the first up in the morning the meadow grass will get your feet wet). Beautiful views will start distracting you once you're most of the way up! I first headed South to Lake Sally Ann to refill my water and drink as much as possible before heading North to Kodak Peak.  This section of the PCT is dry unless you're willing to scrape around in the few remaining trickles. Stunning views all around and the trail is in good shape.  I saw the same crew as some others have mentioned working on keeping everything in good shape! Boot path up Kodak is in good shape and is obvious leading up the shoulder from the east where the PCT bends around.  There are a few spots where you have to push through scrub trees, but you're just heading straight up the ridgeline so no worries about getting lost.  

I chose to return along Cady Ridge as well since reports on Little Wenatchee and Cady creek trails said there was significant brush and I wanted to be able to make good time on my run, not bushwack.  I spoke with some groups that came up Little Wenatchee trail and they had encountered thick brush. I think the work crew was heading that way on Monday, so it might be all cleared out this week.  A great trip in an amazing area, definitely worth a visit!

Our party of ten, in four vehicles, dropped 1 car at the end of the Little Wenatchee road (as our end-of-trip destination, 'Wenatchee Ford Trailhead'). Although the last several miles of the road are 1-lane gravel, with challenges to low-clearance vehicles, even our Chevy Bolt electric vehicle managed it OK.  Nice parking lot and restroom at the trailhead. 

We then backtracked to the Top Lake trailhead in 3 cars and began hiking around 12:00 noon on a Thursday.  The 6 mile trail to Top Lake begins as a well-engineered, well-built forest trail.  At about 4 miles, the trail enters a sizeable burned area, exposing both good views and hot sun.  Past the burned area, the trail reaches a ridge crest and the engineered trail gives way to good tread but the ups and downs often encountered on a ridge top. A brief half mile descent in timber brought us to Top Lake.  It's a fairly shallow but worthwhile lake in open meadow, with good campsites.  An easy stroll past the lake connects with the PCT.  We continued another mile, north, to Pear Lake for our first camp.

Pear Lake is in sub-alpine country, deep and clear and we used it for our water source.  Campsites are numerous and nicely dispersed.  The old Cascade Crest Trail exits the lake in switchbacks ascending a ridge to the west; the re-routed Pacific Crest Trail actually bypasses the lake at its east end.  So, we backtracked for 10 minutes, rejoined the PCT and headed north.  The PCT was probably engineered for horse travel -- broad, long switchbacks as it ascends and then descends to Saddle Gap,  Cady Pass, and after 11 miles we reached our next destination, Lake Sally Ann.

Lake Sally Ann is alpine, great viewpoint, swimmable in August, heavily used but we were fortunate to find campsites for all of us.  There is a backcountry toilet, good water from the waterfall/inlet, but also a fair amount of trail dust if the wind is blowing.  

Day 3 was a day hike, north on the PCT 4 miles to the summit of Kodak Peak.  The summit is accessed via a boot path in open but steep hillside meadow country.  Kodak Peak is no doubt well named because the views should be tremendous in every direction.  The summit shows evidence of a former fire lookout site (if not a cabin, perhaps a tent and firefinder?) But since we were there at the height of fire season and much of the state was smoked out, our views were minimal, darn it.

Day 4 was our exit from Lake Sally Ann, 1/4 mile north on the PCT to Wards Pass followed by a 6 mile traverse and descent on the (east) Cady Ridge Trail.  Expansive open meadows on the ridge, ups and downs along the ridge.  We were told to be wary of the last 2 mile descent back to the Cady Creek valley floor, as some have described it as 'steep with loose rock, not suitable for stock'.  But in truth, most of the descent was well engineered and well maintained.  There was only a brief steep section, perhaps a half mile or less, and even the 65 year olds in our group had no difficulty.  We wouldn't want to ascend it though, especially on a hot afternoon.  We were glad we did this 4 daytrip in a clockwise direction.   Surprisingly, the only impediment to a horse or mule was a large fir across the trail, perhaps a mile from the trailhead.  We saw evidence that horses or mules or donkeys had successfully worked around it, by cutting a switchback.  We are good citizens; we climbed up and over.

Our single car was waiting for us at the Wenatchee Ford trailhead.  It's still called Little Wenatchee Ford, although a beautiful trail bridge makes fording the river unnecessary. Four of us piled into the single car, made the 90 minute round trip to fetch the cars at our original Top Lake trailhead while the rest of us enjoyed cold beverages from our cooler hidden in the woods.

Looking at the weather forecast for Leavenworth, we expected partly sunny skies and overall a dry hike. Little did we know, 90% of this hike was covered in snow and a solid foot of fresh snow would fall overnight. This made route finding quite difficult but thankfully we had a topo map so we were able to roughly follow along the ridge. We were aiming for Indian Head Peak but decided to just go to Lake Sally Ann and back through Cady Ridge. If you are going to Indian Pass in early June, the trail following Little Wenatchee River is probably snow free and therefore a better choice unless you want to ski! The PCT section that goes to Lake Sally Ann was difficult to traverse due to its steepness. The lake was mostly covered in snow.

Gear:

• No spikes or gaiters. We wear able to tread through snow without trouble, but either of these would have made us more confident. Definitely want very waterproof boots.
• Used my phone's compass with some doubt as to its accuracy. A real one would be a good idea in case batteries die.
• Topo map was absolutely essential to follow the invisible snow-covered trail.
• We had one hiking pole each. Having our own pair would have made us faster.
• 3-season tent. Partly collapsed under the weight of new snow but we just pushed it off. Rain fly was definitely needed.

The road to the trailhead is still closed about five miles from the trailhead due to the washouts.  Be aware that the Forest Service was out in force issuing tickets, so be sure to have your NW Forest Pass.  There was decent parking along the street and a port-a-potty available, which was good because they privy at the trailhead is locked.

The North Fork Skykomish Trail started out okay but shortly after taking the Pass Creek Trail (as recommended in Backpacking Washington, Hike #38) I started encountering blowdowns and soon thereafter lost the trail entirely.  Even with GPS show that I was standing on the trail, I saw nothing and ended up bushwhacking for about two miles until I hit the Cady Creek Trail.  It was very unpleasant and I DO NOT recommend taking the Pass Creek Trail.  The Cady Creek Trail up to Sally Ann Lake was very well maintained.  Shortly after ascending up the Cady Creek Trail towards Lake Sally Ann the views break out and the huckleberries were everywhere!  I managed to snag the last campsite which was fortunate as I arrived late due to the extra miles added by the road closure and the slow progress from not having a trail to follow for a couple of miles.

The next day, on my way to Dishpan Gap/Blue lake, I stopped by the campsites that are just off the PCT on the Cady Ridge Trail.  They looked unoccupied and although dry, aren't too far from Lake Sally Ann, and if you camel up there, the Cady Ridge campsite has the most amazing views.  There where some REALLY small streams a little further down on the Cady Ridge Trail, but I don't know if they will flow much longer.

The trail from Lake Sally Ann to Dishpan Gap was fairly quiet I thought (for Labor Day Weekend) and the huckleberries were once again everywhere.  Leaving Dishpan Gap toward Blue Lake begins a short but brutal climb up to Blue Lake.  It is worth it though with some very nice views/camping areas.  Seriously though, that climb sucked.  I didn't camp at Blue Lake but continued on to Lower Blue Lake.  There were actually three smallish lakes there.  I had the smallish lake all to myself on the second night.  Lower Blue Lake proper didn't appear to have any campsites directly adjacent to it.

Leaving Lower Blue Lake and heading toward Curry Gap to the Quartz Creek Trail finds you starting off with another climb but nothing too strenuous.  Again there were huckleberries all over the place and beautiful breakout views.  There is a campsite as you near Long John Mountain.  It is shaded, but dry; although there were some smallish creeks nearby; although, I can say if they flow all season long.  Still, it's been rather dry and it's late in the season so I would imagine so.

The Quartz creek trail is rather overgrown in places; although, I never actually lost the trail.  Still, it made footing rather precarious.  There were several water sources along the trail so water on the Quartz Creek Trail isn't a concern.  There are no real views to mention on this trail but there is an amazing waterfall/pool area that is shallow-ish and flows over bare rock.  If I wasn't hiking sixteen miles from Lower Blue Lake to where the road was blocked off I might have stopped and just sat it in it.  I mean, that location was really lovely.