This was my first time driving to the Dingford trailhead, and while the road certainly is no interstate highway, I prefer it to the many forest roads covered in washboard or sudden deep potholes you can't see through the shadows. (I got to use Trail Mode on my Rav4! Not sure what it does other than put a picture of rocks on the dashboard.) The parking lot was just about full when I got there a bit after 11. The toilet was well stocked.
After a quick visit to Dingford Falls, I hiked the half mile to the backcountry campground, where I hoped to find a quiet river access spot. The campground is a narrow stretch of land between the river and the hill. If you want privacy or space, don't go here! Here, I found a sandy spot in the shade with a nice flat rock to lounge on and read. Occasionally, my time in the cool breeze, my feet dangling in the river, was interrupted by a hot blast of wind, reminding me of what I'd come here to escape. I lounged around for an hour and headed back.
On the way home, cars at Mailbox were parked on the roadside, leaving about one and half lanes for the rest of us. I wish they would bring back the Trailhead Direct bus!

This report is for a 5-day, 40-mile east-west solo traverse of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, starting at Salmon La Sac trailhead and ending at Snow Lake trailhead/Alpental. I’ll focus on the status of a couple rarely used trails and my campsite experiences at each stop. One of my favorite parts of this hike was meeting other folks doing their own versions of traverses and loops across and around the Alpine Lakes Wilderness - it opened my eyes to all the different possibilities depending on time, abilities and shuttle options. I know I’ll be back yet again!

Day #1: Salmon La Sac to Waptus Lake: Trail is in great shape, easy grade with nice spots to rest and dip into the river on a hot day. There are a couple great riverside campsites along the trail as well. Waptus River ford near lake is max 2 feet deep and much nicer with water shoes on - there’s no way to cross without getting your feet and lower legs wet. At Waptus Lake there are a lot of campsites at the east end of the lake, with a toilet nearby, but these get more crowded. Walking further along the trail going around the north side of the lake, you’ll spot a few more sites with limited access to the lake and another toilet. Near the west end there’s a bluff with a few great sites and an island you can rock-hop to with space for one tent, with the most awesome views up and down the lake and great water access. I heard a bear at dusk and dawn along the bluff above the island, crashing around and grunting. It was a little unnerving and made it challenging to hang food the proper distance from my tent without putting it in the path of the bear. I also opted to pack out my human waste instead of going up the bluff to dig a proper hole away from the water. The nearest toilet to these campsites is back east along the lake about a half mile unfortunately.

Day #2: Waptus Lake to Williams Lake via Dutch Miller Gap: This trail is also in great shape! It’s a steep, mostly shaded (at least in the morning) climb to Lake Ivanhoe with nonstop views toward Waptus and surrounding peaks. Once near Lake Ivanhoe the trail becomes tricky to follow - use boards laid over the creek to cross to the south side of Ivanhoe and take care as the trail gets narrow and steep. There’s a nice camping spot along the trail a bit east of the lake near the creek if you can’t find any camping at the lake proper, which is likely to happen as the entire area around Lake Ivanhoe is fragile and steep, with what seems to be very little campsites except on one small peninsula. The trail continues to be view-packed, well-maintained, and deserted up and over Dutch Miller Gap and to Williams Lake, a gorgeous quiet little lake surrounded by high peaks. Camping there is on the west side - you have to cross the lake outlet on a sometimes slippery log, water shoes recommended. There was one other person there this Tuesday night, it likely gets a bit more crowded on long weekends since it takes a couple days to get there from any direction. I talked to two people who descended from Chain Lakes to Williams Lake. One who did the traverse from Necklace Valley and said the trail up the waterfall is very steep but doable and “I wouldn’t want to go back down that way it would be treacherous.” She also said it took her several hours to descend from Chain Lakes to Williams Lake with false starts down unestablished trails that led to cliffs and crossing a boggy mess on the north side of the lake. Another person did a day hike from Williams up to La Bohn Pass and also said it was “really really hard.” Hopefully he posted a trip report about it!

Day #3: Williams Lake to Goldmyer Hot Springs: Continued west on the Dutch Miller trail, pretty much all a steady downhill that gets more and more overgrown past Pedro Camp, with four blow downs that need to be navigated, a couple of them huge trees. Past Hardscrabble Camp I decided to brave the rarely used Middle Fork trail rather than the road - trail is bushy in places but very navigable, all the boardwalks and bridges are in great shape. Stopped at Goldmyer (made a reservation a couple weeks earlier) for a heavenly night of soaking my tired muscles in the incredible hot springs, luxuriating in well-maintained outhouses, and sleeping in a huge campsite with an easy food-hanging system.

Day #4: Goldmyer to Gem Lake: After a sunrise soak, I easily forded Burntboot Creek and continued on the Middle Fork trail - again a little bushy but mostly just very quiet old growth forest - until I reached the Rock Creek Trail for my ascent to Snow Lake. The first third was an easy grade through mossy forest, while the rest alternated between overgrown, talus fields, and steep climbing, sometimes all at once which required slow careful footing. Overall, though, Rock Creek Trail exceeded my low expectations. It was almost entirely in the shade all morning which no doubt made it much more bearable. The only folks I passed were a group of PCT hikers doing the “old PCT” from Alpental to Waptus Lake. When I finally reached the sign at Snow Lake that points down to “Rock Creek Trail and Middle Fork Road,” it was an amazing feeling to be able to see the valley I had just traversed all the way up to Dutch Miller Gap, and the peaks that had accompanied my journey. Up to this point on my hike I had passed about a dozen folks in three days, but these last two days I passed easily 200 folks. I had intended to go all the way to Wildcat Lakes, however the trail to Gem Lake on this hot afternoon was exposed, steep, and rocky, with a couple talus fields to cross, all requiring constant careful footing. Having ascended about 3000 feet in 5 miles, I felt done by the time I got to Gem Lake. The Lake is a surreal deep blue, with sweeping views of Snow Lake and its surrounding peaks, but it suffers from overuse, with sensitive areas impacted by camping. For minimal impact while camping and quiet space away from daytime visitors, I recommend turning right when you reach the lake, where you’ll soon find the toilet (which is up a steep hill) and continue on the lake trail to find a sign pointing up to campsites up a steep trail. There were about 5 groups camping here on a Thursday night, and on my hike out the next day I passed many folks heading up with backpacks on - I’m guessing it feels very overcrowded at Gem Lake on nice weekends.

Day #5: Early  morning I tried to ascend Wright Mountain. Finding the trail was tricky, just go up toward and through campsites to a crest where there’s a view northeast, and then you can see the trail going up the mountain. It’s steep, rocky, sometimes hard to follow, and through a couple talus fields. Near the top where it gets to be more like bouldering I opted to stop. It’s a sweeping view northeast, but I couldn’t find a spot with a good view of Wildcat Lakes Basin - maybe at the top though? My hike out to the trailhead late morning was exposed, hot, and more crowded the further down I got. No doubt Snow Lake is gorgeous - crystal clear and surrounded by jagged peaks, and I did manage to find a quiet spot to take a dip before finishing the last few miles of my journey. However I plan to avoid Snow and Gem Lakes in the future and instead go to the many other less crowded Alpine lakes in this incredibly beautiful slice of the world.

When I arrived at the Middle Fork Trailhead parking lot there was only one vehicle. Turned out it was a for a fisherman. Began my hike going upriver on the Middle Fork Trail (MFT) after crossing over the Gateway Bridge that was built in 1993. After about one mile I got to the switchback area of the trail rerouted through the granite rock section that was built back in 2018 to 2021 to replace the old MFT taken out in a big land slide in the Spring of 2018. Further up the trail I got to the part that is on the former North Bend Timber Company logging railroad grade. This is the flattest part of the trail. When the grade ends, I was back on the regular trail. The big boulder creek crossing is now dry but can be hard to cross during the Spring runoff from melting snow. I then got up to the second trail reroute section that was built back in 2016 to replace the Middle Fork Trail that use to be next to the river but kept getting washed out. You know when you are on this section as it is covered in crushed rock over clay soil. The crushed rock was flown in large bags via helicopter two at a time. At 3.4 miles I got to the junction with the connector trail that goes downhill and meets up with the old MFT that is now part of a loop trail. Mountains to Sound Greenway trail crew built the connector trail in 2016 but never came back to complete the project. There are two muddy creek crossings that need a bridge or turnpike.

I stayed on the main trail that was rerouted several years ago and went uphill to get to the second trail junction at 3.8 miles. There is a sign here saying, "River Access" with an arrow pointing to the left to take the trail downhill to the river. This trail is in pretty good shape with just one fallen tree to step over before the trail gets near the river after crossing over a long-curved bridge. This is the loop trail part of the hike on the old MFT. I could see someone had been through this section doing trail work as it was completely brush out. I passed by a side trail going down to the river bar then got to the camp site above the river with a good view up the river. This is where I ate lunch with only a few gnats flying around. No flies or skeeters were seen on this hike.

After lunch I continued hiking on the loop trail that was part of the old MFT before it was rerouted. There were a few fallen trees to step over before getting to the connector trail that goes back up hill to the main MFT. Then it was 3.4 miles back to the trailhead parking lot. Along the way I started meeting other hikers coming up the trail. Did not see any on my way up the trail. One group of seniors, some couples, one dog owner and a young couple going back down who had been doing some climbing on the big wall of Stegosaurus Butte. Did not see any wildlife. My hike was 7.7 miles round trip by doing the loop down by the river. The loop part of the trail is shown on Green Trails Map 174SX and on the Forest Service kiosk map at the trailhead.

Some sections of the MFT above the rock switchback area are now getting pretty overgrown with brush and ferns. The Forest Service would need a trail crew to all the brushing that is needed. I did some trekking pole brushing along the way, but one person cannot do it all.

There were also some new signs on the Middle Fork Trail I had not seen before. There were three different ones for "Thank you for recreating with respect". These were for Walk with Care, Look & Listen and Share the Soundscape.

The last photo in my report shows one of the North Bend Timber Company's 80- ton Class C three truck Climax geared steam locomotives. This was one the locomotives used by the NBTC when they logged the Middle Fork Valley. It was built in 1924 by the Climax Manufacturing Company in Cory, PA. Notice the big log load on the flatcar behind the locomotive. Part of the MFT trail is on the logging railroad grade used by the NBTC. Also, parts of the Middle Fork Road are on old logging railroad grades. The one-way section before getting to the Mailbox Peak parking lot is one of them. Keep on hikin', George

Parking lot: half full when we arrived at 9:30 on a Saturday. NW Forest pass or America the beautiful pass needed. There was a large bulletin board that had recent ranger reports for both the Pratt and Middle Fork trails - thanks rangers!

Toilet: Recently cleaned and stocked! 

Trail: Met some wildlife ambassadors at the beginning of the trail and enjoyed the mellow ups and downs. Trail is overgrown at parts after 2 miles. There is a Y/fork at approximately 3.25 miles - we stayed to the right (on the main trail), but at about 3.75 miles saw a "river access" sign pointing down to the river...we took it and enjoyed lunch on the river. Note: there were no bugs to speak of!  We took the trail going the other direction coming back and did a lollipop loop. 

Berries: There are so many berries - thimble, salmon, native blackberry, huckleberries (or?). 

People: only saw a few people on the way out and more on the way back, but had lots of solitude along the way. A few unleashed dogs and lots of trail runners. 

Birds: We saw a spotted sandpiper who landed right in front of us and gave us a show! 

This is a lovely trail and I'll be back when it's cooler and higher elevations are snowy. 

I hiked this trail for the first time and I see why people like it. We only went about a mile or so and then turned around to fish. The trail only follows the river for a few minutes which is not what I expected. We saw people rock climbing on the cliffs and sampled many huckleberries. Fishing is not good here but I did catch one.