North Fork Tieton trail 1118 to McCall basin, 7/15-7/17. Trail 1118 was well maintained and log free all the way to the PCT. There were a few snow patches the last 0.5 mile but nothing that would make you lose the trail. Unfortunately a bridge about 2 miles from the trail head is washed out so cars can't get over it, fine to walk over. For some reason the parks service has closed the road with cement baracades almost 4 miles from the trail head leaving about 2 miles of perfect road unusable by cars so you must walk over that section for seemingly no reason leaving a 4 mile road walk to get to the trail head. The PCT south of the junction with trail 1118 is about 50% snow covered with a decent amount of trail locating still required to keep on your way. It took us about an hour (with full packs) to travel the less than 1 mile to Lutz "Lake", the small pond just before McCall basin. South of Lutz lake the PCT was VERY hard to follow and we gave up on the trail and fended for ourselvs into McCall basin. This area is likely 2 weeks away from being fairly passable. We weren't able to get to the high elevation area south of McCall basin but I would imagine that will be under lots of snow well into August. It's a beautiful area and a great time but logistically this trail will create problems until the snow melts and the bridge is repaired. P.S. Lots of bugs below about 4000ft. Bugs not very noticable in the snow zone.

Forest Service has done a good job of clearing blowdon trees, except for a couple near the top at Tieton Pass. There is still a lot of snow near the pass, so they were probably inaccessible a few weeks ago. Surprisingly, the creeks are not very high considering how much snow is still melting. This is a nice trail-- few people use it, and only an occasional horse. Few wide scenic vistas, just a pleasant 5-mile hike to the pass across numerous small creeks, and up a gentle grade (about 1500 feet steady gain in the 5 miles). From the top you can do the loop back to the Hidden Spring (near Shoe Lake) trail, continue on to McCall Basin, or head west down to Clear Creek. If you do the Hidden Spring Loop, it's a very steep climb from the N Fork trail up to the springs, but there is too much snow from Hidden Springs to Tieton Pass to do the loop now.

I led my second Saturday Snowshoe for the Cascadians to the North Fork Tieton River Road today ("Tieton River Meadows" in Dan Nelson's book, 100 Best Snowshoe Routes). We only walked as far as the bridge over Miriam Creek (2.5 miles), had lunch, & walked back. The snow was fairly well compacted with a breakable crust and not too difficult to walk on. The weather was mild with mostly low clouds and periods of drizzle, but we did see some blue sky and a little filtered sunlight strong enough to cast a shadow. It all made for a nice leasurely day.

I took the wonder pup on a little jaunt up the N Fk Tieton river last weekend (Sun-Tues), meaning to get a look at McCall basin. We started up the trail at 1 pm on Sunday after the long drive, and took our sweet time doing the 6.5 miles and 2,000 ft of gain to lower McCall basin. We went by Tieton Pass and Lutz Lake, neither of them much to speak of, but we did see lots of big trees and other interesting plants. We found a huge and scenic campsite in the deserted lower meadows, and built a giant bonfire with wood already stacked neatly by the fire pit. On Monday we explored around a bit, looking for a trail up to the upper basin. After a few dead ends, one leading to a nice waterfall on McCall creek, we found the correct trail and made the short trek to upper McCall basin. It was very cool, a large flood plain with many ""abandoned"" river channels, and above it a large glacial cirque containing McCall glacier and its associated snow fields. We spent the day roaming around, and worked our way up the basin to the biggest waterfall (of several). It was a pretty easy day, more like a short walk than a real hike. We got back to our campsite just 1/2 hour after leaving the high point of our journey. On Tuesday morning I was filtering some water when Conrad came by to say ""hi"". Nice to meet you, Conrad. He went for a short jaunt to see the upper basin, returned and took off, while the sluggish one barely had time to blink. I finally motivated for the hike out at noon, and Daisy and I had a leisurely stroll out the 6.5 miles in 4 hours. While there were some mosquitoes here and there on the trip, they were only bad right before I got to the trail head. There were no problems with the roads or trails other than some horse-induced mud holes in the meadows. Pictures can be viewed at www.flickr.com/photos/slugman