As noted in previous reports, it's just the last mile or so of road that's a little worse for wear.  That said, it's more the woop woop type of potholes than bang bang type.  Just pay attention and watch the tire tracks of people who went before and all vehicles should be fine.

I arrived at the trailhead after 9:30 and found it about 50% full - ate a quick breakfast and then got moving by 10:00.  The water crossings were easy - found enough exposed rocks on the first to step from stone to stone without getting wet at all.  The trail is in great shape, especially the first portion where recent work has been completed.  The sun started breaking out right about the time that Kulshan came into view - lots of photo opportunities!

The final ascent toward the look out brought more clouds, but still much to look at including many, many ripe blueberries.  Ate a sandwich at the top and took a timelapse of the clouds scooting up valleys and over ridges below me.  The view down was mostly obscured, but I won't complain - it was a great hike and experience.

On the way back, the water level had increased significantly.  I watched several people coming across pick their way across the stream, then decided to just wade through, knowing that I had a short walk back to the parking lot.  

I'm a middle aged guy with a 40-hour office job, not in the best shape, but made it to the top in 2.5 hours without issue.  The trip down had fewer rest stops and took about 30 minutes less.  Got back to the parking lot by 3:15 and found it closer to full, but still some available parking spaces that weren't random ditches or ravines.  

Arrived at the TH around 10:15am on a Wednesday. Half of the lot was full, but there was still plenty of parking available. The road doesn’t get rough until the last 2 miles. There are some small exposed rocks and potholes, but any car can make it as long as you take it slow. I took a Toyota Corolla up and it did just fine. There’s no cash envelope parking at the TH. You either need to have the NW Forest pass OR pay ahead of time. We have a pass, but others were struggling to pay because there’s only a QR code to download an app, but there’s zero service out there to download anything.

The majority of the trail is in good shape and you will hike a variety of terrain (ie. Loose gravel/pebbles, dirt, rocky bits of trail). The thing you need to be prepared for is the water crossing. At 10:45, we got report from earlier hikers coming down that the water was already much higher than when they passed in the morning. There’s a path in the water with several logs strewn together that we saw most people take, but there is rebar wire sticking out of the logs in multiple areas… with how fast the current was, we opted to stay away from the logs and cross a little further up. The water came up to just below my knees (I’m 5’2). I HIGHLY recommend bringing water shoes that strap securely onto your feet AND hiking poles to cross the water. On the way back at 4:30pm, the current was much stronger and the water higher. The log path we saw many people take earlier in the day was mostly covered by water. We went south of the logs and were able to find an area to skip-jump across on rocks, but again we needed water shoes and hiking poles to help. 

There’s a second water crossing that has a metal bridge you cross. In the morning around 10:45am, the water level was below the bridge. At 4:30pm, the water was splashing up onto the bridge occasionally but was totally safe to cross. 

The trail is well-marked throughout the hike. At the water crossings, follow the small pink flags to the trail. 

The hike was amazing, turning out to be one of my favorites. Don’t let the water crossing scare you, but also know your limits. 

TLDR

-Rough road last 2mi, but any car can make it 

-Bring water shoes and hiking poles for water crossing - BOTH are necessary. 

-Have NW pass or pay ahead, no paying available at TH 

-Trail is well-marked and marked by small pink flags at the water crossings

Happy Hiking! 

Great trail right up to the first stream crossing. My friend and I could get across just barely but my 55 lb standard poodle refused to jump the raging stream. I got into the middle of the stream to help him but it was too fast and wide.

We decided to go back and try the Scott Paul trail, also got turned back at the stream crossing. Waters just too damn high. Still had a nice day out in the woods.

As others have reported, the water crossing is a bit rough and would be challenging today even in the morning without poles. In the afternoon it was high enough to splash the bridge and the logs we crossed in the morning were underwater. 

The tarns on lower Railroad Grade are all dry and the stream is barley a trickle. Upper has plenty of tarns by base camp.

Park Butte will be getting painted 9/6-9/7 and will not be available for overnight visitors. 

Left Bellingham at 8:00a and were to the trailhead by 9:40a. The last 2 miles of the forest road have quite a few pot holes, but in a sedan, you could easily make it up taking your time. Parking lot was mostly full with a few spots left (probably 20+ cars there). Bathrooms were stocked with TP and bins with extra TP in the setting of limited park ranger staff. 

Trail to Park Butte Lookout is in great shape. First river crossing took a little rock hopping, but feet stayed dry and second part has a metal bridge over it. We came back down on the Scott Paul Trail, so not sure how much quicker these crossing were running later in the day.

Despite a full parking lot, the trail didn't feel busy. Passed groups here and there but not bad. No bugs. Flowers are blooming some. Once a group came down, we had the lookout to ourselves while we had some snacks. 

On the way down we decided to detour and add a few miles by doing the Scott Paul Trail which is also in excellent shape and beautiful. The suspension bridge over the river is beautiful. One smaller section of a river you need to hop across.

In the end, it was 11.7 miles. We were back to the car by 1:40p and back home to Bellingham by 3:30p with a stop for snacks along the way.