Astounding beautiful from beginning to end. The trail has a lot of loose rock and is dusty right now so can be a bit "slippery" on the way down, but it's not terribly difficult. I write wilderness mysteries and this trail was certainly inspiring. The creek is currently easy to cross, with low water flow. The road is in great shape and so is the trail. Go right now if you can!

A friend had his timeshare week at Snowater so Mt Baker from its various aspects seemed appropriate for a 3 day weekend. Fri, Day One: Park Butte Lookout Sat, Day Two: Hannegan Pass Sun, Day Three: Skyline Divide Drove from Seattle to the turnoff from Highway 20 a bit east of Concrete in full clouds. Drove up the road to the trailhead and maybe a mile before reaching Schriebers Meadow, clouds parted and sunshine poured down. I have not been on this trail in many years. It takes it time passing through meadows and on boardwalks in the flats finally approaching Rocky Creek. The crossing is a bit tenuous on a mix of larger rocks, a narrow log and then a plywood bridge. The water was higher in the afternoon and more muddy but still "rock hoppable". The kiosk sign warns it might be knee deep and challenging. After the creek it begins it very steady ascent passing through thicker forest and open meadows, then small stands of trees. Periodic and increasing view of Mt Baker up through the trees. Then views up through the open meadows. You will eventually see the lookup against the skyline and the trail circles around the back of a ridge. Access to the lookout is over a knarled tree truck and some rock. The lookout's catwalk bridges open space on the Baker side. It is equipped with a coleman stove, bed, table, chests and chairs. There were blueberries along the way, more in some places and none in others. Remembered that hiking in bbq-ed air is not the most pleasant (I did the same the week before in Glacier National Park and drove home through 3 states worth of smoke). Smoke from eastern Washington fires was definitely in the air visually and you could taste it. After about an hour in the sun and haze we ambled on down to be met with rising fog levels - an indicator of what Saturday's hiking would be like. Fog down to the car now covered by moist dust. Drove around to Glacier, WA for the night.

We started at the Ridley Creek trailhead despite warnings that the trail is unmaintained. The road to the trailhead is not too bad and the trailhead is clearly marked. No other cars in parking lot (on a Monday at noon). After a short distance, cross the river on two logs - one is at torso height so you can hold on as you cross. After this point, find the trail and go left, immediately into switchbacks and some climbing. The trail is a little brushy, and there are some blowdowns, but really not too difficult to navigate safely. For an unmaintained trail, it was in rather good shape. There is not much water on this trail until nearing Mazama park in the last of several large creekbeds. This may not last long, so be sure to carry enough water to get you to the tarns by Park Butte or past the horse camp where you may find water. Climbing up to Park Butte, we spotted our first two legged critters of the day. They said no one was in the lookout so we continued up after stopping at the tarns to fill our water again. Sure enough the lookout was empty but we were joined no more than 20 minutes later by a solo hiker, and again after nightfall by another solo hiker. It was rather warm so we slept on the walkway around the lookout and enjoyed the stars and the sunrise. Hiking on to Elbow lake on day 2 was easy enough. Only saw 2 hikers this day as well, and had all of Elbow lake to ourselves. Hiking out on day 3 was also easy, and more water available this side. Near the trailhead, there is another river crossing on 2 logs, which were partially wet and smooth. Proceeding slowly across, we had no trouble. Shortly after the crossing, we reached FR 38, dropped our packs, and walked the 1.3 miles to the car at the Ridley creek trailhead. A few berries here and there, a few flowers, nice views everywhere. Incredibly, we found there to be no mosquitos anywhere on this hike! There were a few flies, but not the biting kind.

This was my second time to Park Butte, and it did not disappoint. I did not go to the lookout, views at the tarn were lovely and a great lunch spot. The drive to the trailhead was good, even for a sedan, though there are some bumpy spots & potholes, so one just needs to watch for those & take it slow. I arrived late morning, and there were still a few parking spots left. There were some large groups hiking the trail this day, and so didn't get much solitude for a mid-week hike, though most of the crowds headed up to the lookout and bypassed the tarn.

Found: stuff sack full of spices. If you lost one, let me know the details and I'll see if I can get it back to you. This is a great network of trails for a 3-day, 2-night backpacking trip. We drove up on Friday night and car-camped at the trailhead. Reading the trail description, we expected a bunch of sites. There were only a couple, but luckily we were able to get one. On Saturday, we hiked down to Mazama Camp, setup tents, and then hiked up to Park Butte. The views were impressive in all directions. We hung out up there for a while waiting for the clouds to leave Mt. Baker. They stuck around until about 30 minutes after we made it back down to Mazama Camp. At least we had a nice view for dinner. There is a small stream that makes a good water source. There is a bathroom at Mazama Camp, but for some reason the sign had been removed. We had to do a bit of searching, but managed to find it. The trail to it starts next to the shelter. There was a bathroom sign and some freshly split chunks of logs next to the shelter, so I used those to mark the trail to the bathroom. The next morning we headed up to Railroad Grade. This is an amazing trail, but might not be great for people afraid of heights. The entire way is along the top of a ridge, with a sheer drop-off on one side. There are a couple of places where the trail is a little eroded in that direction, but for the most part the footing is good. On the way up Railroad Grade, we discovered a much nicer place to camp. My wife hung out to claim the site while my friend and I went back and packed up the tents. We got back shortly before the clouds cleared from Baker, and had an amazing view during dinner, into the evening, and the next morning. Strangely, this campsite was much warmer than the one down at Mazama Camp, despite being several hundred feet higher in elevation. There is a small pond that we used as a water source. We also pumped water from a small pond at the top of the Railroad Grade Trail near Sandy Camp, and found that to be much tastier. The one downside of the camps on Railroad Grade is that there is no easily accessible bathroom. The closest one is 15 minutes away, which seems like an oversight on the part of the land managers. The next day we hiked out via the Scott Paul Trail. Again, I was impressed both by the beauty of the trail and by how different it was from the previous days' trails. The suspension bridge was especially fun, though people who are afraid of shaky bridges with open sides might disagree. The trails were generally in great condition. However, there were a couple of blowdowns on the Scott Paul Trail, including one rather large one.