The access road has been repaired and is in fine condition. The day was clear with no smoke from the Tumwater canyon fire. Trail was in good shape. no snow. Mosquitoes, Lookout attendant on duty.

The Park Butte Trail has melted out considerably in the past few weeks. On the first section of trail through Schriebers Meadow, there is just one very small patch of snow before Rocky Creek. As of Saturday, there is a footbridge across Rocky Creek. The bridge is slightly upstream of the trail, but there is a sign pointing out the re-routed way. A WTA trail crew was working on this re-route. After crossing the creek, the trail is snow-free and in good condition, except for a few muddy spots and one tree down across the trail, until just before the upper junction with the Scott Paul Trail. At this point, there are intermittent snow patches, all easy to cross. Solid snow begins as you reach Morovitz Meadows. It is generally easy to follow other hiker's boot steps through the snow toward the Railroad Grade Trail. However, on a day like today, which was overcast and somewhat foggy, having some familiarity with the trail system would be beneficial. The Railroad Grade Trail is snow-free all the way to Sandy Camp, and there were quite a few marmots out and about on the trail. A few wildflowers were in bloom as well.

No snow in parking lot; just a little snow in Schrieber’s Meadow (nothing to worry about). No blueberries still in Schrieber’s; probably 3-4 weeks away at earliest. Forest Service was installing new bridge across the washout; was half done at the end of the day. No problems with trails until upper Park Butte/Scott Paul junction. Up to Moritz Meadow, the snow builds on the trail so where it is difficult to distinguish the direction to the lookout. Instead, hiked across snow-covered Moritz to Railroad Grade trail and up to high camp. Plenty of Marmots to be seen.

A little snow in the parking lot and snow on over 1/2 of the hike. No blueberries in Schrieber's Meadow - snow is melting fast though. Booted in pretty well so the trail was easy to follow except for the area at the beginning between Sulphur Creek and Rocky Creek since the tracks through the snow take various routes. No bridge/cable at Rocky Creek (1 mile in) so rock hop across. Switchbacks up the steep hillside have snow in places as well. Upper Morovitz Meadow is all snow - we had a nice lunch and turned around here rather than try for the Park Butte Lookout. Fantastic panorama views on a gorgeous, sunny day. Fine hike if you're comfortable hiking in the snow and crossing a pretty fast creek via the rocks. Lots of Mt. Baker climbers on the trail. We'll come back when the snow is melted out more and head up the trail further.

We set out to camp at Park Butte for the weekend and the trip turned out to more of a Park Bust, for us. As there is very little in the way of recent trip reports in this area I thought I would post one to help out other campers / backpackers (aka people not looking to snowshoe or bag Mt. Baker) looking for more recent information. This, normally, is a beautiful and magnificent hike in late July. We had hoped for a decent trip and a night out under the stars. We thought there would be some snow but were not prepared for long stretches of snow, punching through to our waists, and loosing the trail (what little trail was visible was basically a stream). There were some other hiking groups on the trail but most of them were scaling Baker and not just out for an idyllic weekend jaunt. If you are looking for a summer weekend getaway hike with your low-top shoes, shorts, and lightweight bag; go somewhere else. If you want to hike and camp out here be prepared for camping out in the snow. Hopefully, later in the season the snow will melt and we will return for a summer hike. Oh, and the parking lot for the trail head was only accessible if you have a big truck. We had to park down the road a little ways.