My first hike up Sulphur Mountain was in 2007. The Suiattle River Road washed out 2 miles from the end in 2003. In 2006 it washed out 11.5 miles from the end. The next year Kim and I bikepacked to the end of the road and camped. The next day we hiked up and down 4700' then biked back out. In 2013 we did it again. This time we would be driving to the end of the road. That left "only" a 10 mile hike with those 4700' of elevation gain. In the few weeks since the road has been reopened I have hiked on the Suiattle River Trail and up to Green Mountain. Kim wanted to return to Sulphur Mountain and I signed on. The days are getting very short so we met in North Seattle at 5:00 am. We picked up Janet and headed north then east to Darrington. There we met Don and Lyn. We headed up the Suiattle River Road to the 1600' end and were the first cars to arrive. We started hiking at 8:15 am. It was a chilly 27 degrees in Seattle and less at the trailhead. Fortunately, the trail is steep enough to warm up a hiker. Nonetheless, I had on heavy gloves and a wool hat to start. On our two previous trips we found the trail to be in pretty good shape. It remained the same this time. There are some trees down. Most are easy to step over. Several require crawling under or climbing over. Probably not more than a dozen on the whole trail. Down low there are spots that go through salal and it needs some brushing. It is not a problem following the trail though. After just a few minutes on the Suiattle trail the Sulphur Mountain route starts steeply uphill. After several hundred fast feet of gain there is a short downhill to a bridge over the only creek on the entire route. This is one dry trail in the summer. Across the creek is the largest blow down. Not huge trees but enough to cover a short segment of trail. It is near the start and would be easy for a work party to clear out next year. The trail soon starts uphill and with one short exception never lets up. Don, Lyn, and Janet took off. Kim had not been doing many hikes with significant elevation gain and we followed at a slower pace. Our pace was steady with just a short break each hour. After the low level salal forest the ground cover abates and eventually almost disappears. This is a dark forest hike. Steep hillside, narrow trail, and very little ground cover. It is different than most hikes I do. That alone makes it an interesting hike. The sound of the Suiattle River is heard on much of the ascent. There was little else to hear or see. Views are non existent for the first 4000' of gain. If you hike this trail you need to make it to the top. The views up there are worth all the pain. Though we had only been on the trail two times we remembered a number of the landmarks. The upside down tree with the big rootball is still there. You hike right underneath it. After some 3000' feet of gain there is a short level stretch. A great place for a break. The climbing begins again soon. Just below 5000' we reached some snow. Just a dusting at first but soon enough to cover the trail. It was never more than 6 or 8 inches deep and generally less. It was a little slick but I did not stop to put on microspikes. The trail to Green Mountain has seen many visitors since the road reopening and that trail is well packed down and icy. Sulfur has seen visitors but not many. At about 5500' we broke out into meadows. Still some trees but now we had views out. There was never a cloud in the sky and the views were terrific. On our first visit there were a lot of clouds. On the second we had good views north but Glacier Peak was in and out of clouds. This day was absolutely clear. At that point I sped up and headed for the top ahead of Kim. The ridge flattens out at a big open viewpoint. A short drop and climb reaches a second bump just some 20 feet higher at just over 6200'. This one is listed as an old lookout site. There never was a permanent building there. The real summit of Sulphur Mountain is farther up the ridge and out of range for most folks in a day. I met Lyn and Janet on top. The wind was minimal. The 39 degree temperature and sunshine made it much warmer than anywhere on the climb up in forest. Don was on the other summit and we all went over there. Dome Peak and Sinister are to the north. Sulphur Mountain is east. Glacier Peak dominates the view to the southeast. Green Mountain is west. I could see Whitechuck Mountain and even Whitehorse Mountain. A really great viewpoint. With all the peaks cloaked in a coat of fresh snow they looked great. I headed back to the other point last and Kim was already there. We had a late lunch. I spent just over an hour on top. At 1:52 pm we headed down. We had three hours of daylight left. On last year's summer trip it took us 3:10 to descend. I figured we would need headlamps but not until the last mile. That was pretty accurate. We hiked down for 18 minutes when we ran into the only other hikes seen all day. One was Rebecca who works with Kim. It is a small world. The trail has a lot of elevation gain and loss but it is smoothly graded. No especially steep sections and few steps. It is pretty easy on the knees with so much elevation to lose. With about a mile to go Kim put on her headlamp. I held out for another half mile. It was pitch black when we neared the creek. Going around the big blowdown I lost the trail and it took a few minutes to find it again. Across the creek, uphill, then the final descent. It was 5:20 pm when we reached the car. A few minutes later the other hikers arrived. We ended up stopping for dinner in Arlington with Rebecca and her husband. This was a fun trip. We had clear sky, great views, and near total solitude. This has never been a very popular trail though the payoff is outstanding. It is a heck of a good workout too. Best of all, we did not have an 11.5 mile bike ride with overnight backpacks at the end. A very cold day but an great late fall day to get up high in the mountains. I have posted 28 annotated photos on my website. A link to them is after the photos below.

With the road recently opened and the promise of fresh snow, I headed up Sulphur Mnt today. It was a beautiful day on the summit, Glacier was out and was stunning. The trail is in need of repair, there are many trees down but only a few that I had to leave the trail for 20-50 ft in order to get around them, the others I could crawl over or under in one case. The trail is also brushy with salal growing up in places in the first 2 miles but was still obvious. Once past that, it was quite apparent the rest of the way. Well, until the snow of course but then it was still easy to tell where the trail was :) Snow on the trail consistently about 1 mile before the summit. About 8-10 inches was the max and that was for the last half mile, on the final approach and over to the true summit. Views were spectacular.

The Suiattle River Road washed out in 2003. Minor Repairs opened it to Downey Creek. In 2006 it washed out further, 10.5 miles from the end. In 2007 Kim talked me into biking to the end of the road, camping, and hiking up Sulphur Mountain. Now, 10 years after the original washout and 7 years after the road was closed 10.5 miles from the end we chose to make a return visit. At long last, after environmental review and another and a law suit and another review repair is finally about to begin. The road will soon be closed for a good part of the next two years as construction goes forward. We arrived at the trailhead Saturday at the not so early hour of 12:15 pm. George accompanied us as far as Downey Creek at 8.5 miles. It was warm but not uncomfortably so. We put as much heavy gear on the bikes as possible and shouldered our backpacks for the ride. While I have done a number of bike rides down the Suiattle Road I will not be sad to see it repaired. So many great trips are just out of reach for those of us with minimal vacation time. Sulphur Mountain is a great strenuous day hike with 10 miles round trip and 4700' of gain from the road end. It is a long strenuous full weekend for most folks now. The ride in is a gentle uphill most of the way. Not steep but hard to maintain a good speed. Much easier on the way out. We stopped at the Buck Creek bridge. The old CCC built campground next to the creek has seen few visitors the last 7 years. That will soon change. We took a long stop at Downey Creek. We were surprised to see some salmon in the river. We bid goodbye to George here and then headed on to the end of the road. The road is narrowing as small alder trees are encroaching on both sides. On last stop at the Sulphur Creek campground. Alder trees have completely filled in the road. This will soon change and families will have a close in place to camp in the mountains once again. At the end of the road we set up camp for the night. The log across the Suiattle that I saw last year is still in place. With the roaring river below I don't think I'd try to cross but it is big enough to walk across if one has the courage. The river only takes up a fraction of the wide riverbed. It is hard to image the flow of water in the big 2003 and 2006 floods. We spent the evening down on the river bank. It was dark by 8:45 pm and we headed to bed. Sunday morning we packed up. Water pumped at Downey Creek the day before was mostly gone. The Suiattle was as much sand as water. Way to milky to pump water. We hoped to find a little water left at the creek a short way up the trail. Just a few minutes down the Suiattle River Trail we came to the Sulphur Creek Trail. It starts out very steeply. The forest is completely covered in moss. A very beautiful section of forest. After about 250' of gain we dropped down to the creek. Calling it a creek is generous. The small creek was still flowing ever so minimally. Enough to pump water. We used every ounce of water we carried. The trail never seems all that steep but it relentlessly gains elevation. There are many switchbacks along the way. The forest is dark with little underbrush. There are no other water courses except for a small seep. That is easy to spot as it is lined with devils club. That is the only place wet enough for them to grow. The dark forest is a natural place for saprophytes. Plants that do not need sunlight for photosynthesis. We saw Indian pipe, candy stick, and several other varieties. Many were past peak but some were going strong. There are half a dozen big trees down across the trail. One we had to crawl under. The others we climbed over. One big tree fell where it crosses the trail three times, right by a switchback. Other than that, the trail is in fine shape. It does get very narrow in spots on a very steep hillside. A slip would not turn out well. Still, with normal care it is fine. We climbed up and up and up some more. Having done it only once I had only a few landmarks remembered. The trailhead is at only 1600'. The old lookout site is at 6200'. We were getting a bit tired when we began to leave dark forest for open forest and sloping meadows. Finally the ridge came into sight. Switchbacking up we finally had our first views of the day. To the west were Green Mountain and Downy Mountain. Far far below lay the Suiattle River. A few minutes later we crested the ridge. Now we could see north and east as well. There were clouds covering much of Dome Peak. The real summit of Sulphur Mountain was in the clear. A last short climb brought us to the top and views over to Glacier Peak. The bottom of Glacier Peak. The rest was in the clouds. Later the top would peek out too. The clouds over Dome and the Ptarmagin Traverse peaks did clear up. Down below us lay Sulphur Lake. That would be the one source of water for backpackers. It was 2:00 when we arrived and we still had 4600' to lose then an 10.5 mile bike ride. We did not have nearly enough time to spend on top. After half an hour we packed up and headed down. We did make much better time coming down. It took about 3:10. The trail is pretty soft and there are very few natural steps and no man made ones. Not that hard on the knees even with all that elevation to lose. Bugs were not too bad though there were some biting flies. They seemed to like Kim more than me. We took lightweight hiking shoes for the biking and they were fine for the steep hike. By 6:20 pm we were packed up and on our bikes heading out. Downhill was very nice. There are a couple hills heading out but we had no trouble riding up them. It took only 1:20 to reach the truck. At 7:40 pm we still had almost an hour of daylight left. My second time up was just as enjoyable as the first. On the first trip the clouds were much thicker. We had only fleeting views. This time only the middle of Glacier Peak was lost in the clouds. I'll just have to come back for those views. When the road is repaired I'll be back for another visit. I have posted 54 annotated photos, including two panoramas, on my website located at: http://www.hikingnorthwest.com. Go to "Trips - 2013" on the left margin.

Looking to do something challenging i decided on Sulphur Mountain. With 10.5 miles of closed road to reach the trail head, then 4ish miles and 4700 feet of elevation gain on the trail...sounds like a backpacking trip. Nope. Day-hiked it. Bicycled in, spun like a mad man to the trail head in an effort to have enough day light for the hike. Some one wrote in sharpie on the trail head sign "bring H2O" This is no joke. I tanked up on 3 liters at the river. On such a hot day and a steep trail 3 liters really was not enough. I was really low on water when i reached the summit. Fortunately there was snow available and managed to collect a slow drip of melt water. There is a small stream crossing 1/4 mile in, too low on the trail to be useful, otherwise there is not a drop of water for collecting, unless there is snow, or you drop down on the other side to Sulphur lake. Views from the summit are jaw dropping. The entire trail is in forest with no views. Views only open up around the last 200 vertical feet. On the bicycle ride out i got a flat tire....had to ride on it. According to the GPS i covered 28miles in 11.5 hours.

Eight and a half years. Wow! It has been eight and a half years since you could drive to the end of the Suiattle River Road. For the last five and a half years it has been a 10 mile walk or bike ride just to get to the old trailheads. Sulphur Creek, Sulphur Mountain, Milk Creek, and the Suiattle River trail. Four trails and a great campground at the end of the road. Off limits to most hikers. A whole generation is growing up since the closure. Kids in third grade weren't even born yet. Such a beautiful area and so hard to get to. That's not even counting the side road to the Green Mountain trail. In the intervening years I have been back there a few times. Once to Sulphur Mountain. and once to Green Mountain. The west side of the Glacier Peak Wilderness is one of the most beautiful places you will ever see. Deep dark forests, high meadows, lakes, and peaks galore. After eight and a half years we are almost ready to regain access to Buck Creek and Sulphur Creek campgrounds, and seven trails. The Forest Service proposes to repair the road to the end. There are two other alternatives. Do nothing and continue with a 20.8 mile round trip to the end of the road trailheads or repair about half the road and have a 9 to 10 mile round trip. It should be clear by now what I would like to see done. The comment period for public comment on the Environmental Assessment (EA) that outlines the three choices is rapidly ending. All comments must be in by April 20th. WTA also supports repairing the road to the end. WTA has a blog post outlining the choices with links to the EA and where to send comments. http://www.wta.org/trail-news/signpost/suiattle-road-environmental-assessment-released I have a thread devoted to help with writing a comment from the fix the road perspective here: http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7997568 It is important for hikers to have their voices heard on items as important as the Suiattle River Road. Regardless of which alternative you support, I hope you folks will take a few minutes to send in a comment. Well enough of that. Before sending in my comment I wanted to see the road once again. Randy had the same idea so we drove east from Arlington then north to just past the bridge over the Sauk River and onto the Suiattle River Road. The paved section is in very good shape. The dirt section could use a little grading. The turn off to the Boundary Bridge is at mile 10 and the road is gated at mile 12.6. From there is was all on mountain bikes. The road is mostly out of sight of the river. It is just in a few places that it is right next to the river bed. The big floods of 2003 and 2006 took out a chunk of the road at the gate. The repair will move the road farther inland to minimize more washouts. The road is still damp making for more work than my previous summer time visits when the harder road surface made for good speed. There are at least a dozen trees down across the road. For the most part branches have been cut off and it's not hard to get over or under them. At 1.8 miles we reached the Huckleberry Mountain trailhead. This is an under used gem of a trail. Evenly graded switchbacks through forest to high meadows near the top. I need to hike it again soon. The Buck Creek campground is next. Build by the CCC during the 1930s it is a gem. Still in very good shape though out of reach of campers since 2006. There are not a lot of forest campgrounds in Western Washington and this is one of the best. The road climbs slowly with a few ups and downs. The map shows 850' of net gain to the end an I would guess about 1200' - 1400' total elevation gain in and out. Not a lot over nearly 21 miles but enough to have us going into low gear a few times. This valley was logged a century ago and in many cases again. Second and third growth forest. At the end of the road is some old growth that makes these trees pale by comparison. Another hill signaled that we were getting near the Green Mountain Road junction. If Alternative C is chosen then the road would end here and a big parking lot would have to be made. The trails are popular with horsemen as well as hikers so a lot big enough for horse trailers and many cars would be needed. Just like the one that is at the end of the road now. A few miles of ups and downs brought us to another washout and the Downey Creek Bridge. The washout is the one place the road cannot be moved far from the river. The Downey bridge is in fine shape there is just no approach. The floods tore out a chunk of the approach leaving the bridge high and dry. For now a dirt and wood ramp get you up to the bridge deck. When the bridge was built fill dirt was moved into the creek bed. The repair plan is to remove all that dirt and add three 70' sections that attach to the old bridge. The 150' wide creek will now be able to flow through the whole 360' wide channel ending a constriction point. The plan was approved by National Marine Fisheries, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and native tribes. The last two miles crosses Sulphur Creek where there was more minor damage as a tree smashed the guard rail on one side and a small gap exists from road to bridge. We encountered snow in two spots near the bridge then the road was bare again. Should be snow free in a week or two at most. At the end of the road the old parking lot is in good shape. Room for horse trailers and many dozens of cars. We had lunch down on the river in bright sunshine. The day began cold and never did get very warm but the sunshine more than made up for it. The ride back was much faster. We stopped at the old Guard Station. This old cabin was a popular rental before the road washouts. I hope it will be again soon. An amazing waterfall on a steep wall of ferns behind the cabin. With most hills behind us the rest of the ride went fast. I'm looking forward to day hikes of Huckleberry, Green, and Sulphur Mountains once again. Camping at Sulphur campgrounds on a Friday night before backpacking the Suiattle River and Milk Creek trails. It has been a long wait. I hope it's almost over. I have posted 18 annotated photos from the trip on my website at: http://www.hikingnorthwest.com. Go to "Trips - 2012" on the left margin.