Sulpher Mt is one of those hikes I have always passed up on my way to the more familiar hikes near by on the Suiattle River Road. I finally remedied that omission today. The trail is approx 5 miles to the viewpoint at 6100'. 4,000 altitude gain - mostly in woods. Views appear only at trail's end but they are worth the wait. Great views of Glacier Peak, the western end of Miner's Ridge, Pilot Peak, Sulpher Mt, Lime Ridge etc. The meadows at the final view point are wonderful. A great place to drop your pack and view the surrounding peaks. It's probably a good thing that this trail is so seldom used or this meadow would probably be ruined. The trail is in fair shape in spite of the fact that it seems to be seldom used but the trail gets pretty thin near the end and needs to be widened. There were a few snow patches near the top but they will be gone soon. Only 1 major tree across the trail - near the end of the trail. No problem for hikers. After the first 1/4 mile there is no flowing water at all. All water must be carried.

I headed out to the Suiattle river Rd for the 2nd time in 4 days due to an invite from Kim. We hiked Milk Creek on Sunday and had such a grand time we thought we revisit the area again. The Sulphur Mtn TH is the same as Milk Creek. The junction is a short 5 minutes up the trail and quicky, very quickly doesn't looks any time whipping your arse. It's up, up, up. what else can I say. The first 600 or so feet is a tolerable grade of steepness. Then, just when your lungs are ready to be coughed up and when the lactic acid is burning in your quads the grade eases up just a bit. Right about the time you've regained your breath and are questioning your sanity the grade goes steep again. And boy do I mean steep. This is some of the steepest grade I've seen on a trail in quite a long time. The 'trail' is following the ridge and is attempting to take you to the crest at roughly 6000'. The arse whipping switchbacks (I'm guessing there are 80 or so) ease up at about 4900'. Before reaching the top of the switheroos we encountered solid snow at about 4500'. No problem, just look for the blazes, cut logs, and level trail platform buried under snow. That trick worked for a while and then out came the compass and map. We heded for a not at the top of the ridge (marked 6000' on the GT map). Never made it though. There were only us two chicks and without much relief with step kicking the quads finally gave out at about 5600'. Well...maybe not. What lay ahead as a very large boulder field and it was getting late (1:30PM). So, the two chicks decided to take in the spotty views of Box Mtn and Grassy Pt and take a late lunch before plunge stepping out way back to the trail. This is an trail in amazing shape considering that it looke like it hasn't been maintained in several year. There was a lot of blowdown on the lower stretch of trail that had been cut out. But, above 2600' the blowdown took out at least one switchback. The rest of the downed trees were easy enough to get around or over. The trail has sluffed quite a bit in several sections and in others is quite brushy and narrow. If you are up for a huffer of a trip and want to try a new trail you should check this one out. It's worth the sweat. FYI...the mosquitos have started to make an appearance. Stats: 10 miles, 4000' gain, 7 hours.

Hiked up Sulphur - good stuff! Big views of the north side of Glacier Peak - plenty payoff for the big climb. A few blowdowns requiring scramble-overs and end-runs - nothing too athletic though. The ascent requires lots of huffing and puffing, and plenty of water. A few pesky bugs, more than I anticipated. No snow, of course. This is probably not a great trail for beginners - the views are blocked by beautful forest until the top. Lots of cars at the parking lot but they must be on the Suiattle River or Milk Creek trails, as we saw only one other party. We enjoyed a picnic at the point on which the trail ends. We then continued the ridge, scrambling boulders and squeezing past trees, to the top of Sulphur Mountain itself - a fine viewpoint which rounded out our ascent to an even 5,000 feet. Summit Rolos all around! -Dox

On August 3 I led a hike on Sulphur Mountain. The trail was snowfree, at last. There are blow downs, large and small, but not enough to deter hikers up for a very strenuous hike. The tred is soft with plenty of switchbacks, and there is no water after you leave the parking lot beside the river. The views at the top are well worth the effort. It is probably the most impressive closeup view of the north side of Glacier Peak you'll find. We met no one else on the trail all day, perhaps because this hike is not listed in any of the current hiking books I'm aware of. According to our 4 altimeters the elevation gain is more like 4500 ft. than the 4200 listed in the old ""101 Hikes in the North Cascades.""

The Trail is in good shape, with only a few down trees in the lower section. Snow patches near the top. This was an exploratory trip for a Bath lakes traverse next month. Snow still holding high up, but looks good. Beautiful expanse.