We began our 3 day backpack trip at Chinook Pass and headed north on the Pacific Crest Trail. Some snow at trailhead and again just below Sheep Lake. Meadows and full bloom and trail in good shape. Encountered a large steep snowfield just beyond Sourdough Gap and my niece, Rachel, and I promptly tumbled and slid down it while the guys were able to foot ski down. From there on only minor snow crossings and a few down trees. Still enough snow to have regular water supply. A thunderstorm threatened all afternoon and hit with full force after dark while we were camped below Bear Gap. Saturday we detoured off the crest trail via 967 and 967A in order to avoid some steep north-facing slopes that we feared would have too much snow. This meant extra elevation gain and loss. 967 quite steep and rocky, makes a good stream bed in places. Rejoined Crest Trail at Pickhandle Gap and left it again taking 956 (Union Creek) to avoid more snow. Found a couple of steep gullies full of snow and rock but all passable. Met up with trail 987 and took it through Cement Basin. This area all melted out with the trail disappearing in the middle of some small ponds and climbing steeply back out of the basin. Made camp the second afternoon in bowl above Basin Lake. Still plenty of running water here. Crawled into our tents just before the thunder, rain and hail began. Saw goats, elk and deer in the area. Sunday followed Crest Trail north to intersection with Norse Peak trail and hiked it up to ridge then out to Norse Peak trailhead. Ridge and meadows near Norse Peak melting out rapidly and trail no problem to follow. Total route 16.5 miles, gain ~3000ft, loss ~4700ft.

Trail conditions are the same as reported on July 25th, but here is some campsite information: The first possible is right at the top of the switchbacks. Too close to the road for our taste. The next possibility is about two miles in, before you cross the north fork bridge. (Make sure you take the short spur at the north fork to see the upper falls.) There's a nice campsite at the top of the hill after crossing the bridge. The next campsite we saw is another two miles in, after the trail maintainance ends. Tricky with full backpacks. This campsite is on a flat area in a curve of the creek off to your left. It's hard to find because of blowdowns over the spur trail. This was a far as we went in, the trail never opened up for views. Going as far as the north fork falls is definitely worth it.

We may have run into Bob on the trail. We went in about 4 miles. Very pleasant trail. The melt makes the waterfalls unusually spectacular. We did hear, but not see, elk on several occasions. There were several very large, very new elk tracks on the trail. We also saw fresh bear scat on the trail at about 3 miles in. There were a few blow-downs around 3 miles. Some of them seemed problematical getting around. One for instance required walking several crossed logs. Not that bad, though. It was much easier coming back out. At one point near 4 miles, run off completely took over the trail. We thought we had lost the trail, but agreed, no, that small creek actually was the trail. In all, a pleasant hike. The waterfall viewpoint (the second one from the trailhead) is definitely the better view of the falls.

I can only report on the first 2 miles of this trail, as far as the North Fork of Union Creek (the North Fork bridge definitely doesn't look very safe to take a dog across). In the every-cloud-has-its-silver-lining department, all the late snowmelt does make for nice waterfall action here. This trail was snowfree and without any significant obstacles in the first two miles, and undoubtedly snowfree for some distance beyond as the surrounding ridges were also snowfree. The same cannot be said for Chinook Pass, which might melt out in, say, September.

Trail hikeable approximately three miles in before snow obliterates trail. If you're in the area, we highly suggest the 15 min. walk up the trail from the parking lot to view a beautiful waterfall on Union Creek. Cross the footbridge and hike up switchbacks. Take the second spur to the left down to the base of an impressive waterfall.