Debating on searching for larches in the snow or finding fall colors closer to home. After reading several trip reports about fall colors on Mountain Loop I decided on White Chuck Bench. Started out at about 8:30am and was the only one at the trailhead, had the whole trail to myself today. Thanks to WTA work parties earlier this season, this is the farthest I was able to hike on this trail. Crews did a great job and it looks like they are still working on this trail. To me the trail is a wilder version of the Old Sauk River Trail. Plenty of fall colors and peek-a-boo views of the surrounding mountains. Nice easy hike with the dog and took plenty of pics. Was back at the trailhead at 11:00am and decided to go for another hike.

Just a quick report on the Kennedy Ridge and Glacier Ridge trails near Glacier Peak: The Kennedy Ridge trail from the old White Chuck River Trail near the former Kennedy Hotsprings is still in great shape. There are a few blowdowns near the bottom only, but the rest is lonely tread with little impediments to travel. What an interesting ridge it is, too, with sharp dropoffs on both sides, but plenty safe in the forest. There are a few peak-a-boo views of the river far below. The Glacier Ridge trail has been long forgotten. The lookout was decommissioned in 1957. I dropped down the ridge from the PCT and found ancient tread and sawed logs once the trail is in forest. The old lookout building remnants are collapsed in a heap on the ground. I doubt this "trail" gets any traffic any more. There are not any major sights to see, but for the abandoned trail enthusiast it was a fascinating walk down to the lookout site. Since we were in the neighborhood of these olden trails, our group hiked up Lost Creek Ridge, climbed Black Mtn, down to Kennedy Hotsprings, up Glacier Peak via Kennedy Glacier and Frostbite Ridge, down to Glacier Gap, climbed Kololo Peak, dropped to Foam Creek Basin, climbed White Mtn, and hiked out the North Fork Sauk. Wonderful trip!

Look at this fancy new trail in progress! Today we worked on digging down to the actual bench and making a firm trail. It was fun to see how far this project has come since my last work party. The tread is wide, the holes are filled in and the rocks are covered with nice firm soil. Today we worked on carving out trail from the hillside. BIG rocks and wheelbarrows of soil were moved. The most fun was moving a BIG LOG off the trail. We all got on one side and with several 1,2,3 s we managed to push it off the trail with our feet. (all safety precautions were followed). There is a long way to go, but this will be a nice mellow hike when it's done.

Rock On! That seemed to be the theme of the work party today. We worked on a reroute of the trail about 2 miles in. It will switchback up the hill and away from a washed out, difficult to maintain section. We needed to dig down to the mineral soil, for a good solid, non muddy trail. To get to the bottom layer, we first had to dig thru rocks, roots and more rocks. Then we did the rock brigade, handing rocks down the line to fill another area that actually needed rocks for a solid trail. We used a rock sling (at least some strong workers did) to move the big ones. Once we set the rocks in place, we covered them with soil, but we didn't finish. We got wet and muddy, fun times! There is still a lot of work to do, but it will be nice when it's done. If you choose to hike this trail, the blowdowns have been cleared, just don't try to follow the work site trail, it's nowhere near done.

The White Chuck Bench trail is a beautiful walk in the woods along the White Chuck River. Unfortunately it peters out about half way along and the second half of what is hikeable is deteriorating and getting overgrown. The trail starts off a small forest road above the White Chuck boat launch. Go south on the Mountain Loop Highway from Darrington to a sign for the boat launch on the left. Cross a really impressive strong bridge to a junction. There is parking and outhouses at the boat launch area. Go up the dirt road to an upper parking area and signs for the White Chuck Bench trail. The trail starts out with a good tread winding through a pleasant forest of tall trees. It skirts the ledge above the White Chuck River, crosses a sturdy wood bridge, and continues upstream. Occasionally one gets a peek at Mt. Pugh which is still domed in snow. There are several nice overlooks if you step off the trail a short way. After about a mile or so, the trail descends gently down to river level and then it gets lost in underbrush. Not much altitude gain or loss on this path. Green Trails map 111 shows this trail going 6.6 miles to connect with the White Chuck road which apparantly skirts the left bank of the river.