With all the warm weather I thought I would explore the Meadow Mountain Trail, but snow blocked access. Since it was such a nice day I decided to explore the decommissioned White Chuck River Road. Started out a little after 10:00am. The first mile there were quite a few blowdowns and windfall, but after a mile it wasn't to bad. This is not a bad hike. There were waterfalls, forest, peek-a-boo summits. It seemed like a cross between the Meadow Mountain Rd and the North Fork of the Sauk. Quite a few stream crossings and some of them not good for small children or small dogs. You can tell this is the road less traveled and felt like you were in a wild wilderness. Went a little ways past milepost 9 and had to turn around because of snow. There was also a great viewpoint at what I think would be about milepost 8, but no milepost sign. A great day to be out exploring. When I got home I looked at my Glacier Peak map and it looked like the road ended at Owl Creek. I crossed the Owl Creek bridge, so I must have been on the trail, but did not see any signs. Earlier, when heading to the Meadow Mountain trailhead, I saw that the road crews have been clearing the road of blowdowns and windfall as far as the snow.

Started out on the trail at about 10:15am. There were a few spots of patchy snow, but it looked recent and was melting quick. Spring is in full swing here with wildflowers and greenery popping out everywhere. There were quite a few blowdowns and a lot of windfall. The dog and myself only went about 2 miles and the trail was getting pretty grown over. It would not take much for a trail crew to clear this trail, I know there was a lot of damage from the 2003 floods, so I do not know how hard it would be to clear it to the White Chuck road. There were peeks of mountains and you could hear and sometimes glimpse the White Chuck, but the part of the trail I was on did not go near the river. Was back at the car at a little after 12:00pm and headed out to the Old Sauk River Trail. The weather was warm and clear, a great day to be out exploring.

After several "mud fest" hikes in the past couple of weeks, this one turned out differently. The Mountain Loop Hwy out of Darrington had been plowed but there were only narrow travel lanes as we headed for the White Chuck Boat Launch road. My poor little Honda slipped and slid towards the one lane bridge and I called a halt to the driving at the "day use area" at the boat launch. Only boys with big toys had continued further towards the actual trailhead. There were no recent reports and the ones that did exist declared problems with the trail. There was up to 6 inches of snow on the road up to the trailhead but 0 to 4 inches on the trail itself. The trail was easy to follow for the first 2.5 miles or so and then only flagging and a sketchy boot track for the next .5 miles. This led us down to the rivers edge and a nice break area. My GPS showed a trail continuing onward to Dead Duck Creek and beyond but I never found it. Cairns led us along the river for a ways and then the brush closed in and the river was running high. I guess I will have to come back and start at the opposite end of the trail to see where I made my navigation errors. It turned out to be a short hike but at least it was not a mud fest. There were gorgeous views of White Horse back at Darrington.

Meadow Mountain to Owl Creek Loop October 12th to 14th The Short Version This trip was a throwback to the glory days of hiking in the lower White Chuck River. Access to this major Glacier Peak drainage was cut off by the heavy rains of October 2003 and only opened recently by the repair to road 23 and the connection of the Suiattle and White Chuck drainages by the Rat Trap Pass Road (27). Our route starts at the trailhead for Meadow Mountain, passes by Meadow Lake, traverses the ridge line to Fire Mountain, plunges off the ridge onto an ‘on again- off again off’ trail that eventually crosses aUpper Fire Creek. The trail leaves the steep hillside, and crosses a triangle shaped bench southwest before continuing down to the intersection with the obliterated White Chuck River Trail. The one mile section between the Fire Creek Bridge (in perfect condition) and the Glacier Peak Wilderness boundary is treacherous and hiking it requires caution and strength. The White Chuck Trail head parking lot is one mile further west along a section of trail that is in relatively good shape. From the parking lot at Owl Creek a five mile road walk out on the completely decommissioned White Chuck Road back to Forest Service Road 27. We made it a three day trek with time for a couple of awesome side trips along the way. The first half of this hike (Meadow Mountain trailhead to Fire Mountain) would be excellent for any adventurous soul. The trail is well worn and marked well. The second half (Fire Mountain to Owl Creek on the White Chuck Road) is only for those with a lot of confidence in their ability to reconnoiter territory by eyesight , map and compass. It really helps know the area well. The trail disappears under natural bushy and grassy growth and in parts buried by fallen giant timber and washed away with slides and river wear. It is marked as dangerous at Owl Creek trailhead and it is. The Full Story Day One, 10:00 am The trail to Meadow Mountain starts with a 5 mile road walk that is easily travelled and marked. The road is moderate in elevation gain but in clear weather (which we had) you can see rugged White Chuck Mountain behind you. At 1.5 miles the cutoff for Crystal Lake breaks to the left. The next 3.5 miles move between a trail wide enough to walk side by side to single track with heavy forest around. There are several areas where views open up across the river to Pugh, Whitehorse and Spring Mountain with some angle views to Sloan Peak and Glacier Peak. At 5 miles the former Meadow Mountain parking area(now an abandoned campsite) is a good place to water and rest before climbing up. Within 30 feet of the trail head the first of many long steep switchbacks start. The trailhead is unmarked but easy to find. The walk to the Lake cutoff is 2 miles and travels through humbling old growth forest with massive cedar, Doug fir and Hemlock stands. Bear scat, fur and scratching trees were evident from the first 50 steps on the trail and around every corner we expected to see a bear. As you break out of the trees you get the first view of the stunning meadow colors that fill day two. A leaky little creek crosses here and this is the last water for about 3.5 miles. For those planning on sky walking east along the ridge, it’s time to pump water. Hikers going to the lake for the night just keep going. The trail break to the lake is less than ¼ mile from there and the lake is .7 of a mile from the trail break. Heading east the trail starts a series of short climbs to more and more amazing meadows with astounding colors, awesome views of surrounding mountains and valleys. Leave your camera in your pocket, not in your pack, or it will seriously slow you down if you have to keep stopping to pull it out. Every corner is a Kodak moment. As Glacier Peak becomes closer the massive ridges and glaciers become more defined. The trail east continues along the ridge, the meadows to the right falling into the White Chuck River Valley. Incredible colors open up after short climbs around the many smaller ridges that buttress the main ridge to Fire Mountain and beyond. The first water comes about 3.5 miles past the lake turnoff, at the bottom of a steep descent into a large col. There is an excellent camping site on the way out of this col, probably the best one for the rest of the trip. Unfortunately there is no view of Glacier Peak and that is what we were after for the first day. The high valley was beautiful, with steep rock walls towering above a bright green basin. We camped in a level field of grass below the trail. The stars were bright above and the Milky Way was a wide bright stripe in the sky. In the morning we woke before dawn and climbed to the ridge top to watch the sun come up. Day Two About 2.5 to 3 miles past this point there is an opportunity to go off trail, climb about 1000 feet and stand on the top of Fire Mountain. I highly recommend you include this in your trip itinerary. There is the obvious flat spot where the Fire Mountain Fire Lookout Shelter used to sit. Direct lines of site to other former fire lookouts and distance views to Rainer and Baker will keep your head on a swivel. We made some lunch at his spot, climbed and unnamed peak nearby and eased back down to the trail and our waiting packs. The trail is all downhill from here, literally and figuratively. This definitely the turnaround spot for anyone not prepared for extremely rugged travel. Going forward consider any trail you find for the next 5.5 miles a blessing. If it doesn’t have a fallen tree every 100 feet, a miracle. There is water about 2 hours from the base of Fire Mountain tucked into a really sweet col with a decent sized stream coming out of the bottom of a huge rock field. Very picturesque. From here the trail rises the falls, climbs steeply up and then plummets along the side of a steep ridge with numerous trail outages and downed timber. It really wears you down thrashing and tree humping to get over and around the obstacles. Mileage gained slows way down and you need to stay fueled so rest, eat and pump water when you can. Eventually you descend out of the ridge and make it to Fire Creek, though it seemed to take forever. Numerous fallen trees span the sizable Fire Creek, but the air is cold and wet and the logs slick. The vegetation is abundant and full of devil’s club and scratchy berries, watch out. Leggings would be recommended before crossing the river. Once past this point the trail becomes non-existent as you make your way downstream. The trail leaves the creek at about a quarter to one third of a mile, heading to a broad bench some call the Ponderosa. Do not follow close to the creek looking for the trail. It drops quickly and will leave you a steep climb up to gain the bench that runs along the bottom of Glacier Ridge. The flat spot (easily seen from above) is a triangle several miles long with lower Fire Creek at one corner, Upper Fire Creek/Glacier Ridge at another, and Glacier Creek marking the south-east end. Night was falling as we crossed this level but heavily wooded section of trail. The middle of this area was camp for the second night. Moss covered trees and total blackness under the thick forest canopy. We each threw up a single person shelter and then sat in the warm darkness and talked. Day Three The worst part of the trail was saved for the last day as we crossed the Ponderosa and travelled down the seven switchbacks that lead to the White Chuck Trail. About five switchbacks down from the Ponderosa the blow downs were so bad we were forced to forget the trail and just walk in the correct direction to intersect the river. This entailed 45 degree log walks down hill on fallen trees of 6 foot diameter. The option was going back the way we came, no thanks. Eventually even mountains bottom out and we found ourselves on the White Chuck Trail. It was in the same shape as the paths we just came from and it was flat. Climbing over fallen trees is so much easier when it’s flat. Unfortunately for us the first rain in 80 days had started falling and now everything was wet and slippery on top of impassable. After pumping water and a breakfast on Fire Creek, we crossed the bridge and faced two real challenges: a 100 foot trail washout and a 7 foot diameter tree across the trail. We made it past both of them with all our limbs and digits and proceeded out to the White Chuck Trail head parking lot where we fueled up again for the 5 miles still to go. The last leg of the trip turned out to be all bark and no bite. The road has been extremely well decommissioned and is completely vanilla compared the Ben and Jerry’s flavor of the trail from Fire Mountain down. The road would be excellent for mountain biking into the former Owl Creek camp with plenty of dips and doodles where old road culverts have been pulled out and replaced with graceful down and up dips reinforced with new gravel slopes. The loop trip was complete and bragging rights to who did the craziest hike this summer clearly belonged to us. Two brothers met us on the road, offering us a cold drink and we all camped together that night. The trail is most definitely closed for the season with the snow from yesterday and will be waiting for you next September when the last of the snow has melted and spring finally arrives in this remote area. We saw Lupines in full bloom along the way and numerous patches of Bear Grass seen normally in June or July. It was clear that there was heavy snow up here very late in the season. HAPPY HOLIDAYS till next year.

There aren't many current reports on this trail so we weren't sure what to expect. We were pleasantly suprised. While the trail is overgrown in many spots and there are some downed trees to climb over, this hike should be no problem for older children. I would hesitate to bring younger children however, because footing will be an issue. The trail is mostly rocks and tree roots. It's currently covered in fallen leaves making it difficult to see exactly what you are stepping on. The trail follows along above the White Chuck River. At times, you can just hear the river and at times you can see it too. There are a couple spots along the way that provide a nice vista of the river, but I didn't see any good spots that lead down to the river bank. At about 1 mile there is a picturesque little bridge that crosses over Black Oak Creek. Take care, the bridge is quite slippery. About a mile after the bridge, the trail becomes more difficult to determine. We hiked about another 1/8 of a mile and decided it was best to turn back at that point. I did notice tree markers (pink ribbons) that followed along the trail so that was helpful in navigating the way back until the trail became clearer. We didn't see much wildlife other than the occasional bird. We did see a small black mouse. He was too fast to get a picture of though. But the kids enjoyed watching him for the short time he stuck around. We're looking forward to next week's hike. To see more about this hike visit http://1retromama.blogspot.com/2011/10/white-chuck-bench-trail-731-mountain.html .