Super beautiful hike. Did it as a 3 day 2 night adventure which was a good amount of time. Lots of side trails so could easily go for longer. Was able to scramble/hike up some of the peaks just off the trail including Emerson peak, Kodak peak, Portal Peak, and Johnson Peak. Would recommend doing at least a couple of those got 360 views from the top. Coule see several peaks for a lot of the hike including Mt. Glacier, Rainier, and even Mt. Baker from Johnson Peak. Lots of good camping spots along the way. Was at least trickling water in most areas. Don't need to carry water up the ridge but might just need to hike 0.5 miles off on some side trails to find water and good campsites.

A couple spots in the road were pretty rough my 2006 Subaru Outback bottomed out a couple times but I saw other smaller cars at the trailhead that made it.

An aborted, but still very enjoyable overnight on this loop. 

I've had this hike on my list for six years, and after plans to do a different three-day hike fell through, I decided at 11pm (literally the eleventh hour) Thursday night to give the White Pass loop a shot. 

After stopping at the bookstore in Darrington for a couple of shots of espresso and a map (both very important), I headed for the trailhead. The road is largely OK, except for two spots where a high clearance vehicle is necessary. Other trip reporters say they've scraped the bottom of sedans; I believe it.

Started down the trail at 11:15. I'd had some trouble on my last backpacking trip due to the combination of my leather hiking boots, an uber-heavy pack, and heat, but I figured it was cooler this weekend, and my pack was a little lighter this time. Plus, I knew I had a lot of daylight, so I took it easy on the 6-mile flat part, hiking briskly but not so quick that my feet would get hotspots before the grueling climb I knew was coming. 

The North Fork trail is in great shape. I saw a friend who works on the Darrington trail crew when I came out of my hike and he said they've been there three times this year. It shows. Most of the trail is in great shape. I cleared one drain on the way up and one on the way down, but that was largely preventative maintenance. 

At Mackinaw shelter, I took a break, refilled water and headed up the trail. It took me a long time to get up those 3.5 miles of climbing. It was 2pm by the time I got to Mackinaw, so it was really hot heading uphill, and I took a rest at each switchback. My pace was roughly 1 mile per hour, with lots of breathing breaks in the shade. My pack felt way too heavy, and my feet were extremely sore. During my breaks I didn't even have the energy for berries, which were everywhere. It was around the 12th switchback that I decided I need to get a new pack. It's the only thing that has changed in my setup in the last year, and it's made two hikes that should have been only challenging extremely strenuous. 

Finally, I made it out of the switchbacks and completed the traverse to White Pass, which was stunning. The forecast had called for clouds and showers in the afternoon, so I was very thankful that the weather held off. I'd watched clouds blow in as I climbed, but luckily they simply added to the drama when I got to the top. 

I got to the camps at White Pass at 5pm. I wasn't feeling great, so I had some salty snacks and chilled out for a second, then set up my tent. I had a big dinner, and thought about my planned hike. I didn't think I could carry my pack for the next two days with all my food and gear, so I was considering just doing a day hike from White Pass on Saturday and heading back down Sunday.

Using the WTA Trailblazer app was key as I considered this. From it, and the five trip reports that were cached in the offline version, I learned that the Blue Lake High Route was tricky, and the detour around it added four miles to the hike. That cemented my decision; I hadn't seen anyone else heading up (six people heading out though) and I didn't much feel like doing that high route alone. 

So I decided to day trip to Foam Creek Basin and Red Pass the next day. But when Saturday arrived, it was dead silent in the morning. I opened my tent to clouds and fog -- I think I was in  a cloud. I hung around camp for a while, having some berries with breakfast and lounging, waiting for it to clear, but by 10 30am it hadn't and I decided to go home. 

The way down was largely uneventful (unless you count more foot pain an event), but I did accomplish my goal of collecting berries for the season! I got about 3/4 of a Nalgene's worth of them, and just had some of them in pancakes this morning! 

It was a gorgeous trip, and I'm glad I got up there, even if it's just for one day. It was actually really nice to have the flexibility to change plans a few times -- I'm not disappointed in leaving early, and I've planned lots of possible routes through here for next season, when I have a lighter pack and stronger feet. 

Ventured out for a two night overnight along the Pilot Ridge Loop. Here are some highlights from the ~30 mile trip:

Day 1 - Trailhead to White Pass (Saturday, Sept 1)

• Forest road 49 was no problem. Some potholes and ruts, but passable by most vehicles with a bit of clearance. 
• Trailhead was full of cars at 10 AM when we arrived. We encountered several groups planning to climb Glacier Peak and others planning to head north on the PCT.  
• Hiking along Sauk River was pleasant, shaded, and mostly flat. 
• We took a good rest after ~5 miles at what used to be the Mackinaw Shelter. It's completely collapsed now. There are some nice campsites here with access to the river where we pumped water. 
• The switchbacks leading up to White Pass were brutal as we had read and exposed to the afternoon sun. We went slowly and took many breaks to regulate our body temperature. Gorgeous hillside though with wildflowers and blueberries galore.
• Before reaching White Pass we found about three little streams of water crossing the trail. Plenty for pumping water again. 
• We found established camping below White Pass with a water source. Many parties had already arrived so we snagged one of the few remaining sites in the trees. Others who arrived after us had to camp out in the open. 
• Watched an incredible sunset and turned in.

Day 2 - White Pass to Blue Lake (Sunday, Sept 2)

• Woke to see the sunrise from White Pass with views of Sloan Peak in the distance (pictured below). 
• Enjoyed a wonderful day of ridge walking along the PCT and Pilot Ridge Trail. More heather, wildflowers, marmots, and blueberries. 
• Did a quick side scramble up Kodak Peak and had incredible views of Glacier Peak, Indian Head, and even Mount Rainier!
• Chose to take the high route to Blue Lake which involved less mileage but more steep uphill switchbacks. 
• Once at the saddle of the high route it's a very steep, dusty downhill to Blue Lake - poles are definitely recommended here. 
• After a hot day on the exposed ridge, Blue Lake sparkled like a blue gem. We jumped in to cool off and found a great campsite near the water. It was another crowded night of camping with all sites taken, but folks were quiet and respectful of their surroundings. 

Day 3 - Blue Lake to Trailhead (Monday, Sept 3)

• Got an early start to make our way back to the trailhead. From Blue Lake, we saw no water until we were back at the river so pump what you need before leaving the lake.
• From Blue Lake the trail climbs steeply to the ridge again. Lots of pleasant, open ridge walking but then there's a few miles of downhill which were tedious and painful on the knees. 
• Lots of fascinating mushrooms to look at - many I'd never seen before.
• Once back the Sauk River, there's a log bridge to cross and then it was 2 quick miles back to the car. 
• Celebratory burgers and shakes at Burger Barn in Darrington of course. 

This is a wonderful loop trip. I’ve been wanting to do it for several years, and am so glad I finally did. I headed out over Labor Day weekend. I had plenty of company. The trailhead parking lot was full when I arrived about 10 a.m. I parked at a wide spot in the road a bit back from the trailhead, along with another vehicle. I saw from the trail log that many folks were planning the same loop. 

The road was in better condition than I’d seen it on my last trip. I was glad I didn’t have my passenger car, but was fine in my decent-clearance SUV.

I did the loop almost exactly as described in this trip description. The climb up from the Sauk to the ridge is long and hard. It also had a lot of huckleberries and marmots. (Although I never once saw one, I heard many.) I turned my fingers, teeth and tongue bright purple with berries. Seriously, the berries on this whole loop were incredible. The start about halfway up the climb to the ridge and were nearly everywhere for most of the trip.

I chose not to stay at the White Pass camp because I could tell from up above it that it was already very full and a few more groups were hiking down. But it does look like an excellent camp and it has a new toilet, which is super.

 I continued south on the PCT and stayed near Reflection Lake, along with a couple PCT thru-hikers that I chatted with briefly.

Note: Previous hikes had tried to burn the packaging for freeze-dried food in the campfire ring here. Then they'd held it down, kinda, in place with logs. PLEASE. These bags do not burn. And when the don't burn, instead of a nice, easy empty bag that you could carry out as trash, you get a nasty mess that is half burned. It was starting to blow around and it looked like animals had chewed it in a couple places. I packed it all up in trash bag, but it was gross and I grumbled about it. So. Don't burn trash. Pack it out. Please. Thank you. #LeaveNoTrashOnTrail

I continued south the next day and then headed over the high route to Blue Lake. I was a bit leery of this route from the trip description here. But I told myself I could turn around at any point and take the alternative route. The trail up to the high route slumps in many places, so you’ll want to move carefully. I’m not crazy about exposure, and this trail did make me move slowly. It’s on a steep slope, so it always feels slightly like the ground is falling away below you. (But, like I said, I don’t love exposure.) The route was always easy to follow, but it is crumbly in a few places and I need to use my hands a number of times on the final climb up.

 The route down was similar. Easy to follow but somewhat crumbly. Blue Lake was very full. Probably at least 15 groups, at my best guess. It’s truly gorgeous though. I took a quick wade and then headed downhill to Little Blue Lake. I was delighted to discover a group packing with llamas. Llamas! I was also thrilled to discover that Little Blue Lake is actually three lakes, one flowing into the next, each one smaller than the last. It’s a lovely spot and there were only two groups there, the llama group and myself.

I enjoyed watching the picas on the rock field near the smallest lake. More a pond, really.

On the final day, I climbed back up to head out Pilot Ridge. The trail looks easy on the map, but in fact it goes up and down A LOT. I did take the side trip to Johnson Mountain, which had a few spots of exposure I wasn’t crazy about, but I never felt it was dangerous. There’s a tiny scramble at the very end, just a dozen feet or so. I enjoyed hanging out at the former lookout site and watching the fog roll below me.

The trail on Pilot Ridge is clearly the least traveled of this loop. It’s slumping in places, although always easy to follow. The descent down from the ridge is extremely steep and long. In a few places, old log bridges are rotting away and area a bit slick. Bring poles. (I didn’t. More on that in a bit.)

The river crossing back to the main trail was probably shallow enough to wade. I suspect it would have been a bit over knee deep and it wasn’t too fast or wide. However, there are a number of logs that you can cross on. I chose the one downstream of where the trail hits the river. I had to do a bit of rock hopping/scrambling to reach the log, but it was very wide and easy to walk across once I got up there. At the end of the log, it’s a small scramble to get down. Watch out for the huge hole a couple steps after the log. It took another small scramble to get over that.

Other than the issue mentioned here, trail is in great condition. Lovely trip.

If you just wanted to know about the trail, that’s it. If you’re curious about my goal of backpacking all year, carry on.

I technically missed my August backpacking trip. I’d had a trip planned, but the smoke was just so bad, I scrapped it. So technically, I missed my goal by one day. I started this trip on the first day of September. Close enough for me.

After backpacking all year, I thought I’d worked out most of the kinks in my method. But I learned a few new lessons on this trip. I guess you never stop learning!

Here’s a few things I learned on this trip.

1. I need to check my socks. I wear toes socks. And I somehow managed to bring two right-foot socks. Shockingly, this doesn’t work well. So, I wore one toe sock and one regular sock. This allowed me to test out my theory about blisters. I have theorized that I don’t get as many blisters on my toes when I get toe socks. Turns out this is very true. My right foot was great for the whole trip. Left foot got a few minor hot spots and one really annoying blister on my big toe.
2. I need to bring poles. I don’t usually hike with poles, but forgetting them on this trip was a huge mistake. My knees are still kind of sore from all that descending the last day. With poles, the last day would have been a lot easier.
3. I need to pitch my tent properly. The first night, I was very lazy when I put on the rainfly. The weather suggested a tiny chance of rain, so I figured I’d be fine. Wrong. About 2 a.m., I woke up to the sound of rain. When I finally got up for real (after hanging out in bed for a long time waiting for the rain to stop) I discovered a large puddle under my tent, between the footprint and tent floor. Thankfully, no water got inside my tent. Good tent! When I finally exited my tent I discovered it had not been raining at all. The tree I was under had been collecting water vapor from the clouds that were rolling up the hill, and turning it into train. A few feet away, out from under the tree, the ground was perfectly dry.

Had planned to hike the Devils Loop this week but trail closures due to wildfire changed our plans and we were glad we found this loop, it was glorious!  Read a couple trip reports from last year that has some less than complimentary descriptions of the trail conditions but it appears that a lot of work has been done on the trail, trail to White pass from the N. Fork Sauk TH is in excellent condition and more work was being done on the PCT while we were up there, and it was a very well maintained trail.  The trail from Curry Gap where is leaves the PCT and heads over to Blue lakes is where it gets a bit rougher, but appropriately so.  The Pilot Ridge trail from Blue Lakes back to the trailhead appears to have had a lot of TLC, the tread is good and looks like it has been freshly benched in the last year or so.  Nothing you can do about the relentless downward switchbacks, they are miserable, but it can't be helped (zip line anyone?) We were happy to come down on a dry day because they would have been quite slippery in the rain.

We spent 5 days and four nights on this loop for a total of nearly 50 miles with side trips included.  Day 1 was short, from TH to McCauley shelter (it has collapsed, but its an excellent campsite).  Day 2 we headed up the switchbacks in the rain (our only rainy day) to the camps below white pass.  We arrived wet and cold (hadn't got the rain gear on quite soon enough), made camp and spent the rest of the day in our sleeping bags huddled up to nalgene bottles of boiling water.  Day 3 the sun came out and we were treated to a very dramatic lifting of the fog.  Headed out along the foam creek trail to the climbers route to Glacier Peak and did a loop that took us past the toe of the glacier and back out to the PCT about 2 miles north of Red Pass.  It was amazing, not very well marked so if you do it GPS makes it easier.  If the fog had rolled back in while we were up there it would have been impossible without GPS, but we were fortunate with the weather and used GPS only to find the best route.  Surprised by what I think was Long Eared Owl, never seen one in a glaciated landscape before, he (or she) was gorgeous.    Day 4 we went to Blue Lakes, this was probably the toughest day.  We opted not to take the high route and instead used the 4 mile bypass onto Bald eagle to get there and were glad we did, when we got to Blue lake and saw what we would have had to come down on the high route we were surprised that it was possible.  A couple of young men were also camped there and had come over the high route and said it was really difficult and that there were a couple of spots where they really wished they were not on it.  Day 5 was a long walk out but beautiful views, lots of good views of Glacier Peak.  We went up Johnson mountain as a side trip and it was amazing, really is a must do.  Ended with Pizza at Omega Pizza in Granite Falls, highly recommend.