I did this north-to-south, going from White Pass to Blue Lake and out.

Mosquitos weren't bad, though you will be visited by flies in the wooded areas of Pilot Ridge and the North Sauk valley floor.  They like to encourage you to move on to prettier bits.

Between people doing the loop and people making for Glacier Peak, the trailhead parking gets crowded.  I came in on a Tuesday afternoon, and couldn't park right at the trailhead.  There's a few more spots on the 1/8mi road between FR 49 and the trailhead, which worked fine.  Coming out Friday night, I passed several groups making for Red Creek and Mackinaw Shelter late in the day.  Sure, it's Friday of Labor Day weekend, which will draw worse crowds than usual.  I'd still do this midweek if at all possible.  Your most crowded campsites will be in the North Sauk valley, where the loop folks and Glacier Peak folks share a path.

There are few reliable water sources right on the trail between Mackinaw and Blue Lake.  There's still more water than you'd think.  On 9/2 I passed usable on-trail trickles half a mile north of Indian Pass and on the east side of Kodak Mountain.  On 9/4 I found trailside snow on the west face of Johnson Mountain, and a trickle about 2 miles above the North Fork Sauk.

If you pass a trickle, consider tanking up.  There's a number of gorgeous dry tent sites between Indian Pass and Dishpan Gap, several unmarked.  If you've lucked into a trickle and got stocked up, you'll have the option of taking a dry site.  Plus, if you stopped short of Blue Lake, you'll get to Blue Lake early, and maybe have it to yourself for a bit.

The Johnson Mountain summit trail is narrow.  I have very big feet and managed fine, though I was paying extra attention in the upper half of it.  I didn't find it as sketchy as I'd heard.  If narrow trails make you nervous, pass.  Otherwise, mind the footing, and enjoy a nice summit.

Blue Lake is full of trails between campsites, which makes it tricky to figure out which trail leads on to Johnson Mountain.  If you're having trouble, go find the sign for the latrine.  Face that sign.  The arrow should be pointing to your right.  Turn around, 180 degrees, and go down that trail.  It will bend a bit, then you'll see a branch that leads downhill, dropping away from Blue Lake.  Take that branch.  That will lead you to the junction on the map.  From there, wayfinding is easy.

Ideally you'd do this hike with an extra day's food so you can do some more exploring of the branches off the PCT, or just take a rest day someplace nice.  It's great up there!  There's still some wildflowers out, and it's prime huckleberry season.

Found: sleeping pad. 425-530-2358

I hiked this just as the description suggests, heading up to White Pass, then continuing on the PCT to the Bald Mountain Trail junction at Dishpan Gap, camping there, then down to the Blue Lakes before getting on the Pilot Ridge trail back to the North Fork Sauk. It wasn’t difficult to navigate using only the WTA description—junctions were marked with signs except for the Blue Lakes High Route, which is marked with a cairn of sticks, and the log across the North Fork Sauk river at the end of the Pilot Ridge trail is flagged (and not a scary crossing—nice and low). The junction for the Pilot Ridge trail at Blue Lake took a little bit of trial and error to find because there are lots of little trails through the camping area—cross the stream and then angle left (The toilet is also down and to the left) and you’ll start walking down in the direction of Little Blue Lake, but there will eventually be a signed junction to continue toward Little Blue Lake or to head up the hill on your right. The road in was fine for my Ford Focus. The trail was in great condition, two or three big logs to climb over on the Pilot Ridge trail. I did take the Blue Lakes High route and going in that direction it wasn’t too scary, but I was happy to have trekking poles. No snow or anything. I was too much of a pansy to make it to the top of Johnson Mountain, just because it was such a narrow trail on such a steep ledge (heights!). Poles would be great for that trail too. I was glad I went at least partway up Johnson Mountain before turning back because the views were truly spectacular. I lucked out with the weather. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful trail. There are still many pretty wildflowers up there, especially the lupine on the ridge going up toward Johnson mountain—the sound of the bees was deafening. The en masse flower shows in some spots are definitely past their peak but the huckleberries are starting their seasonal show, and there are lots of berries. There were several groups of hikers when I was going in on Tuesday but coming out on Wednesday I had the trail to myself after leaving the approximate vicinity of the Blue Lakes. The Pilot Ridge trail was especially stunning but arduous to eventually climb down—it would be a terrific leg stretcher to hike up, however in cool forest all the way. I would probably do it in the opposite direction next time, but six to one half dozen the other. I didn’t have issues with bugs even though there wasn’t much wind—couple of biting flies. Saw several ptarmigans (I think?). All in all, pretty perfect conditions. I originally planned to do it in three days but I pushed myself to get in and out in two because my 17-month-old son hadn’t been away from mama overnight yet. But for me it would have been more pleasant to follow my original plan. Camping was nice at White Pass and Blue Lake as the description suggests and there were some nice spots around (I think) Indian Pass, but not much between Blue Lakes and the trailhead, a couple wide shady spots in the trail for a small tent before finally some good spots all the way down on the river—you might as well get back to your car at the point!

A group of late 20s adventurous women set out to do the White Pass-Pilot Ridge Loop on a Thursday. Make sure to park at the North Fork Sauk Trailhead--we met some sad folks who had not parked here and started a bit down the road, leaving them with about 3 miles to walk to get to their car at the end of their loop. Getting a late start from Seattle, we decided to camp at Red Creek Campground the first night about 4 miles from the trailhead. The campsite is expansive and has easy access to water. Met some COVID deniers there who were friendly nonetheless, but we hightailed it out of camp in the morning and lost them in our dust! 

After getting up some gnarly switchbacks and emerging from the forest, we were treated to some pretty awesome mountain views. We were pretty socked in, so no views of any gargantuan peaks. We also had our first glimpses of marmots, one of which stepped out on the trail in front of us for a bit after leaving his perch on his lookout rock. We ran into lots of fresh blueberries, a staple throughout the loop. 

Once you're above the tree line (mostly), the trail flattens off. White Pass campground came into view, and we hustled down there since we had been caught in some rain and wanted to get dry and take a well-deserved break after huffing it up 3000 feet. We considered hiking to Indian Pass campground another 5ish miles away, but decided against it since it was very windy and wet. Because we had done the ascent to White Pass in two days rather than one, we were the first to campground other than a PCT thru-hiker. We sat bundled in our warm gear greeting the folks who did the trek in one day. It seemed like the campsites got pretty full by the end of the day, and one group did set up in full view of the toilets. But, it appeared that there was enough space for everyone. 

The next day the clouds had cleared and the sun peaked out, illuminating giant valleys on the opposite side of the campground as we emerged back up on the ridge. The hunt for Glacier Peak views began. We were treated to huge open fields of wildflowers of lupine (and bees, one group member got stung) and awesome views. Once you're up on the ridge, you live the good life of a relatively flat trail and awesome things to look at.

Other reports do a better job of describing how to get to Blue Lakes. I will add that I almost missed the turn off--the sign requires you to walk down the trail a bit and I almost continued on my way down the PCT. We suppose this was Dishpan Gap, although we didn't see any trail markers. It's a sharp right turn almost backtracking right after you see the small but sweet campsite overlooking the valley below nested in some trees. The sign clearly says "Blue Lakes" and I believe Bald Eagle Trail. Once we made this turn, we passed a clearing about .25 miles up the trail and saw Glacier Peak through the clouds! It's astounding. We sat there for about 30 minutes staring at it. 

When we were staying at our first campsite, an older guy chatted with us about the sketchiness of Blue Lakes High Route and spooked us. However, we ran into some other well-prepared folks who seemed confident about it so we decided to do it. I am pretty seriously scared of heights and tend to trend towards taking the long way vs. taking the short, steep, spooky way, but I have to say the High Route was no problem. It is definitely physically strenuous--you go up rather quickly and it's pretty exposed, so trekking poles helped. The "knife-edge ridge" described in a report I read on the Mountaineers site is only about 4 steps and then you're back on normal trail. At this time of year (late August) there was no snow on the trail and it was easy to navigate. We did a bit of surfing down scree, so again poles are helpful. Overall, without the snow the high route was definitely the better option for us and wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be. We had one group member take a tumble off the trail right as we entered the campsite, so just watch your step (she pulled herself back up in a very Mission Impossible way). 

The latrine is hard to find at Blue Lakes but it exists! We even think there might be two separate ones. Just follow the trails back behind some of the taller trees and you will find it. We camped on the southern part of the lake and didn't have lake views from our campsite, but had some great mountain views. 

Despite this day being about 10 miles and including the high route, our last day from Blue Lakes to the TH definitely felt like our longest. We left camp at about 9 am and didn't get to the TH until about 5:30. The trail gets a little up-and-down as you get about 2 miles away from the switchbacks going down. Often we felt we were on the final descent only to start climbing again. No complaints as we had views of Rainier and even Mt. Adams. After your final descent back in the forest, you enter the land of switchbacks. My knees were squawking, but the poles saved me. We did the river crossing without event, although lost a much-loved trail hat to the river. The crossing was a big fallen tree over some relatively fast-moving water, which provided a final adrenaline rush. After passing two campgrounds, you'll meet up with the same trail you walked in on--take a left to head back to the parking lot and snag your end-of-trip beer from the cooler. 

First solo backpacking trip, spent exploring Glacier Peak Wilderness! 4 days, 3 nights, roughly 40 miles between Aug 20-23 2020.

Day 1: Bald Eagle TH -> unofficial campsite ~2 miles from TH (~2 miles)
Day 2: Bald Eagle trail -> Lower Blue Lake area (~10 miles)
Day 3: Lower Blue Lake -> Upper Blue Lake -> Dishpan Gap -> PCT to White Pass -> Red Pass -> Glacier Peak Meadows area -> back to Red Pass (~15 miles)
Day 4: Red Pass -> North Fork Sauk TH -> Road walk to Bald Eagle TH (~13 miles)

With the husband preoccupied with grad school stresses, I thought I'd take advantage of work flexibility to do my first solo backpacking trip, and landed on Glacier Peak Wilderness after reading MeLuckyTarn's and KatnissEvergreen's inspiring trail reports. Highly highly recommend this loop!

Details:
-Bald Eagle Trail to Blue Lakes: as others have reported, this trail is quite brushy but somehow still very easy to follow. Note that there are no campsites until Curry Gap. I decided to hike in on Thursday night to get a jump on the mileage and ended up camping in a grassy section right off the trail, but would not recommend this; if you can't make it to Curry Gap (where the campsites begin), I'd recommend car camping near the trailhead, since there are lots of established spots along the way (you could also camp in the stock unloading area 1/4 mile from the trailhead). The Bald Eagle trail has a different vibe than the North Fork Sauk trail; it reminded me of hiking back in Pennsylvania. Less mossy and ferny, more dry, with nice intermittent views of meadows which you don't get on the North Fork Sauk trail. I spotted a bear about 50 feet down the ridge, but it ran away as soon as I clanged my hiking poles together. The incline beat me up more than I thought it would, maybe because I was carrying more than usual? I was relieved to make it to the ridge, where you can see one of the Blue Lakes sparkling below (the Lower lake, I believe). I followed the trail sign (indicating the Pilot Ridge trail, I think) down, leaving the Bald Eagle Trail, which I'd rejoin farther on the next day. The descent to the lakes felt a little long but soon I got to what I thought was Lower Blue Lake, a little bemused by the size (I later learned that this was, in fact, NOT Lower Blue Lake, but an unnamed tarn). This was a wonderful place to camp and I didn't see a single person the rest of the day. By this time it was about 1:30pm, and I was originally thinking I'd take a break here for lunch and move on, but it started to rain and I decided to set up my tent rest for an hour. One hour turned to many as the gentle but steady rain continued and I luxuriated in creature comforts: a hot midday coffee (made under my vestibule), a perfectly smushed PB&J, my clean dry socks, and a good book. The rain let up enough for me to take a few soaks in the tarn, but not enough to entice me to pack up everything I had so cozily set up, so I stayed for the night, spending the afternoon reading saved trip reports and calculating mileage for the rest of the hike. By evening fog enveloped the tarn and after a good dinner I was lulled to sleep by the duet of bubbling stream and soft rain. Perfection!

-Blue Lakes to Dishpan Gap: In the morning I packed up and continued on the trail, passing another tarn and then what I soon realized was the "real" Lower Blue Lake. This entire area (Lower Blue Lake + tarns) has many cool camping sites, either near the water or more protected in the woods nearby. Very worth exploring to find the perfect spot. I continued to ascend until I arrived at Upper Blue Lake, which only had two groups set up from the night before (from what I could see). Upper Blue Lake is really interesting, and seemed to have an upper and lower portion with different camp sites to explore, with all sorts of spots on the shore, off in the woods, and along different overlooks. The high route back up to the ridge to meet up with the Bald Eagle trail was just as intense as others described, and definitely a lung burner to start the day, but the views looking down at Upper Blue Lake were honestly incredible. The trail to Dishpan Gap is along a ridge and quite cool, though I couldn't see the views well because of persisting clouds.

-Dishpan Gap to White Pass: Once at Dishpan Gap, you take a hard left to get on the PCT and make your way to White Pass. The trail here is an array of amazing ridgeline views and meadows (plus lots of berries ripe now, especially after passing Indian Pass). I was invigorated by lots of delightful, quick passing chats with the 6-7 solo and group hikers who had camped at White Pass and were heading to Blue Lake, including some former PCT thruhikers and several solo female backpackers (including an older women who was completing a ten day solo trip!). Also passed several trail runners doing the White Pass-Pilot Ridge loop, super impressive! I made it to White Pass around 1 and took a break at a clearing/former camp spot (no more camping on the ridge is allowed) right next to the split between the North Fork Sauk trail/PCT and Foam Creek.

-White Pass to Red Pass to Glacier Peak Meadows and Back: I continued on the PCT/North Fork Sauk trail until reaching the noticeable split where the PCT ascends to Red Pass, which is marked by a small signpost. Red Pass is really striking, the ridge and meadows up to Portal Peak are lush and bright, and looking down on the other side to White Chuck River basin toward Glacier Peak the view seemed austere, cold, and dramatic. I was set on finding Glacier Peak Meadows, which is not marked on GPX tracks I could find, but marked via a dotted (hard-to-follow) trail on the Green Trails map (#112) for this area. I followed the PCT down into the basin, passing the White Chuck cinder cone (which I thought was very creepy-looking) and reached a few clustered camp sites near a copse of trees, 1.6 miles from Red Pass. From here, I was totally stumped--I found several foot paths all over (one leading to a toilet!) but the way down to the river looked extremely steep and there was no clear trail. I even spotted a group on the other side of the river, near the waterfall mentioned in some trip reports about the meadows. But by this time my phone was low on battery and I didn't want to risk getting lost, so I decided (dejectedly) to hike back up to Red Pass and camp at a spot in the opposite valley I saw while hiking up earlier in the afternoon. On the plus side, after I paused to grab water and regroup, the family I spotted in the meadows came along up the trail (having done a day hike loop from foam creek back up to white pass) and gave me some super valuable beta for next time: apparently the rough footpath to the meadows can be found after passing the camp area; I hadn't continued far enough down the PCT past the camps to spot it. They said it was hard to follow and completely disappeared at times, but worth the trip. Next time! I made it to Red Pass and found the social trail leading down to a nice dry campsite in a small dirt clearing.

-Red Pass to North Fork Sauk Trailhead and Bald Eagle Trailhead: In the morning I hiked back down from Red Pass 1.3 miles to the PCT junction, taking in the incredible views of the mountains (including Mt Rainier!) and turned right to join the North Fork Sauk trail for my descent. I powered through and was super relieved to hit the Mackinaw shelter camp area, marking the end of switchbacks; the rest of the trail is a gentle slog through mossy, wet forest. I got to the packed parking lot and finished my trip with a 2.5 mile roadwalk back to my car at the Bald Eagle trailhead. If I ever do this itinerary again, I'd drive to the Bald Eagle TH, drop my pack, drive back and park at the North Fork Sauk trailhead, and frontend the roadwalk.

Other Notes:
-Navigation: I always think GPS is a must (I created my own route using Gaia for this loop) but of all the trails I've hiked this year, this was REALLY easy to follow and at no point was I uncertain about where to go, except at trail junctions. 
-Trail conditions: Really great, only passed a few blowdowns, all very manageable.
-Water: Other trip reports have better details. I packed an extra bottle for the hike between Blue Lake and White Pass but didn't end up needing it. There were parts of the trail that were dry.
-Bugs: not an issue for me at all, I didn't even put bug spray on the last 2 days.
-Wildlife: Saw 1 bear off the Bald Eagle trail. Tons of marmots. Very few birds singing this late in the season, didn't even hear any night birds.
-Snow: Did not hit any snow.
-Road: Once Mountain Loop Hwy turns to gravel, the going is a little rough, and there are some potholes to navigate, but nothing sketchy at all.

We went counterclockwise because we didn't want to go up the North Fork Sauk switchbacks. This may or may not have been the right call.

Pilot Ridge: Steep, not much better than the north fork sauk switchbacks. No water between a stream ~1mi before gaining the ridge crest and Blue Lake itself. Wildflowers are a little past prime on most of Pilot Ridge.

Johnson Mountain: Wildflowers were FANTASTIC, peaking over the weekend. Johnson is a worthy side trip for sure with some cool (sparse) history being an old lookout site. Most purple aster I've ever seen in one place in my life. Can camp on top.

Blue Lake: Busy. Campsites full. Clean though.

High traverse over to Dishpan Gap/Kodak: Dry

Kodak Peak: Easy ridge trail from the east shoulder. Camping on top. No water. Many wildflowers.

White Pass: Lots of water (finally!) between Kodak and White Pass (and all the way out). Wildflowers peaking/totally insane around White Pass. Like the WTA poster pic for the description.

More pics/details in the link.