From Little Wenatchee Ford TH, up Cady Ridge trail, north on PCT to Dishpan Gap, Bald Eagle trail to June Mt, Pilot Ridge trail to Blue Lake, Blue Lake High Route back to Bald Eagle, Bald Eagle back to Dishpan Gap, PCT north to Meander Meadows junc, Little Wenatchee trail back to the trail head.

Road to Little Wenatchee Ford TH is good but narrow. Encountering a car going the opposite direction would be difficult.

Cady Ridge trail is in good condition, some super annoying small fly things. Wild flowers up the top are lovely and great views of Dakobed/Glacier.

PCT is of course in great condition and has water sources between Cady Ridge and Dishpan gap.

Bald Eagle trail between Dishpan Gap and June Mt is in good condition. Still some large snow patches but not difficult or dangerous to cross. Super nice views across the valley. 

Pilot Ridge trail in the valley from June Mt to Blue lake is in good condition. Very chill marmot fam living on the trail between lower and upper lakes.

Blue Lake High Route has barely any snow to cross. None on the steepest section.

Little Wenatchee trail is horrid. One minute you are skipping through the stunning wildflowers up above Meander Meadows, the next your battling through brush over your head. Seriously, its worth looping through meander meadows but I wouldn't venture lower than that. Its 5 miles of can't see your feet brush occasionally interspersed with open forest. We were't that far down when we ran into a man+dog coming up, he asked us if we'd come up this way, we told him it was quite brushy above here, he laughed and said well its super brushy below - we'd been hoping to drop into forest and be done with the brush - he also vowed that he'd never be taking this trail again. Never again. The trail under the brush is in great condition, would be fantastic if you could see it. I wondered why the trail was built through all these avalanche run-outs instead of in the forest on the other side of the valley???

This was my first time hiking any part of the PCT and it was amazing! We left around 12 PM on 8/1 and the bugs were quite annoying within the first mile. The trail was great, no major obstacles and it was nice to escape from the heat under the tree canopy. 

There were plenty of streams to re-fill our water bottles along the way and we even saw a few marmots! We reached the White Pass camp site around 5 PM. There quite a few people, but we found a spot without much difficulty. 

We left the next morning around 6 AM and got back to the car before 12 PM. We encountered about 15 people total on the trail (going up and down) and most everyone had a mask or some type of face covering to pass. It was a wonderful experience and I hope to go back soon! 

Overall: it was hot and steep, but doable. The flies and mosquitos were bad for 3/4 of the hike and were relatively bad at the campsite. We used a lot of bug spray! Plenty of wildflowers and wildlife. And lots of places to get water. 

My partner, my dog, and I did a 3 day/2 night trip up to White Pass. 

Thursday 07/30: Arrived to the North Fork Sauk Trail Head around 1:30pm and began our way up to White Pass via Pilot Ridge loop. The parking lot was pretty much full, but there was room for a few more cars. The temperature was around 85 degrees and we quickly felt the heat, however the first 6 miles are through the forest so there was plenty of shade cover. This part of the trail was pretty easy, nothing too strenuous. We stopped at the Mackinaw Shelter for lunch and to let our pup cool off by the river. The bugs were bad, so we made a small fire to keep them away while we ate lunch. Then the hard part began, the rest of the way up to White Pass had some steep switchbacks. At this point it was still about 80-85 degrees and some of the switchbacks were not covered with shade. This made the hike up even more difficult.  There was not a ton of reliable water sources since Mackinaw, but we did find one creek along the way that was tucked and my partner had to do a little climb down to access it. We made plenty of stops to let our pup rest and drink water. Going up we passed several groups going down, some using masks, some not. We arrived at White Pass around 8:00pm. Once we arrived at White Pass camp there was 2 other groups camping so we were able to find a good spot to set up base camp. 

Friday 07/31: We ate breakfast and went on a day hike. We took the Foam Creek Trail out and back. The views were absolutely breathtaking. There were some snow patches on the trail, but with careful steps they are very passable. We made it enough to take a beautiful view of Glacier Peak, it was a clear day so the views were absolutely amazing. On the way back to camp we passed about 5 groups who were headed to Glacier Peak. All very friendly. When we arrived back to our camp, there must have been at least 5 groups who had arrived. At this point all the "designated campsites" were full, groups had to find little niches here and there. It felt like there was a new group arriving every hour until dusk. We were grateful that we arrived on Thursday. 

Saturday 08/01: By Saturday morning some groups had already took off by the time we were preparing breakfast. I am assuming many were headed to summit or continue the PCT. We packed up and began our trip back to the trail head around 8:30am. We were pretty much cruising the way down. It was not nearly as hot as when we were going up, and that made such a difference. The whole way down, we were passing groups. Again, about 50% of the groups we passed had masks. Made it to the car around 12:45pm. When we arrived back to car we couldn't believe how many more cars were there. There were cars parked along the road. Overall, such an amazing experience. We were in aw with the views the whole time. 

We did the full loop over 3 days. The bugs were bad the whole time (mosquitos and biting flies). We never really took breaks while hiking to avoid getting bitten. The flowers and views were beautiful! The first day we hiked up to White Pass, the second day we hiked to Little Blue Lake. We took the lower path to Little Blue Lake; It was a bit overgrown and there were quite a few snow fields still to cross. We didn't have cleats but we did each have a pole. At the end we had to cross a log over the Sauk river. The log crossing the river is easy, but you also need to cross another log after that which is more narrow (you sort of have to do a one legged squat to get up on it). This one is a bit more iffy. It may be worthwhile to check it out on the start of your loop (a tiny detour) so you know what you'll come to at the end. Worth the trip, though we were definitely exhausted at the end!

Put down your phone. Close your laptop. Stand up, get your sh*t together and go to the Glacier Peak Wilderness.

We stayed at the "good campsite with a toilet at Red Creek" the first night (Monday). I think this was less buggy than Mackinaw shelter and we had it all to ourselves. The next day we headed up to the junction with the PCT. We decided to turn right and rest at White Pass for a siesta during the hottest part of the day. Then we continued out the Foam Creek trail, hoping to camp in Glacier Peak Meadows and loop around to the campsites near the White Chuck Cinder Cone for the following night. The Foam Creek trail has numerous small snow patches, and at the end there is one slidey sketchy traverse (as mentioned by PeakJunkie's report). After that we discovered "Foam Creek Basin" (name according to PeakJunkie's report) to be mostly covered in snow, so I voted we bail and head back to White Pass to camp. I had dinner in Foam Creek Basin, very lovely. Mosquitos were rough at White Pass, making it hard to cook my friend's dinner and we skipped breakfast there entirely. The sunset from the ridge at White Pass with the wildflowers was absolutely incredible, I pretty much lost my mind looking at all the flowers (and simultaneously swatting mosquitos).

There is currently water right near the junction with the PCT (less than 1/2 mile from White Pass campsite), but do note(!) reports indicate this dries up later in the season. There's a toilet at the White Pass campsites, follow the outhouse signs, it's on the south side. 

We headed back to the trailhead from there, did not complete the Pilot Ridge loop.

The views and flowers were phenomenal. The bugs were a lot, just come prepared with long sleeves, long pants and non-stove food options if you wanna hop in the tent quickly. I wished I had one of those netted hats. My friend brought a Glacier Peak Wilderness map from REI, that was super useful for comparing all the camping and loop options! Although it doesn't display part of the Pilot Ridge loop, nor name the trails.

There were SO MANY marmots.

The road had some small pot holes.