Sat 8/22/2020 - day hike car-to-car to summit of Sloan Peak. GPS log was just over 13 miles round trip and just under 6000' of elevation gain. Took us just over 13 hours.
My buddy and I were moving at a good pace even though the first 4 miles is very brushy and dense forest/brush. The trail is quite difficult to follow in some places, but we never lost it and there were a few other groups on the trail as well who were camping and making it into a 2 or 3 day trek. There are logs across all 3 major river crossings and none of us got wet, and all those are right at the beginning of the hike. Once you reach the rocky sandbar you are done with the river crossings. You will then pass a gorgeous waterfall along the trail then you have a couple more miles of steep forest/brushy trail until you break above the tree line.
The glacier has a lot of open crevasses and you will need to rope up and have crampons, ice axe and a trekking pole. Stay up higher on the glacier becasue it is too broken up down low. There is a sketchy portion where you can not fall becasue it is steep and leads directly into a big crevasse. Take it slow and ensure 3 points of contact all the time. There should be a decent boot trail to follow. The glacier trek is just over 1/2 mile long.
The corkscrew trail after the glacier is in good shape... follow it around and up until you get to the narrow gulley then head straight up it. Towards the top you will have to climb up to the left and over more rocks, then you will see the remainder of the trail to the summit and the signing register up there. Be sure to bring headlamps for the hike back down if you choose to tackle this in one day, because this hike is a tough one and it takes strong groups 12-13+ hours to do.
A few weeks ago we did Glacier Peak car to car summit trip in 19 hours as a comparison. Sloan Peak is not for the faint of heart, it is a real mountain and poses many exciting and difficult challenges, but to conquer the mountain is totally worth it. And there are a million berries ready for snacking on the hike up and down. Plenty of water sources should you need them, including a stream coming out from under the glacier at the very beginning of it.
Enjoy the mountain and stay safe!
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