North Fork Sauk River, White Pass - Pilot Ridge Loop — Wednesday, Jun. 30, 2021

I drove out to the North Fork Sauk River TH and hiked up to White Pass for an overnighter.  The trail is melted out all the way to White Pass, with only a few minor snowfields to cross at some of the creeks and avalanche chutes above 5800'.  Some of the snow crossings require a bit of off-trail scrambling to get across; precarious if you are wearing a full pack.  I kicked new, deep footholds in some of the crossings, but the rapid melt may have already erased them.  There are several new blowdowns along the trail and up the switchbacks.  All can be avoided without too much difficulty, and I suspect they may be one of the targets of the work parties planned for this area in August.

White Pass is gorgeous as usual, and probably 75-80% snow free.  Glacier lilies and marigolds abound.  About half of the proper campsites below the ridge are melted out.  The old ridge camps are melted, but there is no camping allowed on the ridge.  Please use these sites only for short breaks.  I only saw two people at the pass, but the crowds will be on their way as the snow continues to melt.  The sun shone warmly all day but as night fell the clouds rolled in.  I bivvyed in a clump of hemlocks below the ridge and enjoyed a typical White Pass night: driving wind and pouring rain with thick clouds and visibility down to around 10 feet.  Glacier Peak generates its own local weather, and it seems to be a somewhat bi-polar mountain, so be prepared for sudden 'mood' swings.

The next morning I packed up my damp camp and headed south on the PCT to scout the area's snow situation.  There is still a lot of white stuff to cross heading toward Dishpan Gap.  For a few miles the snowfields are not too steep and the PCT is about 50% melted, but after rounding Kodak Mt. I ran into snow that was way too steep to cross without an ice axe.  For those thinking about doing the White Pass/Pilot Ridge Loop, it's going to be at least another few weeks.  If you want to go right now, you will need to go full mountaineer with proper skills and equipment.

I turned around and hiked back to the ol' gas wagon, passing several parties heading in to climb Glacier for the 4th of July.  Ripe salmonberries and lots of flowers on the lower trail including bunchberry, salmonberry, columbine, starflowers, shooting stars, saprophytic orchids, fairybells, fawn lilles, and Queen's cup.

"Just then grandfather came out.  He was upset because Peter had gone into the meadow.  "It's a dangerous place!  If a wolf should come out of the forest, then what would you do?"  But Peter paid no attention to his grandfather's words.  Boys like him are not afraid of wolves."

-Sergei Prokofiev, "Peter and the Wolf" 1936