Rainbow-McAlester Loop — Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021

We did this as a 3 night/4 day trip, starting at Bridge Creek (PCT) Trail-SR 20 (we did need the Northern Forest Pass to park at that trailhead), with nights at Hideaway Camp, Rainbow Meadows Camp, and McAlester Lake Camp. The days were very manageable, especially the first day. Hideaway was a lovely camp, so it was nice to spend extra time there. There was a great bear box, and we had the campsite to ourselves. Every campsite had a convenient open-air privy, though most were located a bit far from camp (pros and cons to that!). Once we were off the PCT on the second day, we saw almost no one at all. The section of Rainbow Lake Trail between the PCT and Dan's Camp was much longer than we anticipated, and pretty overgrown, leading us to wonder if we were on the right trail. We were though, there was just a LOT of underbrush. Wouldn't recommend wearing shorts on that section. The crossing at Bridge Creek was very manageable, though we did remove our boots and cross in sandals, and were glad for our trekking poles. Rainbow Pass was LOVELY, and we took a small trail on the right just over the pass that wasn't well-marked, but led to amazing views of Rainbow Lake. We were in the last camp in the line of Rainbow Meadows camps, and it is quite a ways past the lake. It was very cold the night we were at Rainbow Meadows, and not much sun in that campsite, it is very treed. Also, the bear wire rope was tangled, and our rope wasn't long enough. We did pack a bear canister, which offered peace of mind. Would recommend bringing a nice long rope also, even though most of the sites were equipped with either bear lockers or bear wires. Our third day between Rainbow Meadows and McAlester Lake was our longest, and we again barely saw any other hikers. We did see pika and marmots though! McAlester Lake campsite was a little confusing to get around, and we were setting up camp in the rain (another cold night), but the morning mist over the lake made up for all that. Beautiful. Water was easy to come by the whole route, though the water we treated from McAlester Lake tasted SO GROSS. Wouldn't recommend that water; just go on to the next water source instead of filling up at the lake. There's running water not too far down the trail to use instead. Our final day we opted for the cutoff towards Stiletto Peak (at the junction with Twisp Pass Trail) rather than going all the way back to Bridge Creek trail and retracing our steps. We regretted doing this! The trail is not well travelled, and we encountered many blowdowns, and lots of overgrown underbrush. We saw no one on the trail that day until we got back to the PCT. Overall, we likely could have done this trip in 3 days, but the absolute solitude made the 4 day length really special. Recommendations would include long pants, a warm sleeping bag, and not taking the trail towards Stiletto Spur! Also, we encountered so many ripe huckleberries that we didn't know were huckleberries until we got off the trail. What a missed treat! A lovely 4 days in a very remote place.