My dog and I hiked to the false summit of the Butte this morning in fog and drizzle. Not a soul on the trail the entire morning. We started at 6:10 and immediately had some minor issues with routefinding - a post at the Iron Horse road with a directional would be very helpful. Instead of turning right onto the flat Iron Horse, we continued straight ahead to the "immediate and obvious path" and ended up walking past the latrine and campsites of the Alice Creek Campsite. It's doable that way -- any map shows a few ways to the McClellan Butte trail. It is well-marked otherwise -- stick to the paths with signs.
If you DO find yourself on the path that leads down to the creek, backtrack and walk the high road to the obvious sign I shared a photo of. It's just before mileage pylon 762. The creek is really high now and that could be incredibly dangerous and time-consuming. No need to put your safety in jeopardy.
There is still A TON of snow in the seven snow runnels near the north base of the butte, and I almost turned us back, but as long as my dog (he turned 9 today!) felt comfortable I kept going. The first and last runnels are the sketchiest. The first because it's the lowest and has streams undermining the thick snow -- it was solid for us but I wonder how much longer. And the last one before turning sharply south -- because it gets more sun, perhaps? It was slushier and more prone to postholes and tree wells forming.
My best recommendation would be to wait another month, but if you have good snow skills, an ice axe or minimum a pole or two and microspikes would help on the ice patches. I used my spikes for about a 10-minute stretch to get above some melting areas, my dog close on my heels. Around the butte, west and south, the snow was a mixture of slushy, icy, and patchy snow banks with dirt so no single traction device would work. Best to be confident of your footwork.
We got to where tracks pretty much led straight up to the steep rock face -- it's been 25 years since I've hiked this and I can't remember the scramble part, but I wasn't about to try it with my dog. Overall satisfied with where we turned around. False summit? Basically, we turned around where it goes straight up.
All in all a lovely outing. 18 bird species including varied, Swainson's and hermit thrushes and a sapsucker and flickers (woodpeckers). Western flycatchers and olive-sided flycatchers also serenaded us. Bleeding hearts and trillium are starting to poke out as well as a few glacier lilies where the snow is melting. And the smell of pine and cedar where trail angels have cleared a massive tree across 3 switchbacks was delightful. Only one tree still in the trail. Some mud, but overall the trail is in good condition. I'll go back in another month or so once the runnels are clear. #hikethestate
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