Got to the parking lot around 5:30pm on Friday. Hit the North Fork Skykomish Trail, at 6mi in there is a large camp, I called it a night there. The next site is 2.5mi 1400'+ further, wish I had known might have made the push. Got up at 6:30am, rallied up to Dishpan Gap, to the Bald Eagle trail that first view of Glacier Peak is sublime and stopped me in my tracks. Veered to the north to take the High Route to Blue Lake, biggest marmot I have ever seen up there. Highly recommend the high route, but do it early or late, it would be hot midday, it was a 5mi water carry from Camp to Lake.
Dropped to Blue for lunch, enjoyed watching some anglers hooking up on rainbows so I didn't have to. Played a quick game of sudoku while snacking and taking in the views. Bugged out around 11am, the climb back up Pilot Ridge trail was was hot, exposed, and after the high route I was feeling it. In hindsight I should have topped off at Sloan creek, last water source for 4mi and that climb had me sweating.
Back up on Bald Eagle I ran into a hiker who asked for assistance. He got turned around looking for North Fork Sauk, got him pointed in the right direction. Then just ran the ridge through giant meadows for the rest of the day, 4 or 5 good camp sites up there, descended to Curry Gap and onto the Quartz Creek trail. About a third of the way down that is an awesome waterfall and pool. I was back at the car at 5:30pm. Clocked 24.4 mi, 24hr, 5161'+/-, peaked at 6319', Govee hit 92° in the bag moving, it was a scorcher. No bugs, no dew, only got down to 58° at night. The smoke got worse as the day went on. The trail is in great shape, lots of recent work done, much appreciated!
Comments