White Chuck Bench — Thursday, Apr. 16, 2009

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

White Chuck Bench looks like a long abandoned trail that the forest service is trying to bring back to like. Evidence of heavy brush clearing and blowdown cutting are readily apparent in the first mile. In fact we saw 3 forest service trucks at the trailhead. Getting there is easy. Go south on the Mountain Loop Highway from Darrington. About 6 miles from the main Old Sauk trail entrance cross first the Dutch Creek bridge and then the Old Sauk bridge. Immediately to the left is a brand new (and very decorative) bridge followed by a parking lot and two outhouses. Go up the gravel road about a mile or two past a big log dump to a parking shoulder and see the trailhead sign. This trail follows the edge of the bench with some keyhole views of White Chuck and Pugh. The tread is littered with detritus and leaves but it is easy enough to follow. Almost zero altitude gain as it wanders through forest to join an abandoned logging road which has many blowdowns. The trail goes about a mile and a half before it comes to a handsome bridge. That's as far as we got and it does not appear that any work has been done beyond that.