White Chuck Bench — Saturday, Apr. 2, 2011

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

We were hoping for a lowland, snow free trail but the conditions on the drive up to Darrington were a clue of what was to come on the trail: rain, hail and snow. We turned off the Mountain Loop Hwy left and parked at the head of road #23. The snow was heavy all the way to the turn around point about four miles away. The turn around and lunch area was determined by the road being washed away into the river. Some areas of the road we hiked were washed out and made walking difficult in areas of mud, slush, running water and downed trees.