White Chuck Bench — Saturday, May. 14, 2011

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Weather was good for hiking; cool enough with clouds and some sun. The trail is no longer muddy and there was no sign of snow whatsoever on the trail. Some amount of annoying bugs - some mosquitos and gnats - which was surprising, but nothing too extreme. Saw bear scat about 1 mile in, which was also a surprise. Our dog (on a leash of course) thought he saw a few squirrels and the deer tracks in the drying mud reminded us that wildlife is abundant up there. There was supposed to be blow-downs blocking the trail at about 2 miles, but I think we stopped just short of it - probably about a quarter of a mile before the second major stream crossing??? We turned around because we entered a dried up swampy area very close to the river and the trail got a bit confusing. There was lots of stepping over logs and other things that made us doubt we were on the main trail. The nettles and Devil's Club are really starting to come out now too. Maybe we'll go back sometime when we can go further and see what's ahead. We only met one other party on the trail so it was very peaceful and quiet. Altogether very pleasant walk under the trees.