Squire Creek Pass via Eight-mile Trail — Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Unique and awesome hike. Snow free and some nice fall foliage. The nearby mountains do have a little bit of snow, though, and that makes them much more striking. Lots of little streams trickling down bare granite. Plenty of solitude. The scenery hints at the Adirondacks in the fall. The trail is a little rooty and rough, kind of like Mailbox Peak, but the problems are less frequent and not as bad. There are a couple of blowdowns that were challenging for my wife, as she had our daughter in a front carrier. There were a couple of mud-holes, and they were usually pretty stealthy. They'd look like regular ground, but you could sink in a few inches. Generally they were short and it wasn't too hard to step over them. There were a few places where the trail could use brushing. Navigation wasn't an issue, but you had to move the brush out of the way with your hands, shoulder, or chest because there wasn't enough room on the downhill part of the trail to walk around the brush. These issues affected only small portions of the trail, so I wouldn't let them prevent you from doing this hike. The road to the hike is in pretty good shape, though it's narrow and brushy, and would be difficult to yield to another car if you saw one going the opposite direction. There are a couple of washes on the road, so you might not want to do it in a heavy rain. No gates, so you don't have to worry about politicians closing it down any time soon.