Sulphur Mountain — Monday, Mar. 9, 2015

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Arrived at the Suiattle River Trailhead at 9:45am and there was just one vehicle there. With the mild weather I wanted to check out the snow conditions in the higher elevations. This trail is steep and dry with just one creek at the beginning of the hike. Even though its March I had to shed the coat at the beginning of the hike and was fine with a short sleeved shirt for the rest of the day, there were even a few bugs out. Some of the blowdowns I encountered required crawling under or over but overall the trail was in pretty good shape. I thought I was going to make it to the meadows but lost the trail in the snow. I know I was close and I had teaser views of Glacier and other peaks thru the trees. Someone with a GPS or good route finding skills should be able to make it. I'm guessing I made to around 5000ft, I was so close. Most of this trail is in forest with no views but the forest floor is pretty open. As stated in other reports it's different from other forest hikes. This could also be a brutal hike in hot weather, even today I worked up a good sweat. This was a trail less traveled and I had it to myself all day. I arrived back at the trailhead at 3:00pm and there was still just the one vehicle there. Beware that the road had some nasty potholes.