Squire Creek Pass via Eight-mile Trail — Friday, Aug. 12, 2016

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

This is becoming one of my favorite hikes around Mt. Loop, but then again I like solitude and this has plenty of it since the access road is rough and the trail even rougher. Most of the access road is narrow and rough, but not steep. However, there is an especially deep trench to drive through and thankfully we had Cathy's Forester! Another couple of winter snow melts or just one really nasty one, and I believe this road won't be drivable to any car. The trail is something else again. I've been on worse, but this isn't something that casual hikers would like at all. Most of the folks that I saw on Pilchuck yesterday would be appalled. Still, it was just fine with me. You start out on an ancient logging road without much elevation gain, but in short order it turns to true trail. The first mile or so is nice through open forest, but once you pass the climber's wall it becomes rough with intermittent sections of steep and crazy steep with roots, rocks, mud, and other fun stuff finally entering gentler meadows at about 2 1/2 miles. The stats for this trip is 5.4 miles RT and 2350' gain, but it felt like a lot more. It didn't help that it was blazing hot today, although most of the time we were in nice shady forest. The last 1/2 mile or so is a blueberry fest. I did this trip a couple of years ago and was very impressed with wonderful, fairyland pools and waterslides that occur one after the other in the meadow section. These are pretty much dried up now, and I'd definitely recommend doing this trip in July since in my opinion this is the best feature of the hike. Still, the views from the pass are wonderful. Three Fingers is right in your face as is White Horse and all the granite cliffs thereabouts reminding me of the Rockies of Montana. I honestly believe that this is some of the best country in the area and it's a real shame that the road and trail are falling into disuse. So folks, drive this road and hike this trail and let the Darrington Ranger District know that we want this area open. I kept thinking all day that if this trail was made more hikeable, people would come and their boots would make it more hikeable yet. Otherwise, it will become another forgotten trail and the access road will be left to deteriorate. What a shame that would be.