North Fork Sauk River — Saturday, Jul. 1, 2017

This is a report of a Glacier Peak ascent from the North Fork Sauk River trailhead.  First, Mountain Loop Hwy changes from a paved 2 lane road to a gravel road 9 miles South of Darrington, so don't assume usual highway speeds.  Forest Road 49 was washed out/closed this Spring, and had just opened to the trailhead a day or two earlier.  Drive time from Darrington to the trailhead is about an hour.  Trail 649 was generally in good condition all the way to White Pass, beautiful deep forest scenery along the river to the Mackinaw Shelter, then switchbacks for a 2500' gain to White Pass, where we camped Day 1.  Most campsites were apparently still covered by snow; we had to scout around to find suitable bare ground, and there was no water source other than melting snow.  Lots of wildflowers, beautiful views, lots of marmots, several deer, and a black bear all in that area.  The start of the Foam Creek Trail is marked, and visible, but was quickly covered by snow where we relied on tracks of prior climbers, which led us on an ascending traverse below the ridge.  After about an hour, footprints indicated a short vertical climb to a col overlooking the White Chuck Glacier.   Great to have a clear view of GP and the White Chuck Glacier from there, but there was a steep descent on the other side.  We followed foot prints staying as high as we could, towards the right side as we worked our way around and through the basins leading to Glacier Gap where we stayed Day 2.  The "lakes" in the basins were still all frozen over, save a little melting around the edges.  There were a few small streams of snowmelt as a water source en route as well as at Glacier Gap and only 1 part was camped in that area.  There were good campsites at Glacier Gap, some with rock wall windbreaks from prior climbers; several parties stayed there and no one had to camp on the snow.  We began our ascent 02:20 Day 3.  The climbing trail was well marked by earlier climbers already, and we had no problems following footprints towards Disappointment Cleaver (initial travel was on glacier, the ridge was mostly exposed and the path on rock/scree was easy to follow), then traversed to our right across a glacier below Disappointment Peak (crampons necessary by now, watch for falling rocks) with an ascent to meet the Cool Glacier.  There was a fairly broad/intact section of glacier or snow bridge for us (July 3), with crevasses on either side, especially to the right.  Once on the Cool Glacier (sunrise at this point) we ascended to the ridge between Disappointment Peak and Glacier Peak; following the climbers path on rock/scree until our final ascent on an icy chute to the summit.  This was steep-reminiscent of the final ascent of Mt. Hood above hogsback ridge, but had well established steps from prior climbers.  We reached the summit before 07:00, conditions were clear (views of Mt. Rainier, Baker, and Adams) but extremely windy; we only stayed at the summit a short time.  The descent back to Glacier Gap was straightforward.  After breaking camp we headed back towards White Pass, considering possible extension to the Mackinaw Shelter.  As we approached the White Chuck Glacier and ridge leading to White Pass, we saw tracks leading to a col "earlier" (to our left, further NE) than our incoming route, which was not nearly as steep on the White Chuck Glacier side.  We assumed this was a preferred path hence followed that to the col overlooking the White River Valley.  So far, so good..., but the "trail" (i.e. a few bootpaths on snow) from there involved a rather treacherous traverse across broad, steep snow fields, and required a final very steep, straight up climb out (at least 50 meters, all on snow) before we got to a point where we could actually see White Pass and the terrain was less hazardous.  In spite of all that, we made it to the Mackinaw Shelter to end Day 3.  The shelter itself has seen its better days, but the area has good campsites, fresh water, a toilet pit (basic, but better than blue bag handling), and campfire rings.  Only downside was the mosquitoes- not an issue elsewhere on the climb.  We had a relaxed hike out this AM.  Overall, 3 nights, 71 hours trailhead to trailhead, a comfortable pace for our group (all experienced climbers but first GP climb, ages ranged 26 to 66).