My husband and I decided to do our first overnight backpacking this year. Initially we planned to arrive on Friday and hike up to the Mystery Camp but because of the traffic (we spent 5 hours getting there from Bellevue) we started the hike only at 6:30pm.
The forest was pretty dense (it was getting dark) so we opted toward the first camp - Shelter Rock.I am not sure if the gps worked correctly but it counted 3 miles (unlike 2.5 in the instructions) when we got there. We spotted a few more tiny campsites before the camp and since it was our first time in the area we didn't know how Shelter Rock was supposed to look like ("maybe this one?". Then after looking into a topographic map we figured that we had to climb down a bit before reaching the camp, so we kept going and there it was. The camp was pretty spacious - one area could fit at least 4 tents. I saw another remote campsite that could fit 2 more I guess. There were already 2 tents when we arrived but we easily found a space for us. There was also a river (not loud at all) in case you need to filter some water.
The following morning we took lighter backpacks and started ascending. It had been raining for the whole night so the water became evaporating.
On the whole trail there were some fallen trees but not too hard to cross. Plus we've seen WTA workers fixing up trails on Saturday. After hiking for a bit the sky started to clear up.
After walking for about a mile passing Mystery camp you reach the fork - Marmot Pass. The views are spectacular. It seemed there were 3 directions to go further but we decided to stop there and enjoy the views.
I haven't done a tons of hikes (about 20 now), but this one is on the top.
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