tl;dr: This loop has amazing views and lovely rich forests but trail conditions on the non-PCT portions (particularly Bald Eagle Trail & Pilot Ridge Trail) put it on our "never repeat" list.
Note that due to trail construction on the PCT, the North Fork Sauk Trail will be CLOSED between the Makinaw Shelter and the PCT from 8-15 August (https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/mbs/alerts-notices).
Myself and three friends hiked the White Pass/Pilot Ridge loop over 6 days. We tend to take it pretty easy as I use crutches and none of us are hardcore hikers these days! We carried food in bear canisters and also hung an Ursack and another bag where possible, but didn't have any issues animalwise other than some rodent nibbles on a silicone bowl and lots of bugs. Mileages and elevations from Green Trails map #111SX.
For the grousing about the trail conditions on days 4-6 below, if it helps calibrate your reading, two of us are quite experienced long-distance backpackers who have hiked both major, well-maintained trails and minor, not often maintained trails, and we were pretty unhappy regardless.
Itinerary:
Day 1: North Fork Sauk Trail: Trailhead to Red Creek (3.9 miles).
Day 2: North Fork Sauk Trail/PCT: Red Creek to White Pass camping area (5.7 miles).
Day 3: PCT: White Pass to Indian Pass (5.2 miles).
Day 4: PCT/Bald Eagle Trail/Pilot Ridge Trail: Indian Pass to Little Blue Lake, not via Blue Lake High Route (7 miles).
Day 5: Pilot Ridge Trail: Little Blue Lake to 5400' flat on Pilot Ridge (6.3 miles).
Day 6: Pilot Ridge Trail/North Fork Sauk Trail: 5400' flat on Pilot Ridge to trailhead (4.6 miles).
Day-by-day thoughts:
Drive in/out: No problems navigating. Forest Road NF49 has 3-4 rough patches where a high-clearance vehicle would be a huge help even in dry weather; if you don't have one we found unloading all passengers helped a lot. Despite this we still scraped the bottom of the car. Trailhead parking was not too full on a Sunday afternoon (but probably will be busy otherwise), trailhead pit toilet is nice. No water at trailhead.
Day 1 hike: The trail to here is in great shape, lots of ripe blueberries and the occasional red huckleberry. Forest floor flowers are mostly done but the forest itself is a quite nice walk, it includes some swampy sections for variety but those are boardwalked. Biting flies and mosquitoes were a pain for others in my group (I don't react, lucky me!).
Night 1 camp: Red Creek has good water access and a fresh clean pit toilet (toilet is in a small gully to the left of the second outhouse sign). Sites are too close to the trail but obviously used.
Day 2 hike: Continues nicely through the forest before the honestly fairly brutal ascent to the PCT junction - not too surprising as this is 3000' of elevation gain. Water is absent between Mackinaw Shelter and just before the PCT junction; we ran out despite carrying 4L per person, probably due to the hot weather. The uphill is in a mix of shade and sun until the last long portion above treeline. Wildflowers are amazing up here - we did miss seeing beargrass (none the entire trip!) but several species of Indian paintbrush, Penstemon, "Truffula Trees" (pasqueflower seedheads), wild lilies, columbines, and more were so very lovely. The views start to become quite something especially as you crest White Pass. As someone with acrophobia (fear of heights) this part was fine except for one brief spot on the final traverse.
Night 2 camp: White Pass camping area is downhill from White Pass (don't camp on the ridgeline as it's not allowed, despite the obviously used site!). Water is better below the camping area (down a hill) than in the middle. Also three separate mostly full latrines with great views. Lots of mountaineers/climbers camp here for Glacier Peak so space can run low.
Day 3 hike: Absolutely astounding scenery up here, with great views of Glacier Peak and many other peaks. Water is basically absent on the ridgewalk, with the exception of Reflection Pond right on the trail and a stream or two about a mile south from there along the PCT. Wildflowers continued to be lovely, with more mountain heather, plus tons of bumblebees, marmots, huge chunks of quartz, siskins, and more. Very few people despite the PCT.
Night 3 camp: Indian Pass is not well signed but look for a use trail opposite from the junction. The first site (the only regularly used one) is great, the toilet is lovely, and water is findable if you stick to the left.south side of the meadow. Campsite visitors included a deer, female Rufous Hummingbird, and a female grouse with a baby!
Day 4 hike: The first half of this day on the PCT was lovely, similar to Day 3 but with even better views. The only water during the day was a creek just before the 5700' junction east of Kodak Peak and some streams just north of Little Blue Lake on the SE side of June Mountain. We stopped for lunch at Dishpan Gap, then headed west on the Bald Eagle Trail.
At this point the trail footing became quite bad, often overgrown in patches with blueberry and rowan trees, occasionally walking on the roots of the bushes below the trail, sometimes only wide enough for a single boot, often sloping in cross-section, quite dusty/loose soil, and overall just a bad experience. Lots of ups and downs with very steep trail (perhaps up to 45 degrees) on top of the poor trail conditions. One snowfield on the Bald Eagle trail was somewhat difficult to cross with poles (we had no microspikes etc) and the runout was pretty far down. The main issue for the acrophobe (yours truly) was that these poor conditions were generally present with some very open exposure (sections of the slope the trail was on were up to 60 degrees with a very long runout). Other non-acrophobic members of the party were also quite unhappy with the trail conditions. The parts where you're walking on grass would be dangerous in any wet conditions. The descent from June Mountain was nicer, quite similar to a trail in the Sierra Nevada, with some great pika habitat. We met another hiker who expressed similar feelings to ours over the Blue Lake High Route (avoided due to trip reports here), and the trail that we could see looked pretty exciting but definitely not for the faint of heart.
Night 4 camp: Only two sites at Little Blue Lake (one basically on the trail), great water, no toilet, no good way to hang food. Sunsets over Little Blue Lake are lovely. Lots of pika calling at the site!
Day 5 hike: The ascent to the Blue Lake junction at 5500' was nice, with great views. Other members of the group took a steep side trip to the lake and its campsites and toilet and reported it as a nice spot; you won't see Blue Lake from this loop otherwise. A trail runner we spoke with had taken the Blue Lake High Route and said he had no trouble with way-finding and that it wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds.
From there the trail climbs steeply up near Johnson Mountain with continuing great views. The Pilot Ridge trail is mostly fine for a bit past the junction with the summit trail, although there are a few small snowfields with limited runout and some alternative social paths that weren't a cause for concern. However, a little past the junction the trail degrades to the same conditions as on Day 4 on the Bald Eagle trail; some sections are in better shape but it's very much not a walk in the park in terms of trail conditions. Some downed trees here as well, plus a hairy steep descent from the height of the ridgeline (5713') down to the lower point (5154'). Several sections were described by members of our party as "AT-like" in their steep descents and avoidance of switchbacks. There is no water on the trail.
Night 5 camp: We camped on the end of the ridge before the descent to the North Fork Sauk Trail, at around 5400'. This area has one good campsite plus two other sites in varying states of vegetative regrowth, and is a dry camp with no water and no food hanging ability. Sadly the views were absent due to low cloud and overnight light rain! I personally would still recommend camping here before getting a fresh start on the descent to the North Fork Sauk Trail.
Day 6 hike: A nasty descent on the Pilot Ridge Trail to the river, then an entertaining log traverse to the far nicer North Fork Sauk Trail. The light rain overnight made for treacherous trail conditions (three of the four of us fell at least once going down and one suffered a severe ankle sprain that was fortunately weight bearing) - parts of the trail are washed out here or washed deeply into clay soil which is very slippery when wet, or contain large sections of loose rock. The descent is quite steep and again avoids switchbacks (or has quite steep switchbacks in some areas) and is completely forested. Water showed up in a couple of places high up, likely due to the rain, but otherwise there is no water until you cross the creek. Some old boardwalks cover muddy sections but they are falling apart and mostly quite slippery, mossy boards that are more hazardous than the wet trail would be. Some quite large trees have fallen across the trail, requiring some sit-and-swivel action and in some other cases detours. Very few flat spots (no place to camp and few places to stop and rest).
Upon arrival at the Sauk one is presented with several sets of logs that could be used to cross the river. We found the best log was through some blueberries to the left of the Pilot Ridge Trail; climbing down to the river bank and then up onto a log next to a large rock, then crawling across the log (or walking with good balance), hauling oneself up, then butt-scooting across a short gap on another log. This leads to a small trail that goes through a campsite and intersects with the North Fork Sauk Trail. Other logs mostly dead-end in forests of devil's club! From there the return to the trailhead is familiar and very nice trail. One big surprise for us was seeing a pika close up in a rock pile about a mile from the trailhead (elevation ~2200')!
So, in short, the views are lovely, the vegetation and wildlife (vertebrate and invertebrate) was great, but the trail conditions on the southern part of the loop were a complete nightmare and we'll never go back. Alas!
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