Between mandatory overtime and my girls’ soccer games, I had the opportunity to get one last hike in for the season (barring snow camping). My friend and I chose the Suiattle River Trail due to the lower elevation so we could avoid snow. That didn’t make the night any warmer though.
There were two other cars at the trailhead when we arrived and we did meet a couple of ladies day-hiking the trail, but other than that, we had the entire trail/campsites to ourselves. The road to the trailhead is suitable for all vehicles, but you’ll come across a lot of potholes, which is guaranteed to keep you at a slow pace. The toilets at the trailhead were open and well-stocked with toilet paper. The trail itself is in excellent condition, suitable for all ages. There is one spot that the WTA website mentions, about two miles in, but it looks like some work has been done on it and it isn’t very difficult to navigate. Horses are out of luck though.
The sun pretty much went down behind the peaks just before noon, and by 4:30-5:00pm it was dark out. We camped at the sites just before the bridge spans Canyon Creek (6.5 miles), and there is a pit toilet (in good condition). There is also easy access to the river from this site so filtering is not a problem. We checked out the campsites on the far side of the bridge but they looked to be a bit cramped, so keep that in mind. We tried to get a fire started, but everything was just soaked. We were also hassled by a very persistent mouse who had no qualms about coming right up next to us to look for food, no matter how many times we shooed him away. He ended up crawling into my open hip belt pouch where I keep my snacks when on the trail. Not finding anything for all his troubles, he proceeded to take a poop in my belt pouch! 😊
The night was cold but with the right gear it wasn’t bad. Unfortunately, what I thought was a thermal top that I packed was actually a short-sleeve technical tee. I started out fine but around 10:30PM I woke to a cold torso. The rest of me was fine as I had my thermal bottoms/socks/gloves/beanie, but a technical tee wasn’t up to the task. Fortunately, I was able to just pull my puffy into my bag and that took care of the problem. The hike out was uneventful but cool, as the sun didn’t pop out over the ridge until just before we made it back to the trailhead.
This is a great trail to day-hike with your kids and I wouldn’t mind using it to connect to the PCT as part of a longer trail/multi-day hike.
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