Park Butte, Bell Pass, Elbow Lake & Mazama Park via Ridley Creek — Saturday, Jul. 13, 2019

We had planned a longer route for this day and were aiming to leave the Park Butte trailhead, head up to the top of the pass, and then complete a loop of Bell Pass trail, Elbow Lake trail, and Ridley Creek trail, then head back over to Park Butte TH for about 20-22 miles of trail running.

The road getting up to the Park Butte trailhead had some sections of potholes but shouldn’t prove to be troublesome for most cars as long as you go slow and keep your eyes open.

The trail getting up to intersection of Park Butte trail and Bell Pass trail was in fantastic condition.  Easy to follow, and I’m sure on a clear day, offers fantastic views of Mt. Baker.  We crested the ridge and dropped down past the Mazama shelter, maintaining a solid and enjoyable pace, grinning with anticipation knowing that we’d have a little over 8 miles of easy downhill jogging to the Elbow Lake Trailhead.

Alas, our high expectations were not met.  The trail, assaulted by plants on both sides, quickly thinned out.  It went through phases of being wide open and easy to pass, to sections where we couldn’t even see our feet underneath the growth.  We whacked our ways through the brush, getting scratched up by thorns and covered in various seeds and needles.  A few of the plants were covered in this foam that would cover our legs and shorts.  It was a little eerie not knowing if it was in any way harmful.  A Google search afterwards suggests it might be from spittlebugs and shouldn’t be anything to worry about!

Every once in a while we’d catch a view of the Twins, but the views were mostly few and far between.  By about mile 12 from Park Butte TH, we had reached an aggressively flowing river and the trail thinned out even more as we tried to follow pink flags up the river’s edge.  This became futile and we eventually caved to the fact that we were lost.  We bushwhacked in circles for a while until we eventually threw in the towel and sat down on the river’s edge for lunch.  The perfect loop route I had labored over seemed like a bust.

A few bites in to my turkey and muenster baguette while chatting about turning around, a pink flag across the river caught my eye.  Maybe the trail continued across the river?  I dropped my gear and waded across the river.  It was about thigh high and would probably prove treacherous to cross for most.  Maybe there were some logs to cross up or down the river?  Upon reaching the other bank, I scrambled up the ridge and found a trail to a road.  Turns out we were at the Elbow Creek TH and we had found the Nooksak River!  Funny to think we were 50 ft from our next milestone, and were just about ready to turn around.  I returned to inform my buddy and trudge on. And just like that, the day had turned around.

We jogged up from the Elbow Creek TH to Ridley Creek TH via the gravel road.  This Ridley Creek trail was enjoyable relative to the previous 8 miles.  We made good time getting up the steep switchbacks.  Occasionally the trail turned into skinny little rocky gullies, but at least it was accessible and direct. After we completed most of the gain, the trail flattened out and became quite marshy.  Either waterproof boots or draining mesh shoes would be nice for this section.  That trail eventually dropped us back out to the Mazama shelter where we turned uphill one last time to cross some switchbacks under the Cathedral Crag before rejoining the Park Butte trail and heading back down to the TH.

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://www.strava.com/activities/2529627233