Gorgeous 4 day loop, Thurs-Sun. Wild flower meadows, lots of ridge walking, tons of volcano views. Brand new privies at every single campsite! Quite a few other folks out there but we didn't have any trouble finding campsites. Only a few tiny snow patches to cross. Mosquitos were very present but not the worst we'd experienced - grateful for head nets in the evening.
On day 1, we had a mellow and mostly flat ~6 miles to Mackinaw shelter (no longer an actual standing shelter). Camped at an excellent river spot. There are a few good camp sites that aren't immediately obvious, so we explored around a bit before settling in.
Day 2 was ~4 miles of elevation gain via switchbacks up to White Pass. We dropped our packs at the junction and took a left to Red Pass, where we got our first huge views of Glacier Peak. For water at White Pass campsite, we followed the small creek down to where it meets with another creek coming down the opposite hill side.
On day 3 we went ~10 miles to Blue Lake. Incredible lupine meadows and views the whole way. Perfect cold swim.
Early on day 4 we took a detour to Johnson Mt - highly recommend for 360 views, though it was a longer detour than we expected (seemed like 2 miles instead of 1 there and back). Then an arduous 10 miles with steep elevation loss that seemed to last forever!!! Most strenuous and painful part of the trip. Also a long stretch with no water sources after Blue Lake.
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