Pilot Ridge, North Fork Sauk River & Blue Lake High — Monday, Aug. 18, 1997

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Upper Blue Lake North Fork Sauk Pilot Ridge White Chuck Glacier - Glacier Peak Area - This is a report on a loop trip up over Pilot Ridge to Blue Lake, from Blue Lake to Dishpan Gap on the Pacific Crest Trail, then north to Glacier Peak Meadows via Indian Pass, White Pass, and Red Pass, and finally returning to the Sloan Creek Trailhead via the North Fork Sauk River Trail. In a nutshell: a fabulous trip; grand views, abundant wildflowers, and mosquitoes who extracted their pint of blood and then some. Trails were all hikable, but with some rough spots. On Friday 8/15, we got a late start, made worse by an I-5 snarl that must have lasted 15 miles. By the time we hit the North Fork Sauk trailhead, it made sense to just do 2 miles to a campsite next to the Sauk at the Pilot Ridge trail junction. The Pilot Ridge trail is fairly tough, especially with heavy packs at the start of a long trip. From the Sloan Creek trailhead to Upper Blue Lake, it's almost 12 miles. And it's a climb: a net gain of over 4000' to the high point on the ridge of 6160', plus another 1000' of ups following downs. There's not much on the ridge in the way of possible campsites, and no reliable water once the snow is gone. So -- getting to the trailhead and in a couple of miles the night before works well, and lets you get an early start on the tough stuff. The Pilot Ridge trail: the river is still too high to ford, but there's a good log downriver that makes crossing possible. The trail itself is mostly OK, but some big blowdowns block the switchbacks several times each. The trail on top of the ridge is fine, and the views are exceptional! And we had solitude: saw just one party on the lower trail, no one on the ridge, and there was no one else at Upper Blue Lake. On Sunday we crossed to Dishpan Gap, via Trail 652A. This trail is a fairly steep scramble over the ridge SE of Upper Blue Lake. Look for the start of the trail just upstream of the lake's outlet, initially heading east. The scramble is worth it -- great views from a 6340' saddle on top! We went north on the Pacific Crest Trail, spent a night near Reflection Pond (north of Indian Pass), and then went on over Red Pass and down to Glacier Peak Meadows. There are still some snowfields on the north side of Red Pass, but the rest of the PCT was fine. Glacier Peak Meadows was a great destination for a couple of days. We spent a day hiking up to the White Chuck Glacier -- a real moonscape of rocks and snow and ice -- don't miss it if you're on the PCT nearby. We then returned over Red Pass, and then took trail #649, going back down to the North Fork of the Sauk. This trail begins with a long traverse through a steep hillside of fabulous wildflower meadows. When it enters the forest and starts switchbacks, the trouble starts. There are dozens of blowdowns in the upper and middle parts of the trail. About halfway down, hikers have abandoned the attempt to follow the trail and created a bushwhacking detour east of the entire blowdown area. And then at the bottom, there were long stretches of a jungle of plants overgrowing the trail -- watch out for the nettles if you're wearing shorts! The good news -- as we were leaving, we met a Forest Service crew just beginning work near the trailhead. I'd guess they'll get the brush out of the way quickly, but all those blowdowns may take some time to clear. Nevertheless, this was a great trip -- the equal of either the High Divide Loop or the Enchanted Valley/ LaCrosse Basin trip. And it was nowhere near as crowded as either of those. The bugs, on the other hand, were awful -- take your mosquito netting!