North Fork Sauk River — Friday, Sep. 17, 1999

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Drive Mtn. Loop Rd. from Granite Falls to Sloan Crk. Rd. Follow Sloan Crk. Rd. about 7 mi. to the TH for the N. Fk. Sauk River. Several other vehicles were at the TH including a Forest Service truck. We got an early start to avoid the heat plus the fact that our trip had some elevation gain. The trees are magnificent along the floor of the N. Fk. Sauk. Many old cedar and fir. The trail has been recently maintained with all old blowdowns removed. We had been up the trail on the July 4th weekend and there were 15-20 blowdowns up to the shelter at mile 5. We did encounter some brush along the trail which was wet and cold for the early morning hours. Near the 4 mile point is a stream which must be crossed. The old foot log is down, so you must either wade the stream or find a suitable log to cross. About 1 mile from the stream crossing is the Mackinaw Shelter at mile 5. From this point we started the ascent toward the intersection with the PCT. The trail has many switchbacks and is in pretty good shape except for a few areas with overgrown brush, along with some a couple areas with water running down the trail. The flies were thick during the ascent and made rest breaks very short. Upon reaching the PCT at about mile 8 we took a short break and decided to go up White Mtn. We went NW on the PCT a few hundred feet then ascended directly north to a saddle on the west ridge of White Mountain where we dropped our overnight packs and had some water. From here we scrambled up to the summmit of White Mountain. The views from here are fantastic. We looked to the higher slopes of Glacier Pk. Scanning to the west were Sloan. Continuing around were Rainier then back around to Indian Head, and Saul. Looking down to the north we could see the PCT winding its way to the north. The White Chuck Cinder Cone was also impressive. We then headed back down to our packs and traveled west along the ridge toward Red Pass. We thought about traveling down to the White Chuck Cinder Cone to camp in that area but later decided to try and find a site at Red Pass. At one point we came upon a couple of marmots who just watched us. When neared them they both ran into there shelter. These were just two of many we saw on the trip. We finally intercepted the PCT and followed it to Red Pass. Upon approaching the pass we saw a nice camp site below it and decide this would be a good destination for the night as we had already done about 5000ft. of elevation gain for the day, mostly with overnight packs. We set up camp and just enjoyed the views and took a short break in the tent to escape the numerous mosquitoes. The flies were now gone but were replace with these friendly visitors. The views from the Red Pass area are great!!! About 6 we decided to have dinner. Following that I decided to go up Portal Pk. for the views. I arrived there before sunset and took several pictures. What a great area. Many climbing possiblities in view. The next morning we awoke to beautiful clear skies and no bugs. I had been up once during the night and skies were beautiful with bright stars and the silence was incredible. After breakfast we headed up Portal Peak to take in the incredible sunrise. From there we headed NW dropping down to the saddle between Portal and Pt. 6910. We ascended Pt. 6910 and just enjoyed the views and beautiful weather. We then decided to return to camp as we had along way to get back to the TH. We broke camp and head back on the PCT. Shortly after turning onto the N. Fk. Sauk trail we ran into two Forest Service Trail Maintenance workers. After a brief chat and thankyou for there work we continued on. Unfortunately the black flies were still present which made for short breaks. We arrived at the TH and just made comments to each other about what a beautful area we had been in and the fantastic camp site. See you on the trail, Bud and Lizzard.