Milk Creek, Sulphur Creek, Sulphur Mountain, Downey Creek & Suiattle River Trail — Saturday, Jun. 26, 2004

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

As always this area of the Suiattle offers great opportunities to enjoy Washington’s finest outdoor experiences. I was left with a day to play and decided to re-checkout accessibility to the area. What I found was a tricky crossing of Downey Creek (may need to bring a 12 foot ladder). All trails checked were in very good condition for hiking. The Forest Service website says everything is inaccessible but that probably stretching the truth. There is parking a couple hundred yards before the Downey Creek Bridge. Go enjoy the area and voice concern about the crossing of the Downey Creek (it survived the floods, but not the bulldozer the FS hired to remove the cars stained beyond). Suiattle River: A couple of washouts beyond the Milk Cr trail Jct. Only one is 150 yards and requires some bashing to get around. Beyond there are no major problems. I’m sure that Miners Ridge is beautiful as usual. Milk Creek: After the loss of the major crossing of the Suiattle River, I was happy to see two good logs to make the crossing near the former bridge site safely. The log down stream survived the Winter, but is a bit intimidating to cross due to its small size (I crossed on it in November). Better have good balance and can take the rushing water below, fall-in and you may not survive. Once across, the Milk Cr trail is 60 feet inland. The other log is upstream above Rivord Creek and is safer to cross due to its size, but is harder to get to and to the Milk Cr. trail. I hiked the trail a couple of miles to the stream coming from Twin Lakes. I hear the footlog across Milk Cr is in great shape. The trail has just a couple of logs to work around. This will give access to Vista Ridge and Red Pass areas. Remember the Skyline PCT bridge (upper Suiattle) is out and no safe way to cross. Downey Creek: I actually hiked this trail a couple weeks back and it’s in good shape. As one knows, Downey creek can have some major blowdowns to battle. However this year I found about 5 logs that required a bit of effort to get through, none too difficult (all others easily passed without effort). The log across Bachelor Creek is about ready to go (probably will only last through this season) and will probably be a chavel. There is thick Salmonberry between the 3 to 4.5 milepoints, and it is hard to see the trail in some place. If it’s wet/damp, you will get soaked. For those going to Bench Lake, the old log across Downey Creek @ Bachelor Creek is gone. There is a logjam upstream that will provide a dry crossing. As for the old log across Goat Cr, it’s unknown whether it survived the floods (ran out of time to check it out). The Ptarmigan Traverse folks will need only to worry in upper Bachelor Creek. For those wishing to hike the “true” PCT, it should be comforting to know that there are good logs to cross the Suiattle River at the former Milk Creek bridge site. This would be a good option for those that do not want to do the non-scenic recommended route around Glacier Peak. The usual problem would be the Kennedy Creek crossing (no log). I hope to do a trip from NF Sauk to Suiattle River now that there are good logs across the Suiattle. Some photos at: http://www.mtnmike.com/WTA/Suiattle2/