27 miles of hiking over 2 days through the heart of the North Cascades, completely to myself.  Great new loop, perfect for racking up those Hike a Thon miles!

Dropped my bike at Rainy Pass PCT North parking lot, not a single car.  None along the Highway, either.  Drove back to East Creek TH to car camp so I could get an early start.  I had some extra time so picked up trash along the road again.  Bathroom well stocked and clean, no other campers.

Soon after starting up the trail in the morning, at the first water, I saw the trail had been widened to 10 feet, with the branches thrown all over.  What?  Then I saw the tell tale sign (poop) of horses!  There were 2 guys saddling up when I left the TH last time, it must have been them!

On the other side, the once solid trail is all chewed up by hooves, a horse and a mule, up and back.  When you see how much damage just a couple animals can do imagine 100.  I'm pretty sure this trail is open to horses but none have come up in a long time.  It's easy to tell on one that doesn't get many.

The horse people were able to get est. 1.75 miles, where a chest high log on a steep slope prevented further forward travel.  I hoped they might have a saw like most good horsemen do and clear the trail for us, but all they brought was an axe.  Then they had to turn the animals around in the trail, I would have loved to see that.  I'm guessing they won't be back.

I clipped some again, 6 hours 40 car to Lookout.  Trail is better and better, still has some trees down in places.  Bugs were not a problem at the top, I didn't need to hang the net.  I didn't get bit once by anything this whole trip.

I watered up at the last spot (6100') before Mebee Pass, 4 and a half liters.  I wasn't cooking, ended up having 2 liters left in the morning.  Distant lightning and thunder in the afternoon, "flash-to-bang" never less than 7 seconds, some as many as 50 (five is a mile).  Heavy rain came over the building most of the night, hard to keep the door shut. 

Sunny this morning.  Back to Mebee Pass from the LO and down toward the Methow River 2000 feet below.  This was my third trip down this in the last 2 weeks, trail just needed a little TLC to get back to it's old self.  There is plenty of water on this side of the Pass as well, the first about 500 feet down.  Clipped again, took me 2 hours 40 from Mebee Pass to the PCT.

There is a wooden sign here that says Rainy Pass is 15 miles R, my destination.  88 trees down in the 3 or so miles from here toward Methow Pass, they clear up before the parts more heavily traveled by day hikers and Snowy Lakers.  The PCT through here is something special.

9 hours 40 Mebee Pass to my bike at Rainy Pass, 18 miles, still no cars in the parking lot or along the road.  Where is everybody?  I was only passed by 3 cars in the nearly an hour of mostly downhill 13 miles of riding I did back to East Creek.  Then a stop at Marblemount Shell for ice cream!

My experience matches the previous trip report, with one addition. 

Stream crossings: There are currently multiple stream crossings (approx. 3 crossings more than 3 feet wide). We were able to rock/log hop over each of the crossings and never got our shoes wet. Some of the rocks/logs were precarious or wobbly. Hiking poles were helpful, and crossing without poles could easily result in wet shoes.

One of my favorite trails!  I've included 5min of video highlights below..

Road: some potholes when the pavement ends near parking area but not bad at all.

Wildflowers: columbine, queen's cup, pearly everlasting, white heather, pink heather, cusick's speedwell, saxifrage, serviceberry, paintbrush, lupine, cushion buckwheat, lyall's angelica, martindale's desert parsley (white variant)

Trees: amazing transition from lower typical Cascade forest of doug fir & cedar to a richly varied upper forest of englemann spruce, larch, mtn hemlock, white pine, grand fir, pacific silver fir, lodgepole pine!

Hiked to the pass via the PCT from highway 20. As of 4 pm on Monday the trailhead was accessible from 20 as the closure is several miles east towards Early Winters. I did smell smoke while hiking and it was hazy near the pass. Trail was in great shape except for 6-7 trees down across the trail- none of which were hard to navigate over/around. I also saw a bear a few hundred yards from the trailhead- he moved along after a few minutes and it was not an issue. My hike was 5 hours up and down with an hour long lunch at the pass. I saw less than 20 people on Cutthroat while the other Rt 20 trailheads were packed. Highly recommend this hike! 

One of my all time favorite hikes.  Usually up at Cutthroat Pass later in the season as part of a multi-day trip.  First time up here in early July and was therefore surprised by the amount of water and the bugs.  I'd advise high top water proof boots for the next few weeks until the creeks go down.  Also dry socks and shoes back in the car would be a good idea.  I suspect the mosquitos will be less prevalent when things dry up a bit.  

Five hours up and down including a lunch break.  Great views intermittently on the very gentle grade lower section and continuously up to the pass.  

Did I mention that this is my favorite part of the N. Cascades?   Really ok that the crowds are across the street at Maple Pass.