Snow at the Huckleberry Mountain trailhead, a few clear spots, but then a couple feet deep where I lost the trail after about 1000 feet uphill. Moved lots of branches so it will be easier next time.

I only drove to and hiked on the Huck, but I wanted to give a heads up that FS Road 26 is closed W of Downey Creek until further notice according to the info posted at MP 10. Thus Huckleberry is the only official trail officially open on the Suiattle at this time due to the Downey Creek fire of last fall.

Porcupine Woman and I worked on this together on a five day four night trip.  Got most of it looking good, came out to burning forest and trail closure.  Hopefully doesn't stay closed too long, burned part is only at the start.

This is a very brief rewrite since WTA deleted both my and her Reports.  I had never met her before, we arranged the whole thing in the comments section of one of my previous Reports that is still up.  I hope to work with her again next year on another trail or three, we discussed options and now have each others contact info.

We exited this way from the Ptarmigan Traverse. Started at Ipsoot ridge and did the 13ish miles back to the TH. 

There is lots of water along the trail and I only carried a liter at a time. The trail is pretty buggy, biting flies and mosquitos, so we didn’t stop too often. They didn’t seem as bad when we were moving. 

As far as the terrible bushwhack, we followed tracks to the North of Bachelor Creek which had only 15 mins of bushwhacking instead of the hours I remember from 2017. That was great. 

People keep saying they saw a bear, but we didn’t. Lots of wildflowers and berries though. 

Trailhead was about half full Tuesday at 8pm. Also smoky from the nearby fire. We started smelling the smoke at white rock lakes and it lasted on and off till the TH. 

Full Trip report for the Ptarmigan Traverse saved as a highlight on my Instagram. 

Rough road and very narrow at times with limited visibility. I almost got hit a couple of times by people flying up the road.

Arrived Saturday morning @TH. ~12 cars. 1 person in parking lot getting ready to hike.

Overall, trail in good condition overall except a few down trees. I was able to get over/under them, except there were 2 large ones fallen together that took a little effort on way out. I was a lot quicker getting over these on way out. Most of trail is shaded, so nice on hot days. Pass lots and lots of trees... Some remind me of being in the Olympic rain forest. 

Passed at least 4 spots before end of Downey Creek trail where tent could be setup. At end of Downey Creek trail there are multiple spots to setup tents. Easy access to water.

We drove up the Suiattle River Road from Highway 530 north of Darrington for about 50 minutes to get to the Downey Creek Trail parking area. There were 15 vehicles parked when we started up the trail through the old growth forest. The trail starts with two switchbacks through the moss covered ground with lots of big Doug Fir trees to see along the way. After entering the Glacier Peak Wilderness the trail is high above Downey Creek as it contours along the steep slopes of Downey Mtn. The trail has some ups and downs as it heads up stream. Before getting to the second creek crossing the trail turns east because of the deep gulley area. A short distance before getting to the creek the trail goes through a rocky/muddy section where we climbed over a large fallen tree with cut out foot and hand holds. The creek has a fallen tree with the top cut flat, but no railing. The creek is coming down Downey Mtn. We only went about another mile, had lunch and hiked back. Makes for a nice big tree forest hike. Most of the large blown down trees have been cut out the past few years by WTA crews. There a couple of climb over ones. 

Only saw one bird on our hike and no other animals or hikers, so we had the trail to ourselves. With all the vehicles in the parking lot, we thought we see a few other people, but they must have been climbers or backpackers. On the drive back out about 1/2 mile from the trailhead on the Suiattle River Road we almost got hit at a blind corner by a big 4 wheel drive pickup where the driver was driving like he was in the Baja 1000. So you need to watch out for those drivers going way too fast on a gravel road. The gravel part of the road has no big potholes just some wash boards. A freeway compared to the Mt. Pilchuck Road. Between the road to Green Mtn. and Buck Creek a black bear crossed the road in front of us. Note the WTA has the Downey Creek Trail listed on the Mountain Loop Highway, but it is off the Suiattle River Road.

The oldest guide book I have describing the Downy Creek Trail is in the book, "Climber's Guide to the Cascade and Olympic Mountains" by the late climbing legend Fred Beckey published by The American Alpine Club in 1949. This is for climbing Sentinel Peak. The book states, "Route 1. Go up Downey Creek to trails' end about 9 miles ( ca. 3 miles past Bench Creek). There is a shelter 4 miles up...". The Downey Creek Trail was used for the first climb of Sentinel Peak in 1935. The trail has been in the "100 Hikes Washington's Glacier Peak Region" by Spring and Manning. In the latest guide book of this area, "Day Hiking North Cascades" by Romano, the Downey Creek Trail is not described. We hiked it 8-7-2020.