Road was good. I have a low clearance car, totally fine.
Went on a weekday, dog and I were the only ones, it turned out to be such a beautiful day, the trail was good, but it would be so great if the wonderful WTA volunteers spent some time out there.
Make sure you’re wearing your grippy boots. Lots of big slick rocks to cross.
Snow sightings started at 3,370 elv.
The really fun snow, according to dog, started at 3,590 elv.

Also where there is stream/river crossings over those now, iced over slick rocks. Just be careful.

Bring hiking pills if you have them, I forgot mine in the car. It is STEEP in places.

Have fun!

Hiked the Eight-Mile Creek Trail to Squire Creek Pass, and back.

Road Conditions. 5.5 mile of unpaved road with a few potholes and rough surface; a dip between mile 1 and 2 might require some care with lower-clearance cars. The last half mile is "pray that no one is driving in the opposite direction". Didn't see any facilities at the trailhead that would warrant displaying a permit.

Trail Conditions. The trail started out a bit rocky, but with a reasonable grade, and then was quite nice up to Three O-Clock Rock. Beyond that, the trail was rough (steep and lots of roots), but easy to follow, and mostly clear of obstacles (just a few blowdowns and muddy patches). Plenty of running water. 

Highlights. Interesting geology, and great views at the pass. Blueberries were liquified, but lots of mushrooms. Old-growth forest, including one of the largest redcedars I've seen anywhere.

Crowds. Encountered one other party on the trail.

#HiketheState

This is not a long hike, but it has some significant challenges. The first third is a steady uphill. The second third is a steep uphill with lots of roots and a bunch of other doable challenges like downed trees, and deep mud.  It flattens out a bit after that until you reach a beautiful flat granite slab, with spectacular viewswhich is a lovely place to have lunch. We found the middle third pretty challenging, going downhill as well.

There is a previous post about a car eating pothole near the end. No kidding! The hole is about 3 feet deep and conveniently marked with a large branch with a yellow flag on. It is on the left side of the road as you approach. That is an obstacle that you want to stay away from. Photo attached.

Rough trail but fun and stunning views! Berries are on their way out but fall colors are starting to come out. Some of the road doesn't seem to exist on Google, but do yes on Bing, Apple, Gaia, and Alltrails. So close to Three Fingers that you can make out the lookout! I highly recommend poles and a gps track. The trail is pretty easy to follow but in a few places it is a touch ambiguous. The video below shows a bit of the drive. 

Road/Parking: WTA has the right milage and Google has the right trailhead on the map, but it seems to only know about half the road so if you use it to navigate it will tell you that you have arrived when you are only halfway down the forrest road. The road gets progressively narrower and worse as you go. We did it with 6.9" clearance and it was ok but we would have hit in one small washout if we hadn't been able to straddle it just right. There is also one very deep hole (over a foot) just before the TH that someone marked with a large stick. There is parking for at least 6 at the TH and there were about 4 vehicles when we arrived a little before 11 on a nice Saturday, and 2 when we left around 3:30. There are no facilities but there is a trail register. 

Trail: Per the register about half of the people were rock climbing and we only saw a couple hiking groups. The trail starts out wide and mild with evidence of lots of cleared trees and trail work, but it doesn't stay that way for long. It get rooty, rocky, muddy (shallowish), slippery in spots, some minor tree fall to go over and under, steep, some rooks to climb, just enough to make you really work for it and feel like a bit of an adventure. Lots of dogs out and seemed like most of the terrain was tougher on us than them. We all slipped at least once on the way back down. The top is stunning, with Three Fingers so close even with a bit of haze it was great. We couldn't quite make out details of the lookout but we could see it. Lots of room to spread out and take in the view but we had the place to ourselves anyhow. No water except some stagnant pools. 

Stats: ~ 5.25 miles, 2400 ft gain/loss, 4.4 hours total, 3.4 hours moving. We are fast/moderate paced hikers who hike weekly. 

When I first saw an aerial picture of the Exfoliation Dome decades ago, I thought surely it was in Yosemite. Finally today got around to dipping my toe into this amazing corner of the Mountain Loop Highway, hiking up Squire Pass, with a side trip up Higher Squire peak.  

TL;DR;

• Trail: Overall better shape then I expected
  • Middle section quite rooty, but not bad (for me, on this day)
• Higher Squire: Terrific 340 degree views
  • But have to climb a bit of steep vegetation to get it
  • If a climber, check out "Squire Spire" just W
  • Else good views can be had just by meandering up lovely granite meadows above Squire pass until things get steep
• Road:
  • Is narrow, but thanks to road crew is in surprisingly good shape
  • That said would take medium or greater clearance
    • Due to 1 pothole, and a couple ( currently dry ) fords
  • Near the end there is a "end-your-day" ( wheel swallower ) pothole:
    • But sometime today someone ( probably the new register folks! ) plonked a stick in it with some yellow tape, thanks!
• Parking:
  • 2 cars today, out of probably space for 8 back ins'
  • No trailhead toilet
• People:
  • Heard some climbers on the wall, but saw no one else
• Critters:
  • Lots of pissed off squirrels ( aren't they all )
  • Saw one bear scat, but hard to tell how old given rain
  • Large toads
• Berries: Blue/Huckleberries in full force,
  • Starting at 3400' and then amazing as get closer to the pass ( and most of way up to base of Higher Squire )
  • Why is it I can never seem to remember to bring containers?
• Water: I would take all the water you need, although...
  • There is a large stagnant pool at 3045'
  • And a few micro trickles/ponds later on if desperate
• Trash: Can't believe it has taken until end of August for my first Mylar Balloon capture ( on Higher Squire ).  
  • Unfortunately was shredded, so took 5 mins on steep ground to retrieve
  • Apart from that all good though, no other trash

SQUIRE PASS ( FROM EIGHTMILE )

Trail can be described in 3 sections:

• Easy, well maintained forest trail to start of Three O'clock wall climbing area
  • Sun seemed to be leaving at around 3pm, not sure if this is reason for the name
• Rooty/Rocky section, with a couple easy blowdowns
  • It's isn't actually that bad, just take your time
• Lovely traverse towards pass, with ever expanding views
  • Note to see views, you have to stop leaning over to eat berries

The pass itself is a great area to explore, recommend continuing up a little (southward) following easy granite "leads" for even better views.

HIGHER SQUIRE

Terrific 340 degree views, but have to climb a bit of steep vegetation to get it

• If a climber, consider "Squire Spire" (unofficial) just West
  • Looks way sexier looking then the treed Higher Spire :)

Higher Spire summit block has quite a bit of scrappy Class H2+DBV (my made up Cascadian Heather class 2+ grade, with Duff, Blueberry Veggie holds)

• From Squire Pass, Wandered beautiful granite slab leads SSE towards the treed Higher Squire
• At about 4500'  ascend steep vegetation to gain the ridge about 4741'
  • There is a bit of root finding, and you will be using lots of veggie belays especially if damp ( like it was today)
• Once on the NW ridge it is a much more enjoyable jaunt up to the summit rocks
• Really great views including Three Fingers, Whitehorse, Baker, Pugh, Del Campo, Monte Christo peaks, etc.
• As was damp, fell on my ass a couple times descending
• Note, seen some GPX tracks that come at peak from NE, but couldn't see the way down enough to be able to comment

Once at meadows, have the option of taking one of several granite slab stream beds direct down to trail. They were dry when I was there, but must be beautiful when running.  I really can't remember were I went though, as I was heads down picking blueberries, and not really paying attention to where I was going (and thus falling on my ass again).

EXFOILATION DOME (WHAT A GREAT NAME!)

While didn't explicitly visit the Exfoliation Dome, did at least get some good views, and it remains a personal legend to me given the (assumed) double entendre of geology-nerd ( the process that forms this type of cliff ) and climber ( loss of epidermis ) interpretations :)

Great area climbing link attached for active climbers, and those long retired armchair types like me.