The trail to Squire Creek Pass has always been filed in my mind as one of those "secret" trails that Harvey Manning would tell us about in 100 Hikes, but tell us that no body knew about, and so we'd all believe him and pretend like we didn't know it was there. But then, after seeing an alarming number of trip reports for this trail recently, I decided I had to hike it before it was mercilessly trammeled by dozens of feet. The trail is rough, muddy, rock, steep, and replete with down trees. It reminds me of a mashup of the Pinnacle Lake trail and the old Oyster Dome trail before the WTA fixed it (hint, hint, hint). This is such a neat trail that I'd be first in line to join a work party to help restore the worst bits (hint, hint, hint). But, wow, what a neat trail. The trail climbs quickly and mercilessly, until finally levelling off some in the last ~3/4 mile or so. The stream crossings are almost inexplicably magical. The views, big and small, on the way up are great, but nothing compared to the front-row view of Three Fingers that hits you when you reach the pass. W. O. W. One can easily make out the lookout high above. The trail is completely snow free at this time. And, so, so worth it.

Did this trail on a spur of the moment decision with a few friends. We had planned on doing the Walt Bailey Trail, but recent reports had noted that a moderate amount of postholing and snow travel was required for that. Just wanting to get outside and up high we set off on this one and hit the trail at about 10am. The trail itself is in decent shape and relatively well formed. There were very many blowdowns on this trail though and one which required an entire reroute. I'd say the tree was roughly 4-5' in diameter. It was just after this point that we lost the trail briefly and put up a sticks to mark the boundary as best we could. As far as difficulty, this trail was just right - not that steep and a continuous grade. We came to an opening in the forest where there was a massive, smooth, rock ledge with years of slide debris below and a nice view of the valley and surrounding peaks. We pushed onward and it was at about this point where there started to be snow and more mud on the trail. This was to be expected for this time of year, but with the recent snowfall, we ended up losing the trail (or following another one) at some point and eventually ended up just below the ledge that we were meant to get to. Gaiters and spikes were not necessary, but certainly made things a bit easier. We arrived at our fake summit around noon and had lunch with the three fingers just to the west and the north cascade range to the east. At about 1pm we headed back down and got to the car around 2:30pm. All in all it was a nice hike a good time with good friends. I will say that if you head up there, don't blindly follow the snowtracks - we came to an area with multiple streams, potentially a bog or pond and I think it was here we lost the path. And again, there must have been at least 20 or more blowdowns on this one.

With the beautiful weather we couldn't resist hitting the trail today. This trail is in pretty rough shape. Lots of mud and roots to hike through and over. Numerous blow downs, and snow melt forming large muddy puddles. That being said the view from Squire Pass is spectacular, and well worth the rough trail. Seeing Three Fingers from the opposite side that I'm used to is cool. There are also several really neat creek crossings where you cross huge flat smooth rock with very shallow water running down over it. The snow that fell over the last couple of weeks is mostly gone and trail is easy to follow. The pass has bare rocks to sit on and after the sun today the pass might be completely snow free. We were the only hikers on the trail today. Round trip was just under four hours. Not counting our breaks at the top and Three O'clock Rock.

Road was rocky, but nothing requiring 4wd or high clearance. Past the trailhead, it gets rough. I drove down it for a ways to explore while I was waiting for my buddy to meet me. Chose this one because it seemed like despite the iffy avalanche forecast, we wouldn't have much to worry about since it was either forested or flat. The trail isn't too steep, besides the middle section. Very rocky and rooty and you need to watch where you step, especially on the way down. Poles were helpful. Should have brought snowshoes instead of microspikes. The spikes never left my bag, as we postholed and trudged through 2' of snow. We did lose the summer trail eventually, but whipped out maps and still found our way to the pass. The views are great in every direction once the trees are sparse and the terrain flattens out, so you can't really go wrong. Ignoring the fact we were slogging through snowdrifts anywhere between 12" and 30" it wasn't bad. We went about a mile an hour once we hit the deeper snow, between hiking through it (small tree wells and hidden creeks) and stopping once in a while to make sure we were still on track for the pass. It was a long 5.4 mile hike. Views from the pass are great. You look straight at Three Fingers and Whitehorse, with White Chuck behind you. Sunrise is probably ridiculous there, since I bet it lights up Three Fingers and Whitehorse with pink light every morning. I played one of my personal favorites, "aircraft or avalanche." Self explanatory. You hear a rumble. Avalanche, aircraft, what? Look around. We heard four small avalanches, all on Three Fingers. We followed our own trail out. It's easier when you expect the postholing and it's not a surprise with each step. I can see why the area is popular with rock climbers, too - there were some great rock faces to climb.

With a forecast of sunny and 74 degrees (!!) in Darrington, I decided today would be a great day to head for Squire Creek Pass. I’ve always been oddly fascinated by Whitehorse Mountain, and was excited to see it from a new angle at the pass. Ideally I wanted to set up a shuttle and do Squire Creek Pass as a point-to-point starting from Eight Mile Creek and connecting through to Squire Creek Trail. But today it was just me and the pups, so we had to “settle for” an out-and-back on Eight Mile Creek. Although the idea was to do this as a trail run, I probably ran for a total of 10 minutes. The trail is a little too rocky and rooty to do anything other than hike. As you near the pass, the route goes over big slabs of rock that are currently covered in ice, making microspikes a necessity. Despite the ice, it was sunny, warm and calm at the pass. The views of Three Fingers and Whitehorse are amazing. Can't wait to go back! More pics here: http://evergreenendurance.com/2015/03/10/trip-report-squire-creek-pass-via-eight-mile-creek/