If you want solitude and a room with a view, this is the place! If mosquitoes are intolerable for you, come back in the fall when they're dead.

We set up our tent on a flat grassy patch, where we had westward views of Three Fingers (fire lookout visible with naked eye), Whitehorse Mtn and Mt Bullen. Jumbo and Mt. Pugh dominate the easterly sky. Our Subaru managed fine on the 6-mile road in. Smaller cars might find it trickier to navigate various holes, rocks and ruts, but with care and attentiveness, I think you'd be fine.

The trail isn't a total cakewalk. By that I mean that in some sections it's overgrown, quite steep and rooty, and there are 3 or 4 blowdowns that you'll need to hop over (or shimmy under). That said -- it is a gorgeous walk in the woods. Lower down, look for (!)ENORMOUS(!) [as in, you could park a car inside them] stumps from old growth trees. Watch climbers creeping up Three O'clock rock.  Look for three kinds of berries on this hike: thimble, salmon and blue. After about 2 miles, you'll begin encountering lichen-covered slabs of granite that form smooth runways down the mountainside, often culminating in tiny tarns that house frogs and caddis flies. The last mile is a hot slog up to the pass, where you'll find more granite slabs, a trail that peeters out, and cairns that tease you beyond the grassy campsites, upward, to a jagged ridgeline, where you'll get eye-popping views of Pugh, Shuksan, Glacier, and (my favorite) the North Cascade peaks along Rt 20 and the Cascade River Road. Sit on the ridgeline and have lunch! For those camping overnight: there's access to water for now, but since snow is the source (no streams or springs that I could see), that could change soon. Most campsites offer little shade, the mosquitos patter like raindrops against the tent screen---but, oh, did I mention the solitude? :)

As the previous trip report said, the road in to the Eight-mile trailhead is bumpy and narrow, and it has a few places that made me glad to be in a station wagon with moderate clearance. The turnoff from the Mtn Loop Hwy onto Road 2060 is clearly marked, although the sign is actually just past the turnoff rather than before it.

The trail is unmaintained and steep (as advertised), but it has recently been cut back/bushwhacked and is clear and easy to follow. Only a handful of blowdowns across the trail, and all were easy enough to get over or under. Almost to the top near the pass the trail follows some mostly dried up creek beds on exposed slabs, so it takes a little attention to keep on track, but small cairns help mark the way and it's pretty clear at that point where the pass is going to be anyway.

There was just one minor patch of snow on the trail that posed no problem and will be melted away within days. Water was plentiful toward the top of the pass thanks to the melt-off that's filling the streams this time of year.

Definitely count on 6 miles round-trip via the Eight-mile Trail. Not sure where the 5.4 mile figure on the WTA hike description page comes from, especially since the page itself says you'll climb 2300 feet in 3 miles up to the pass.

My party turned around at the pass after stopping for a nice lunch in full view of Three Fingers and Whitehorse, so I don't know what the thru-hike is like.

Having grown up within sight of Three Fingers and Whitehorse (from the west side), it was amazing to get up close to these familiar peaks and see them from the east side for the first time. Well worth the effort!

The road in is long and bumpy, but I have seen far worse, and I think could be traversed by any vehicle (maybe not a Smart Car).

The trailhead itself is fairly quiet, and most of those parked appear to have been climbers tackling some of the many slab formations in the area. The trail up is steep and a bit rooty, with the occasional mud patch to spice things up, but overall is in good shape with hardly any blowdowns.

The last half mile of the hike, near the pass, there's still a significant amount of snow and there were no visible tracks. I'd recommend bringing a map, as otherwise it would be easy to incorrectly follow a snowfield up to the ridgeline, whereas the trail follows a more gradual approach to the saddle by squire creek pass.

Hiked on Saturday, June 3 and only crossed paths with a work party at the bottom of the trail and one other group at the pass. There is six miles of a gravel road to the trailhead, which were rough but very navigable. People mainly had high-clearance vehicles at the trailhead. The trail was generally pretty overgrown, and we missed a few switchbacks but always found the path easily when we looked around. The main challenge was the last 3/4-1 miles to the pass was completely snow-covered. With a downloaded map we easily followed the pass to the viewpoint. Only a few stream crossings on snow bridges were slightly worrisome. Overall incredible views, no crowds, and nice trail, relatively close to the city. The snow at the top made the views better than they will be at the end of the season.

A little late getting this trip report in due to IT functionality, or lack there of. Road was passable with high clearance. Still quite a bit of snow (~10ft) once you get about 1 1/2 miles up. Streams above tree line still running under the snow; streams before that easy to cross. Some navigation skills required once you hit the snowfields. Flowers, including Marsh Marigolds, were making their presence known. Beautiful day.