Trail Summary

• North Sauk River Trailhead to Mackinaw Shelter. Flat trail but has annoying downed trees. Saw a forest work party head up on the way down, so it might be cleaned out by then.

• Mackinaw Shelter to White Pass. Some good gain with switch backs and a long ridge trail. Had several snow crossings coming in – all but three melted out on the way down.

• White Pass to Foam Creek & Glacial Basin. I’m not an expert of all the peaks in the Cascades, unlike my climbing partner. I believe we took the winter route about 2 miles in up snow slopes and a scree – then down a scree and glissaded into a basin.

• Glacial Basin to Glacial Gap: Crossed a small basin, followed by a large basin. Hugged a high ridge line on the way up (seemed to be melting on our way down, we stayed low).

• Glacial Gap to Summit: When you go up glacial gap, if you hug to the left there is a ridge trail that undercuts a lot of slower snow travel. We didn’t see this until the way down.

• There is a boulder crossing before you reach a pass. The rock fall is real. There was a noticeable increase of rocks lying on the field on the descent. Went up Disappointment Cleaver/Gerdine Glacier. There were some crevasses that were growing and a wall of serac ice. The last 2000 ft is a switch back scree and a steep snow climb. A mountainessa I spoke to yesterday mentioned she had cut in good steps. They definitely were.

• Warning about summer route: We tried to take the summer route to leave the basins. There was a visible boot path but we noticed it disappeared by the time we reached the ridge. Instead of turning around, we pressed forward and it was a pain with the steep, slick snow fields and slippery heather. In retrospect, I would have turned around and gone up the winter route near White Chuck.

Thoughts: Gorgeous trip. Just stunning. My climbing partner has been here many times over four decades and said he had not seen better conditions. I estimate there were only 15 people there that day. If there is ever a zombie apocalypse, I will definitely go to Glacier Peak for safety.

Lessons Learned:

• I don’t have hardy feet. I didn’t bring separate approach shoes for the first ten miles (which grows longer as the season progresses). I wanted to undercut weight, but my feet are butchered. Some people can handle mountaineering boots on trails, but I can’t.

• Periods that are late and magically start Day 1 on your way to White Pass sucks ass. Summiting Glacier Peak with 2/3rd your energy level sucks ass.

This is a report of a Glacier Peak ascent from the North Fork Sauk River trailhead.  First, Mountain Loop Hwy changes from a paved 2 lane road to a gravel road 9 miles South of Darrington, so don't assume usual highway speeds.  Forest Road 49 was washed out/closed this Spring, and had just opened to the trailhead a day or two earlier.  Drive time from Darrington to the trailhead is about an hour.  Trail 649 was generally in good condition all the way to White Pass, beautiful deep forest scenery along the river to the Mackinaw Shelter, then switchbacks for a 2500' gain to White Pass, where we camped Day 1.  Most campsites were apparently still covered by snow; we had to scout around to find suitable bare ground, and there was no water source other than melting snow.  Lots of wildflowers, beautiful views, lots of marmots, several deer, and a black bear all in that area.  The start of the Foam Creek Trail is marked, and visible, but was quickly covered by snow where we relied on tracks of prior climbers, which led us on an ascending traverse below the ridge.  After about an hour, footprints indicated a short vertical climb to a col overlooking the White Chuck Glacier.   Great to have a clear view of GP and the White Chuck Glacier from there, but there was a steep descent on the other side.  We followed foot prints staying as high as we could, towards the right side as we worked our way around and through the basins leading to Glacier Gap where we stayed Day 2.  The "lakes" in the basins were still all frozen over, save a little melting around the edges.  There were a few small streams of snowmelt as a water source en route as well as at Glacier Gap and only 1 part was camped in that area.  There were good campsites at Glacier Gap, some with rock wall windbreaks from prior climbers; several parties stayed there and no one had to camp on the snow.  We began our ascent 02:20 Day 3.  The climbing trail was well marked by earlier climbers already, and we had no problems following footprints towards Disappointment Cleaver (initial travel was on glacier, the ridge was mostly exposed and the path on rock/scree was easy to follow), then traversed to our right across a glacier below Disappointment Peak (crampons necessary by now, watch for falling rocks) with an ascent to meet the Cool Glacier.  There was a fairly broad/intact section of glacier or snow bridge for us (July 3), with crevasses on either side, especially to the right.  Once on the Cool Glacier (sunrise at this point) we ascended to the ridge between Disappointment Peak and Glacier Peak; following the climbers path on rock/scree until our final ascent on an icy chute to the summit.  This was steep-reminiscent of the final ascent of Mt. Hood above hogsback ridge, but had well established steps from prior climbers.  We reached the summit before 07:00, conditions were clear (views of Mt. Rainier, Baker, and Adams) but extremely windy; we only stayed at the summit a short time.  The descent back to Glacier Gap was straightforward.  After breaking camp we headed back towards White Pass, considering possible extension to the Mackinaw Shelter.  As we approached the White Chuck Glacier and ridge leading to White Pass, we saw tracks leading to a col "earlier" (to our left, further NE) than our incoming route, which was not nearly as steep on the White Chuck Glacier side.  We assumed this was a preferred path hence followed that to the col overlooking the White River Valley.  So far, so good..., but the "trail" (i.e. a few bootpaths on snow) from there involved a rather treacherous traverse across broad, steep snow fields, and required a final very steep, straight up climb out (at least 50 meters, all on snow) before we got to a point where we could actually see White Pass and the terrain was less hazardous.  In spite of all that, we made it to the Mackinaw Shelter to end Day 3.  The shelter itself has seen its better days, but the area has good campsites, fresh water, a toilet pit (basic, but better than blue bag handling), and campfire rings.  Only downside was the mosquitoes- not an issue elsewhere on the climb.  We had a relaxed hike out this AM.  Overall, 3 nights, 71 hours trailhead to trailhead, a comfortable pace for our group (all experienced climbers but first GP climb, ages ranged 26 to 66). 

Question, rather than a trip report.  Does anyone know if there is parking near where the road is damaged and if riding a mountain bike from there to the trailhead along the road is doable?

Don't really know about bug status, snow conditions, and trail conditions, but the site makes you put something in those fields.

Thanks

I did not do this trail today so I don’t know what the conditions are like on the trail. This trail report is here to let you know how bad the road damage is. I went to scout out the damage and leave some info here for anyone who is looking for some more concreate information.

Forest road 49 or Sloan Creek/North Fork Sauk road is passable but is indeed damaged about .6 miles in from mountain loop highway. However, you will need a high ground clearance vehicle to make it. The road is washed out on the right-hand side, it’s about a 3-foot crater however it’s not so serious that I feel like driving over the road that’s still intact will cause someone to fall in. With that said there is one other problem. On the left-hand side of the road where the roads still intact there’s a huge ditch on the left that’s about 2 feet below the surface of the main road. So basically, your right tire is going to be way higher than your left one which will be way down in the ditch. This is why I recommend high clearance vehicle so you don’t bottom out. I know you can do it because I watched 2 pickup trucks do it today lol.