What a trip! Fall is officially here. First things first for those heading out soon: there is a lot more water on the trail now after all the precip we've had. Only dry sections are between Mackinaw Shelter and about a mile before White Pass, and Blue Lake to North Fork Sauk River. There's plenty between White Pass and Blue Lake right now. We camped out at the trailhead Friday night to get an early start Saturday morning and try to beat the crowds - of course the parking lot was already overflowing and about six more cars arrived before we got out of the tent in the morning. Ended up not getting on the trail until 9am. We hit Mackinaw Shelter at 11:30am and stopped for food and to filter water since there's not much in the way of it until you start approaching White Pass. We made it to White Pass about 3hrs later after leaving Mackinaw and quickly layered up and sat down with the map. Glacier Peak was completely hidden except for one of the lowest glaciers. We met a lot of folks turning back attempting their climb. Given the wind and the cold (and the looming scary clouds) we decided to push on to Indian Pass so we could camp 1000ft lower down. On the way we got caught in a hail storm but it didn't last too long. Fall colors are out in abundance! We got to Indian Pass around 5:30pm and set up camp - there is plenty of water here right now. We woke up to about an inch of snow outside the tent in the morning but it was melting quickly. Looking up at the ridge we were glad to have made the push to Indian Pass - lots of snow up there! After sleeping in and packing up we hit the trail at 11:30am. Soon ran into a Forest Service ranger taking down all the wildlife closure signs, which was great to hear that things are getting contained now! Climbing back up higher we entered a snowy and foggy world, but it was great to finally see so much moisture all around after this very dry summer. When we reached the junction with the Little Wenatchee River Trail (1525) we decided to side trip down to Meander Meadows. Had wanted to climb Kodak Peak but would have been just more socked in fog! Had lunch down at the Meadows and met a crew of 3 guys and their 6 llamas. After lunch we went back to the PCT and then turned off at Dishpan Gap towards Blue Lakes. Once we got to the junction for the low route/high route to Blue Lake we opted for lower - both because of the weather and because we thought we'd have more solitude camping at Little Blue Lake along the lower route. Arrived at Little Blue Lake around 5:30pm and set up camp for the night. Day three we left camp at 9:30am and climbed up the Pilot Ridge trail, keeping our fingers crossed for an opening in the clouds that never came. Beautiful all the same! The Pilot Ridge trail really does seem to go on forever, especially during all the ups and downs before the big descent - we kept thinking we were starting the descent only to climb up again several times. When you do hit the 2.5 mile drop, though, it will be an obvious set of never-ending switchbacks. We had to bushwhack a little to find the trail again after the log crossing at the North Fork Sauk River, but nothing too bad. My friend's knee brace was hurting after all that downhill so we took it slow on the way out and were back at the car by 5pm - we were one of four cars left so I think a lot of folks must have abandoned ship earlier in the weekend with the weather turning. All in all such a beautiful hike - can't wait to do it again when the skies are clearer!!

Headed out to do White Pass / Pilot Ridge loop for the amazing scenery on a Monday to try for some solitude but finding 17 cars at the Sloan Creek trailhead did not show much potential for the second part. Got a late start to the day and hit the trail at 1:30pm. I had checked reports ahead and the WTA map showed the Red fire perimeter very close. Could not find ANY information online about the fire so called Darrington ranger station in the morning where they assured me that it was a small fire that was terrain limited and posed little danger and they were not closing any trails for it. Hike up is as many describe with great old growth, quite, and uneventful 5 miles. Looked at the Pilot Ridge connection spur and found the usual sloppy campsite in the middle of the trail with a smoldering fire (during active burn ban) of burnt garbage (FYI "foil" packing material is actually mostly plastic and makes quite a few toxic fumes). Shelter is a good place to pick up some water, but don't overfill because there were at least 4 viable trickles above after the PCT junction and before White Pass to top off at. Latrine was nearly full. I made the mistake of picking up 10# of water at the first spot about 1000' below the junction unnecessarily. Climb to White pass was long but not as bad as I had thought from other descriptions. Steepest section is lower and mostly shaded. Mellows out up top when in full sun. Made it to White pass at around 7pm with a lot of photo and water pauses. There was a couple with two tents and another party set up. I started late so set up camp on an impacted spot above the others and had a great quiet sunset. There was a very small trickle of water heading through the camping area that I avoided due to lots of stuff growing in it and in the watershed of the campsite catholes. I picked up water .2 miles before the camping area on the PCT. The two latrines at camp were quite full. There was recent campfire evidence with the burn ban on and a good few piles of liberated toilet paper that I packed out along with an abandoned unfinished roll. Even 10 miles doesn't seem to discourage bad behavior by so many users. A reminder to please pack out all trash including used toilet paper and avoid campfires. I am not quite sure why FS does not put up a sign prohibiting campfires at such an alpine elevation with so little tree litter and so many users at this location. Next day planned a dayhike loop of out Foam Creek trail to the climbers route to Glacier gap via White Chuck Glacier. The new (2014) Green Trails #112 has this shown as a dashed line and I had reviewed the area on Google Earth and it looked doable if there wasn't so much snow shown on current imagery. Was greeted by frost on the ground outside my tent. Hit the trail at 7am and hit the jackpot of scenery along with peace and quiet. Met one solo climber that had summited Glacier the day before and one couple camping at the official end of Foam creek trail on the flats of the ridge. There is another easy campsite about .5 miles from the start of the trail that would be more quiet than White Pass. Also were two water trickles still viable. Bit of a scramble over the ridge after the trail ends but no problem without a 30# pack. Route kind of disappears over the other side in the endlessly diverse rock fields that used to be White Chuck Glacier. There are some cairns and plenty of footprints, but there is no real trail so it can be slow going. Generally obvious with the map guiding the general way. I did run into some amazing glacial quicksand around the drainage areas of the glaciers...my hiking pole sunk in 18" at one point so de beware and stay clear of the terminus areas. Stepped on a few rocks that immediately sank 6" into glacial cement. Landscape is amazing moonscape with very little vegetation except for microscopic plants and some bursting flowers. Lower saddle (7200') at Glacier Gap has a bunch of flat camping areas for climbers with constructed rock walls. Great views East but you have another dusty and steep climb to 7500' to get the full view of Glacier Peak and Suiattle Glacier. Totally worth it. I could see another solo climber coming down the Cool Glacier from Disappointment Peak in the afternoon. Made it here at 11:45 with lots of photo stops and GPS said 5.1 miles w ~2500' climbing (a few 300-500' downs). Good clean water coming out of cliff after White Chuck Glacier. Return route was to head back down to White Chuck Glacier and head to the boomerang shaped lake (6443') and outflow creek to marked Glacier Peak Meadows and follow drainage down to connect with PCT after Red Pass at camp area at 5500'. Lakes and views were great. Creek out of meadows provided a wonderful waterfall shower venue and all solitude to Red Pass. Route came and went a few times but with great visibility I could always see the PCT climbing up to Red Pass in the distance and never really ran into any trouble spots. Got to the PCT again and was sorry to be back on a well used trail with lots of ruts. Looks to me like horses are using the trail here even when not allowed. Climbed Red Pass at 4:50pm about 6.2 miles from Glacier Gap with -2000/+1000' and amazing views of Wolverine fire smoke cloud blowing up to tens of thousands of feet. Turn the corner and was way too close to the Red Creek fire actively torching trees not too far away. Two miles back to camp at White pass had a new party there and the same two tents previously had now moved onto pristine meadows down lower (leaving more of a trace in a high use area). Smoke started moving in that night and it was much warmer. Woke the next morning to some blistered feet, more smoke, and not much energy so decided to hike back out and skip Blue lake/ Pilot ridge since the loop the day before was so spectacular. Highly recommend this backcountry excursion in the area for those into getting off the beaten path.

This beautiful old growth forest trail is in very good condition and the cedars and Douglas firs are wondrous. We decided to camp at Red Creek Camp about 4.5 miles from the trailhead. It was a much quieter camp than Mackinaw, which is often used by groups headed to White Pass/PCT and beyond. Our energy levels weren't up to that trek this year, so we enjoyed hiking up as far as we could to look out over the valley and see the first of the emerging fall colors.

A lovely 3-day backpack across some of the most continuous high meadow country you will find in the Cascades! Though a bit hazy due to smoke from the Wolverine fire, and the flowers were mostly spent, the meadows were still verdant green and the berries were not just ripe, they were DIVINE!! Our route started early at the North Fork Sauk Trailhead in order to get us up the hill to White Pass before the heat of the day. But the North Fork Sauk River trail is not to be rushed through if you can help it - the profusion of huge cedar, hemlock and Douglas-fir stems make for a stunning shrine-like experience for the first 5.5 miles or so. Then you'll switchback up but it's a pretty steady grade and mostly you are in shade until you get to the final long traverse through meadow - and berries - to the PCT. Look for the side trail down onto a bench to the west of the trail for some lovely sheltered camps, some with stunning views (probably enough space for 10 tents on established dirt. However, water had dried up near the camp to a trickle between mud puddles, so for better flow you might want to stop for water between the junction of trail 649 (N Fork Sauk) and White Pass where there are 2 or 3 nicely flowing little streams crossing the trail that make for easy bottle filling. On day 2 we hiked from White Pass around Kodak Peak (with a quick little run to the top for great views of Glacier Peak) and past Dishpan Gap to the Blue Lake High Trail. Near Indian Pass there was a pond with reasonably clean water but otherwise no water. Some reports call this a very rough climber's trail but it's really well defined and not excessively steep - mostly the trail bed is pretty good. Blue Lake has several camps and an outhouse, and a few folks from our group had a chilly swim! This is one of my favorite camps in the Cascades. Day 3 was an endless ridge ramble along Pilot Ridge across the skykomish river valley from the Monte Cristo Peaks and Mt Sloan, just gorgeous. After about 5 miles the trail began to switchback and kept it up for about 4 miles more, through thick forest. Watch for hornets in places along the trail! There was no water along the trail on this day until you reach the North Fork Sauk again at about mile 9. A good sized log makes for a nice secure crossing of the North Fork Sauk, then it's a short 3 miles back to the trailhead through the cathedral of huge trees.

It is a spectacular loop. It was foggy and off and on rain for the first two days but still beautiful. The fog was weaving in an out of the mountains and the wildflowers were sweeping across the hillsides. We were glad for the sunny and clear weather for our last 12 mile day as the mountain views are abundant and awe-inspiring. Try to plan at least part of the trip during clear skies because you don't want to miss expansive views. You don't need back country permits but you do need a Northwest Forest Pass for parking. I believe it is $5 a day and $30 for a year. We did this trip in three days and two nights. The loop doesn't begin and end at the same trailhead so be prepared for a little forest road walking. We dropped off our packs at the Bald Eagle Trailhead and drove back a little over 2 miles to North Fork Sauk trailhead. We walked back to our packs using Fire road 49 south just over 2 miles to the Bald Eagle Trailhead. We got a late start and so we didn't reach Bald Eagle trailhead until 5:51pm so we decided to only hike an additional 4.3 miles to Curry Cap. The trail was overgrown and it was drizzling so our boots got soaked from the dripping greenery. I think gators would have helped. It was a steady gradual climb up to Curry Cap. I saw two campsites there. 1 large multi-tent area. 1 smaller. There is water available via the Quartz Creek Trail just beyond the campsites off of the Bald Eagle Trail. The next day we continued up the Bald Eagle Trail. The trail immediately starts ascending from Curry Gap. The hard climbs are short and broken up by long sweeps across meadows and ridges with great views. If you get an earlier start there are two other campsites along the Bald Eagle Trail. At 11.5 Miles there is a good but dry camp and then in another mile there is another camp that does have access to a small creek. There was water in late July but make sure to pack extra water just in case if hiking in mid-August. There is a junction in a small gap at 14 miles and you want to continue straight on the Bald Eagle Trail. Eventually you descend down a beautiful boulder field smothered in wet green moss and whistling marmots. Then you begin a small ascent up to Little Blue Lake. There are a couple smaller ponds before Little Blue Lake so don't be confused. There is a campsite here but we continued and camped at Blue Lake which is tremendous. Continue to the left passed Little Blue Lake on Bald Eagle Trail until you reach a junction. Blue Lake is to the right. There are several great campsites here. The lake is beautiful and there are beautiful views of the mountains and the ridge you will cross the next day. Blue Lake is at 15.6 miles (from your parked car). The next day we hiked 12 miles back to our cars sweeping around pilot ridge. From Blue Lake go back to the junction and continue on Pilot Ridge. VIEWS VIEWS VIEWS!! At 16.7 miles there is a side trip option up Johnson Mountain for 0.8 miles. We did not do this because it was a very steep 0.8 miles and it would have added a 1.6 to our day, but we've been told we missed out. It turns out we crushed the 12 miles before 1pm so we probably should have taken the extra time to peak Johnson but we will save it for next time. Continue along the ridge and soak in the beauty. After a somewhat flat sweeping across the ridge the trail begins an aggressive rise and fall pattern across a few knolls. Up down Up down and then way way way down. The final descent to North Fork Sauk is brutal. You reach North Fork Sauk River at 25.2 miles and you must ford the river. The river was low enough in late July to cross but there are plenty of BIG fallen trees to cross too. There are nice camps sites right on the river. Then you have an easy 2.1 mile hike back to your car through a lush, fern-filled forest.