At less than a quarter mile in there is a very muddy mess at Deming Creek ford. Something let go upstream since there was a muddy slurry 100 feet wide. I trudged through the mess a few hundred feet upstream and found a reasonably safe crossing but decided against it as it was still early and a warm day, and things just seemed to be really unstable. It is probably best to avoid this one for a few weeks.

We started at the Ridley Creek trailhead despite warnings that the trail is unmaintained. The road to the trailhead is not too bad and the trailhead is clearly marked. No other cars in parking lot (on a Monday at noon). After a short distance, cross the river on two logs - one is at torso height so you can hold on as you cross. After this point, find the trail and go left, immediately into switchbacks and some climbing. The trail is a little brushy, and there are some blowdowns, but really not too difficult to navigate safely. For an unmaintained trail, it was in rather good shape. There is not much water on this trail until nearing Mazama park in the last of several large creekbeds. This may not last long, so be sure to carry enough water to get you to the tarns by Park Butte or past the horse camp where you may find water. Climbing up to Park Butte, we spotted our first two legged critters of the day. They said no one was in the lookout so we continued up after stopping at the tarns to fill our water again. Sure enough the lookout was empty but we were joined no more than 20 minutes later by a solo hiker, and again after nightfall by another solo hiker. It was rather warm so we slept on the walkway around the lookout and enjoyed the stars and the sunrise. Hiking on to Elbow lake on day 2 was easy enough. Only saw 2 hikers this day as well, and had all of Elbow lake to ourselves. Hiking out on day 3 was also easy, and more water available this side. Near the trailhead, there is another river crossing on 2 logs, which were partially wet and smooth. Proceeding slowly across, we had no trouble. Shortly after the crossing, we reached FR 38, dropped our packs, and walked the 1.3 miles to the car at the Ridley creek trailhead. A few berries here and there, a few flowers, nice views everywhere. Incredibly, we found there to be no mosquitos anywhere on this hike! There were a few flies, but not the biting kind.

I had a great day hike looping around these trails off the Middle Fork Nooksack road (FR 38). First off, 38 is not marked. Or, perhaps, it's not actually 38 where it intersects the Mosquito Lake rd. In any case, there is no sign at all there. But you can turn up the road by the gravel pit, or at the main intersection a bit north of the gravel pit. There IS a sign for 38 at the road fork where the busy private logging road heads down and across the Middle Fork Nooksack. The road is in decent shape the whole way, although it does have sporadic deep potholes which can slow you down a lot. And they are always in the shady parts where it's hard to see them from bright sunlight... Ridley Cr: Started out from the end of FR 38. At the Middle Fork crossing, there is a log across the river just 100' or so upstream. It has another log at shoulder level that works well has a handrail for much of the crossing, until they get far apart at the end. No problem at all to cross. From this "bridge" head downstream perhaps 400', approaching where the main river flow runs along the far (SE) bank. A brief (10'?) scramble up the bank here should get you on the well-defined trail. I went up the bank directly across from the "bridge", but it would be a LOT easier farther downstream... This downstream detour is not apparent on my 2004 Green Trails map. There's a fairly big clump of trees down across the trail just 10 minutes later that requires a bit of clambering. After that the trail is generally obvious, although parts of it are (now dry) streambed, and there are a fair number (30?) of old snags down across the trail. These are all pretty easy to step over, climb over, or climb under, and hardly slow one down much. There are slight patches of herbaceous vegetation over the trail, mostly valerian and grass and such. At 4300' the trail reaches the ridge top, where there are some overgrown thickets of blueberries and white rhododendron. After that there are some very soggy meadows to cross. Not much snow left right by the trail, but there must have been VERY recently, and must be uphill, as there is water flowing everywhere. At the Ridley Creek crossing, the far side of the floodplain/valley bottom is still under snow, and the trail disappears. Head upstream (watching out for falling through the snow into boulders) for perhaps 400 or 500', and the trail angles back (approximately southwards), heading steeply up the valley wall. You're now in Mazama Park, which is mostly dry, but some snow patches right at the start. The trail continues towards a shelter near the trail junction. The shelter is in pretty good shape (and floorless). It even comes with an emergency forest service adjustable wrench, should you need one! There were some mosquitoes in this area. Overall the trail is in pretty decent shape, despite the down trees and some overgrowth. Nice big trees along it, mostly hemlocks lower down, one (and only one that I noticed) big Douglas fir, and true firs up higher. Park Butte: I then headed up to Park Butte (I think via the end of the Bell Pass trail and then the end of the Park Butte tr.). The trail is all clear up to Pass, with an assortment of rocks fallen down on otherwise great trail. I moved a lot of them, but a few were pretty big and remain. Nice flowers blooming all the slope on the way up, and pikas calling. The trail goes under the snow as soon as it reaches the pass, but the heavily used, dirty track up from the other side is obvious. Perhaps half of the remainder of the trail is under snow (and much more below on the Park Butte Trail itself). I hate to preach in a forum like this, but PLEASE follow the trail if you can see it, and stay off the vegetation (and dirt that had vegetation recently). Even if you know enough to stay off the plants, a boot track across a shrinking snow patch will be followed by others for weeks, trampling plants the whole time as people get to and from the snow. If some people actually walk between the pieces of obvious trail, then most others will follow them, greatly reducing the impact. There is a bit of a maze of trails up there from just this sort of thing. Back to the trail... The last bit up to the summit is completely bare, and the view from the top is great. That is quite a luxurious cabin - a bed, library, stove, pots, etc. I don't think I've ever seen one quite so well equipped. It must have been amazing for the girls who were up there the previous night! Should have great sunrises and sets on Baker, and the main climbing route. And, they reported no mice! Although I did have aggressive chipmunks around me. After an early lunch break, I just headed back down the way I came, to the shelter. Bell Pass Trail: This trail was the least used, but in the best condition, of the trails I hiked. Coincidence? This trail has obviously had some work in the last 5 years or so, although it seems to have VERY little use. It's still mostly covered in fine branches and lichen from the winter, and I saw only 2 (human) footprints before Bell Pass. After Bell Pass I did see a few tracks. Also saw some elk tracks. Anyway... Shortly after leaving the shelter, the trail drops down into a small snow-filled gully near the top of some avalanche-downed trees. Follow the snow down the gully for one or two hundred feet of avalanche debris and you should see the trail heading up the far side again. Going the other way there's no problem, as you'll see the shelter soon. The trail then gently descends past some more snow and avalanche debris. It then climbs up (50' maybe) to the a ridge where a wooden wilderness boundary sign is, before descending again. There's another avalanche pile, wider, that the trail crosses. Here I traversed across it at about the elevation the trail entered it, then descended along the far side, spotting a large old sawn tree marking the route. The switchbacks are all clear of snow, and the trail is not tricky to follow anywhere. Aside from the avalanches, there is only one other blowdown, and no snow on this damp, cool, shady, NW side of the ridge. And nice views of Baker through the trees. There's a big tree down across the trail immediately before Bell Pass, and it's obvious it's been there a while (maybe a trail crew even made the trail around it). There's still snow in Bell Pass. The trail moves to the sunny side of the ridge and becomes much drier with a more open understory. And lots of spiderwebs. There are a few down snags along this bit, including a large one that was sawn through, yet still blocks the trail. That must have been frustrating... Some nice big hemlocks here with the trail covered in soft cones. Elbow Lake tr: This trail has also gotten some work done in the last few years, but has a number of down trees across. Again, mostly old dead stuff that is easy to step over. At Elbow Lake itself, I took the spur trail from Lake Doreen along the east side of Elbow. One description mentions campsites there. But it drops down to the stream delta feeding the lake, with some _very_ muddy bits, and I didn't get to any suitable campsites. There is one right by the trail at north end of Lake Doreen, though. Mosquitoes around these lakes. The boardwalk crossing from the east side of the valley to the west, between the lakes, is shifted from its footings, but still usable. Back on the main trail, you actually ascend from Lake Doreen to the end of Elbow Lake before dropping back down to pass level, where there was still one bit of snow across the trail (probably gone now). Then the descent is pleasant - not too steep, and not too many down trees or other problems. Maybe 10 or 15 easy tree crossings. Nice yellow cedars along here, and some views of N. and S. Sister and the glacier (seemingly dead) between them. At around 3000' (very approximately) there is a pile of trees down across and along the trail. There's a pretty well defined high route around it (starts about 20' from the carnage if you're headed uphill, but it's quite obvious headed downhill), or you can walk along some tree trunks. Lots of big cedars below this - almost all cedar forest. Some of the trail in this lower part is pretty overgrown, although I did a bit of weed wacking - some sections of turnpike were hard to see and easy to slip off the side of. At the second M. Fk. Nooksack crossing, there's a fairly obvious double tree down across the river about 100' downstream of the old bridge abutment. This crossing has been "improved" with an interesting variety of sticks and stones. It's pretty easy to cross, unless you have fears of raging stream or heights. It's only a little slippery in the wet portions. One could probably crawl across it if needed, but I think most people can walk it. Poles help a little when you're trying to carefully place a foot. But I also ended up crossing twice with a small dog in my arms, so it can't be too hard... If you're taking the Elbow Lake trail the other way, head downstream after the river crossing - a trail heads upstream off and on for a ways, but that ain't the "real" trail. The river was definitely higher in the late afternoon than in the morning, although both "bridges" should be above it all the time. Just a bit more splashing water on them in the afternoon. The Ridley Ck. trail river crossing area has some side channels that appear to fill with water late in the day, but they appear small and hoppable. And, of course, next year the "bridges" will probably be gone. Not much wildlife to report - some nice slugs, some fir cones cut down by squirrels, one squirrel in person, elk tracks, an empty junco nest, toads, fish in Elbow Lake. Flowers are nice, but nothing spectacular. The best bit was the slope above the Mazama Park shelter. Once the snow melts up along the Park Butte trail, it might have some nice flowers, but then again, it might just be too late by then. Bugs were a little bit problematic if sitting still around Mazama Park and the lakes, but that is all I noticed (wearing long pants and shirt). In short, this was a great hike, with only 4 people seen (2 at the shelter, 2 at the lookout), and nearly all of it sparsely used. Great views, a really nice variety of habitats, a lake to swim in, more views, and while there are a fair number of blowdowns, they probably didn't slow me down more than 15 minutes for the whole hike. Finding trail under snow was more of a problem. Now I need to get IN to the Twin Sisters some day...

Decided to get out of the 77-degree afternoon heat by hiking this lonely trail today. Even though the water was a bit high from the melting snow, the Nooksack River crossing was much easier than expected. Right where the trail comes out, the river is bridged by two logs, which I was able to cross on with ease. But when it was my dog's turn, he only made it 2/3 across before refusing to go any farther. He had to be lifted, and turned around in order to return. After an hour of looking, I was able to find another crossing point, which was another log a few hundred feet upstream. Though it took a bit of bushwacking to reach it, both me and the dog easily crossed it. Despite its limited maintenance, the trail was in surprisingly good shape. The biggest issue was the many blowdowns, especially on the lower sections. Fortunately, the trail has been re-routed around the larger ones. The other major trail issue was the large amount of mud and water. In some sections, the trail is no more than a muddy creek bed, and the only evidence that you are going the right way is the footprints and occasional cut logs. I was pleasantly surprised that there was absolutely no overgrowth, and very little erosion on the switchbacks, which is unusual for such a rarely used trail. The only other people I met were two backpackers, who had spent the previous night at Mazama Park. Apparently, it had taken them more than two hours to coax their two Huskies across the river. The wildflowers are just starting to come out, and Bunchberry abounds on the side of the lower trail. Patchy snow started at 4200', and became solid at about 4300', right as the trail got into the Mazama Park Meadows. Though large sections around the trees are starting to melt, it will take a few weeks for the good 4-5' of snow to be gone. I followed the backpacker's footprints through the meadow until I lost them at 4500', right before the junction with the Bell Pass trail. The show was surprisingly firm, and I did not need trekking poles. It is pretty easy to tell where the trail goes, and it appears one could follow it up to Baker Pass, but I would recommend bringing trekking poles and an ice axe. It was starting to get late, so after admiring the views of Park Butte, Cathedral Craig, and the Twin Sisters, I turned back.

Arrived 11:00 to locked gate. One other car parked there on this Tuesday. Rode/pushed mtn bike 3 miles to TH. (I investigated Elbow Lake trail at about 1.5 miles beyond gate...it looked like a tough river crossing). The Nooksack river crossing was at about 200 yards from TH. Not too tough, threw some boulders in to access six inch log to cross. Trail continues directly across river wash. If you can't find trail then head downstream and within 30 to 40 yards you will see a dilapidated shelter leaning against a 30 foot tall boulder. The trail heads east from there. Four quick switchbacks then trail stays level for about a mile. Not overgrown, not too muddy, but lots of large blowdowns and for about a quarter mile the trail follows a two to three foot deep creek drainage with lots of exposed roots and six inch ankle twisting rocks. Wear decent support on your feet!!. Eventually you run into some grueling switchbacks. After the 14th switch you are meandering east and you begin to see what I think is Park Butte to the south. After a half mile I hit snow and although someone flagged the trail I was just too exhausted to go any further. (out of shape -- first hike of the year!!) So I stumbled down (go slow through that creek drainage!!), the Nooksack River was thankfully not much higher at 3:30. Easy crossing. I was so glad to coast all the way down to gate with only a 100 yards of pedaling..!! 3:45 arrived at gate. Same single car there. Nice first hike of the year for me. NO BUGS!!