I started at Horse Camp at the end of FS 70.  The last 4-5 miles of FS 70 are pretty rough.  With care, any car can make it.  The privy was locked.

I started down the connector trail just past the privy. PCT connects in 0.75 miles.  I first went down to Government Meadows to check out wildflowers.  No wildflowers. I guess I was too late for this area.

I turned around and back tracked down the PCT to head to Arch Rock.  It is a nice easy grade making the 5.5 miles from Government Meadows to Arch Rock a nice quiet walk in the woods. I thought the coolest thing of the entire hike was seeing the geological formation.

I saw one group doing a section hike at Government Meadows and another group doing the same thing on the trail.  I saw only one group of day hikers.  All in all, it was a great trail for solitude.

Overview & Itinerary:

Multi-night backpack. 7/5 - 7/7. Total Mileage: 36 miles. Starting pack weight (including food and water) 32 lbs.

Day 1: Government Meadow Horse Camp TH -> Maggie Creek Trail -> Northbound on Echo Lake trail -> Southbound on Lost Lake trail -> Quinn Lake -> Lost Lake (Night 1 Camp)  == 13 miles (Gaia + InReach Averaged)

Day 2: Lost Lake -> Noble Knob (for lunch) -> SE bound on Noble Knob trail via Mutton Mountain to Corral Pass -> SE from Corral Pass TH to Hidden Lake -> Echo Lake -> Echo Lake East Shore (Night 2 Camp) == 12 miles

Day 3: Echo Lake Camp -> Northbound on Echo Lake trail -> Miss Maggie Creek Trail turn off (hard to see heading NoBo, +1 mile) -> Maggie Creek -> Government Meadow Horse Camp TH == 11 miles

TL;DR: Overall a pretty brutal trip due to literally hundreds of blowdowns (most on Maggie Creek, some on Corral Pass -> Echo Lake), 3 tough stream crossings (2 of which we crossed twice, both on Maggie Creek, the other South of Echo Lake to reach the East shore), and rough trails that are hard to navigate (looking at you Maggie). Don't do Maggie Creek unless you have a GPS device or are very seasoned with orienteering. Weather was pretty meh the whole time except at very beginning of Day 1 and from halfway up the climb to Noble Knob to about 1 mile from Mutton Mountain on Day 2. Rained Night 2 and half of Day 3. Saw countless bear poop, some quite fresh mostly in the hard to nav Maggie Creek section, some East bank of Echo Lake. Saw cat scat twice, one old, other at least a week. LOTS of fire damage from the 2017 Norse Peak Fire that burned 55,000 acres.

Verbose Trip Report:

My buddy and I plotted this route out as a first summer backpacking trip of the year. We originally had Day 3 going South from Echo Lake Up Arch Rock Trail #1187, then NoBo on the PCT via Airplane Meadows, Arch Rock, Louisiana Saddle, Rods Gap, then the car at Govt. Meadow TH. Caltopo had this 3 day route at 32 miles But after getting to the East shore of Echo Lake and there being no discernible trail and being exhausted we decided to take the "short way back," which totally was shorter than what we had planned, but still ended up being 11 miles on the GPS devices. We figured that if East Shore of Echo Lake where people camp on out and back trips is in this condition, then up #1187 will be even worse, where it is both less traveled and more fire damaged. I also could find zero beta on #1187 on the PCT Section I for this section. I included the Arch Rock tag on here since we did hike #1187 along the shore of the lake until the first river (which I think is different that the river the trail parallels on all the maps).

Road Conditions:

FR 70 is an absolute pleasure to drive. One of the most fun I've been on in recent memory. After the Hwy 410 turnoff I think it is around 9-10 miles of smoothy paved driving which is bliss. The road up to the Greenwater TH is all paved FYI. The last 5-6 miles to the Government Meadow TH is dirt, with the last mile being especially rough. This segment offers great views over the Greenwater Lakes and Meadow Creek drainage. I made it up in my Outback without issue, and my buddy made it up in his 2WD Mazda Miata just fine, but we took our time and it was bone dry when we drove up. Parking was easy. 2 others parked at TH when we arrived, but I think one was a camper. Bathroom is open and there are bear-proof trashcans at the TH. A few established campsites at the TH. Driving up the morning of July 5th... A TON of campers along FR 70 and a TON of people out shooting. Also saw a ton of trash and bullet/slug casings. I know, probably wrong crowd here... but if you go out shooting, pick up your casings!

COVID-19 Info:

We went specifically from 7/5-7/7 to try and avoid the 4th of July crowds and it worked. On Day 1 we saw 3 other hikers within 15 minutes of setting out. A PCT solo section hiker and 2 guys coming back from doing trail maintenance on Maggie Creek. They said they camped at Echo lake the night of 7/4 and there were 22 people at the lake, so probably mostly full. We saw 2 guys at Lost Lake camping but there were plenty of spots to choose from so it was easy to keep distant. On Day 2 we saw 1 biker on trail and probably 3 groups of people at the top of Noble Knob when we had lunch there. Was easy to socially distant since the top is so wide. On Day 3 we didn't see another (human) soul. We did see a herd of elk with 2 babies about 1 miles from the Govt. Meadows TH. Overall this is a remote TH and a relatively remote area. Maggie Creek is remote as heck, Lost and Echo Lakes less so. Lost Lake had 5 easy to see camp sites, plus the whole perimeter of the lake is grass/mud so it is easy to random camp at. Echo Lakes had 1 large nexus of camp sites that prob had room for 12+ tents, and another 3 camp sites on the Western shore. On the harder to access East shore there was just the one (quite nice) camp site we found and camped at (really stumbled upon, since it was 8 pm and getting dark as we were heading back to the Western shore). There are probably more past the river, but we didn't look.

Day 1: The trail from Govt. Meadows TH is not signed or anything. It just just past the bathroom and the trashcans. Very nice trail. Wide and well graded through forests with meadows to the South side. The short section of the PCT we did is similar. The turnoff to Maggie Creek is easy to find. The trail quickly descends down switchbacks that increasingly become overgrown and rough, but the trail is never unsafe. There are a number of small unnamed creeks here. Eventually you come to the picturesque headwaters of Maggie Creek. The ford here was very easy. 4-6" of water at most. You then climb up to the 4200' contour line and follow this for a ways. Here the blowdowns become increasingly bad. There is one 1/4 mil segment that has 3 BAD separate blowdown events. One a massive tree, one a bunch of trees you have to hike around, and one who's root system ripped up the whole trail and you must descend down into the crater and clamber back out. This is not to mention the many many more "routine" blowdowns along this contour that are still large trees you have to roll over like you are in basic training or hike around, sometimes 20-30 meters off trail. This is exhausting and time consuming travel. If you average 2.5 mph on a normal PNW trail, you'll average 1.5 mph here. This is in despite of very fresh trail work done by the forest crew we bumped into. We saw bear scat, cat scat, and countless elk/deer scat along this trail. A ton on elk and deer tracks as well. More of these prints than bootprints. As you round the corner around the ridge the trail become hard to find. Too windswept plus blowdowns make it very easy to lose. We lost it but found it relatively quickly first go, but had a harder time finding it on the way back, even though we had already been this way. A TON of bear scat here, including some very fresh, my buddy stepped in one by accident and it stuck to his boot. There must be one living on this ridgeline, I would be cautious if planning on going solo. The decent turns to switchback and the trail continues to be hard to follow. It is very easy to follow a trail seeing ground disturbances and fresh dirt only to loose it, look more closely and realize it is a game trail. You then return to the actual trail, look like you drive on the freeway - not at the car in front of you but a few cars up - and are able to discern where the trail continues. I highly recommend a GPS device for this segment. At the base of this you cross the North Fork of the Greenwater River. This crossing is difficult if you want to keep your shoes dry, but easy if you don't care/sandal up. Since it hadn't rained in a while the crossing was more or less easy in boots and we stayed dry. Quickly after this you come to the main fork of the Greenwater River. This river is much deeper and faster flowing. We forded in sandals and hiking poles. With packs we are both around 200 lbs and in the deepest section the river tugged at our feet very strongly. It went up to my knees and I am 5'10". My pants rolled up above my knees got wet though. You also cannot see the bottom of the river due to turbulence. The rocks are also quite slick and irregular. This was a bit sketchy, but if we had fallen it would probably have just meant getting soaked, not injury or death. There were no apparent easier crossings but we didn't spend too much time looking. We then hiked up a steep, short trail to connect with the Echo Lake trail which was well signed (from the direction we came). We hiked downhill toward the main TH then at the split hiked uphill towards Lost lake. The trail in these sections is very nice and well maintained. There is a bridge across Lost Creek. Quinn Lake can be seen from the main trail. We hiked down a side path to explore its turquoise waters that must be from glacial flour. Quinn is in a different drainage basin than Lost Lake. There was one camp site on Quinn that was easy to see, but you had to cross a stream to reach it, which we decided against. A very calm and tranquil lake. We hiked out to the main trail and up over the saddle to Lost lake. Before lost lake is a rocky meadow/light burn area that is swarming with Lupine. Very pretty. Lost Lake is hidden from sight until you come up over the saddle and it is right there. Camp sites are easy to find. Lost of trash unfortunately. Everything from cigarette butts to used tissues to backpacking stove fuel canisters. Such a shame. We got a very nice spot. The other two gentlemen we saw had already taken the King spot that is in a sort of meadow on a small peninsula facing South. We had a nice fire. Mosquitoes  were bad hiking up the saddle and initially at the lake, but then around 7:30, they all disappeared, before we had our fire going. A few birds around/in the lake. Lots of fish jumping, I imagine fishing would be easy around dusk here. Heard an owl. Chipmunks here were very bold and acclimated to humans. Basically trying to walk into your hand for some of whatever you are cooking. They came out in the morning as soon as we started breakfast and would not leave, repeatedly coming back to try again. One chewed through my buddy's trail-mix bag. Bear hangs here were difficult as much of the forest had burned. We found a good one on one of the other unoccupied camps. It was clearly a very established hang as the bark on the limb was gone. I wish the USDA FS would do what Canada does in their parks and put up established hangs. But I guess since we don't have any grizzlies this far south they are not considered necessary.

Day 2: The hike up out of the Lost Lake basin goes by relatively quickly. You hike up through dense forest until you hit the ridgeline to the E of Noble Knob. Once at the ridge line the environment opens up to sub-alpine. There is a great overlook to the North from here. There is little to no water along this ridge so fill up at Lost Lake before departing. You then hike South through steep alpine slopes teeming with wildflowers with large impressive rock formations towering above you. Looking out you can see Lost Lake, the unnamed lake basin above it, and Mutton Mountain. Patches of snow are still apparent on some of the avalanche slopes. You hike around then cut back to reach Noble Knob. You hike through a scenic mountain meadow as you approach then the trail wraps around. This peak is pretty popular due to the 360 deg views it provides. We had lunch at the top, during which a few other groups came and went. Rainier poked the very top of its head out of the clouds briefly. To the North the Alpine Lakes peaks were visible including Mount Stuart and Mount Daniel. As lunch concluded the clouds started moving in from the West. By the time we had descended and started hiking toward Mutton Mountain, the last of the sun shine for the rest of the trip had disappeared. The intersection with Deep Creek Trail #1196 is well marked and apparent. We saw more cat scat past this intersection. The trail in this section is well graded and varies between quite wide and quite narrow all the way to the Corral Pass TH. Right before Corral Pass we saw a lone mountain biker. The whole area around Corral Pass is burnt. The FS has repurposed some of the burnt trees to make corral around the TH parking lot. A lot of the burn trees in this section have been chopped down. There is a burnt but functional picnic table here as well. The trails from Corral Pass are not marked so without a map or GPS you might take the wrong one. The trail down to Hidden Lake descends gradually through a burnt area that parallels a green stream. You turn away from the stream and are met with a very heavy sight, the whole Hidden Lake basin, the ridge line, everything within sight and everything you are standing on, thousands and thousands of acres, burned, not like before, but in totality. Soil Burn Severity (SBS) classified as 'High.' Not a single living tree in sight. The dirt is ash, many inches deep. It is like walking through Mordor. There is undergrowth starting to come back, but slowly and no saplings. I had seen SBS at low and moderate levels before, on this trip and on others, but this magnitude of High SBS was a most terrible sight and it affected my mood deeply. It was a turning point in the trip both physically and emotionally in the trip. It was the furthest South we would travel and by turning away from the river, we began to head North. But greater significance was that on my spirit. The grand devastation unlike any I have ever seen in person paired with the worsening weather, the wear of the mileage, the steep decent over loose rocks and ash, and the bone-dry air made it more and more challenging to carry on with confidence. As we reached the drainage floor the desolation only intensified. The ash kicked up with every step, soot and charcoal stained our clothes and hands from climbing over blackened blowdowns, and what remained of a trail was hard to follow. Being down in the valley, I felt like I was in the belly of it, where the fire burned hottest. Not a single bird was audible. We came across the remnants of a bridge that had been torn asunder and befouled by the flames. Here we found more bear scat as well. Surely just passing though this wasteland, just like us. But an end is also a beginning, and in the undergrowth, sign of life. We found Columbia lilies and Lupine. We heard the buzz and chirp of insects. The trail deviates significantly from the trail on the maps. The turnoff for Hidden Lake is well past Hidden Lake proper. Hidden it is no longer as it is very easy to see though the barren trees during the decent. Continuing pass Hidden Lake life slowly returns. Halfway to Echo Lake you pass through a marshy area that had remained green, the mosquitoes here are a nuisance. Arriving at Echo Lake, large portions of the surrounding forest had burned. We decided to camp on the East side of the lake since the original plan (and still the current plan as of this point in the hike, was to go up Arch Rock 1187). The bridge over Greenwater River has burned down to the main two supports. Both with 8" nails sticking out. One of these is positioned flat with the nails up and the river can be crossed over this beam, albeit carefully. The river is wide and slow here, but 10-12" deep in some places. After a long day we did not feel like taking off our boots and crossed the beam without issue. The trail on the other side is apparent but significant blowdowns block it that you must hike around. We found more bear scat here as well. You pass a sign saying "North End of the Lake this way" then another pointing you in the correct direction of the North end. The trail then becomes hard to impossible to navigate as it approaches a stream. It was after 7 pm at this point and we decided it was not worth it to cross this river this late in hopes that there are camp sites on the other end. The forest is dense and dark here. As we turned around with the intention of camping on the friendlier West shore, we - much to credit of the non-existant trail - took a different way back and stumbled into a very nice and wide campsite that we had passed right by before. This space had 2 fire pits and enough space for 4 or even 5 tents. We camped here for the night. No fire because we were too exhausted. We found a decent bear hand spot right before sundown, the bear canister is already in the mail... This site had some trash, including a pile of fresh coffee grounds, like a lot of them too. Probably from the previous night. I hate things like that. This site had a lot of mosquitoes as well that never let up, we broke out the headnets. In the morning we later found out that there was a swampy area only about 20 ft from the campsite. This site had no view of the lake, but was probably only 50-100' from it. We heard what sounded like dog(s) barking in the distance late, probably coming from a campsite across the lake. I slept like a rock. It rained overnight. I had no clue.

Day 3: We woke earlier today that before, 6:30 and tried to be out of camp by 7:30. This didn't happen, we left camp by 8:20 or so. We talked the night before and decided that given the trail condition up until the stream, the trail on the other side of the stream would probably only be worse due to people camping on this side of the lake doing out and backs from the main Greenwater TH. We also figured that as the trail gets higher it goes through a higher intensity burn zone and thus probably becomes harder to follow. We also had zero beta on the PCT Section I between Airplane Meadows and the Maggie Creek intersection. We talked to the trail crew on Day 1 about this section and they had no info on it either. The PCT section hiker we talked to on Day 1 had hiked NoBo from Govt. Meadows as well so we were out of luck there. We were also worried about the possibility of snowfields on the PCT North-facing ridgeline North of Arch Rock. All that combined with us knowing Caltopo had that segment as 11 miles on paper and probably longer in practicality caused us to take the conservative option and hike out the short way North from Echo Lake and back up out Maggie Creek. We really did not like this option due to the Maggie Creek trail conditions, and the two stream crossings (one bad) and how it had rained the night before. But alas, we decided this was the best option, and I still think that given all the shenanigans that were about to ensue. As I cooked breakfast my buddy explored past the stream and picked up the trail, however our minds were already set. The hike out from the E shore was uneventful. The river crossing on the burnt beam was straightforward, but we did it carefully, one at a time. We surveyed the West shore of Echo Lake and found about 6 campsites, but with space for many more camps, as well as an established toilet. This side of the lake was very marshy as well. However it did receive sunlight in the morning, ours did not and we had our wet tent flys in our packs to prove it. We hiked up a steep short section out of the lake basin to a saddle then descended steeply the other side down towards the Maggie Creek turnoff. We stupidly missed this turnoff and kept hiking thinking "I haven't seen any of this before, nope don't recognize this, must still be above the turnoff, and remember of clearly apparent that turnoff sign was!?" until finally we checked the GPS and realized he had hiked past it by probably half a mile. We hiked back up and saw the sign clear as day - it was on a tree facing us, very hard to see when heading the other way... And the trail was also facing us, so if you pass it going downhill it is at your back right, not just right. Clearly this low-use trail has a low-use junction, and that junction only seems easily apparent when you are hiking up the low-use branch onto the high-use one! Live and learn. When we reached the Greenwater river crossing, our fears we validated, the river was probably 2-3" higher, just enough that it takes a previously sketchy crossing to a no-go crossing. We contemplated turning around and heading to the main Greenwater TH and hiking up that, but that would add like 10 more miles and like 2k' to our already "short, but not really" day. We looked upstream and found that the river split around an island and on both sides of the island were logs. Around both logs were lots of Devil's Club. We bushwacked through and decended the first long carefully to the island, one leg on each side style. There was a bit of a crux getting from the log to the island without getting your feet wet. In retrospect I should have just trudged through this crux in sandals instead of risking injury. Getting from the island to the far bank was tricky as well, we did the same horse riding style on the second, horizontal log and fought through Devil's Club to the other side. I could have easily walked through in sandal more safely. The next stream was higher as well and we went upstream to find a better place to cross without taking off our boots. My buddy crossed w/out issue. I was in the process when a stick I was standing on slipped or gave way and my whole right foot plunged in over the top of the boot. I was very lucky that my foot landed flat and I was uninjured. Everything was soaked, sock, boot, skin, et al. That made the rest of the trip fun. Hiking up to "Bear Poop Ridgeline" we had some trouble navigating the switch backs following a game trail momentarily, but never lost, and felt fine w/ GPS as our fall back redundancy. At the very top I had my buddy wait at the terminus of the followable (sp?) trail while I went to find the continuation. Long story short I don't trust my GPS +/-250 ft, and really should trust both my Gaia app and InReach more. I follow what I thought was clearly the trail from torn up soil and clearly traveled over blowdowns. That was not the trail. It was probably a game trail or other hikers doing the same thing as me. I hiked too far West then cut north across the ridge planning on trying to under cut the trail then hike back south (up the far side of the ridge) to intersect the trail. I saw SUPER fresh bear scat while doing this. I didn't hold out my hand, but I bet it was still warm, though to be completely honest probably a day or two old, very green a blobby. The plan worked and I intersected the trail and called my friend over, who was now only like 75' away after I had just hike probably close to 250' lol. Hike back we saw cat scat and more bear and deer/elk scat. The blowdowns are a PITA as they were before. Maggie Creek was easy to cross and here we had a quick lunch. Hiked up out of the drainage to the PCT. On the Government Meadows trail we heard (well they heard us first, we were talking loudly) a big crack about 25 m off trail and 25 m in front of us in a meadow and a heard of about 15 elk went running off. Saw 2 babies and at least 1 stag. Pretty neat! The trail was covered in fresh tracks for a long way so clearly they were using it. Shortly after we both saw what looked like a yellow circle around head level about 10 m off trail 40 m distant, bob up and down then disappear. This kinda sketched us out because we both saw it but it was far enough off and in vegetation that we couldn't be 100% certain what it was, and that maybe it was a stump, but no stump was there and it was too yellow for a stump. What was also weird was that it just bobbed down and disappeared with no noise. No crack through the bush of running away. What didn't help is the weather was turning worst by the minute ever since we had come out out of the Maggie Creek drainage and dense fog/mist was rolling in. As we approach we couldn't see anything was there. We still don't know what it was or if it was even anything at all. If we had heard a loud crack I would be sure it was a blonde black bear, because the circle looked to be the right diameter for a bear head from that distance and it was at around head level, about the level it would be it the bear was perked up looking at us on its hind legs, but 1) no crack was heard, and I have never heard (no pun intended) of a bear moving stealthy like that when running off, and 2) do black bears actively stalk elk herds? (seriously, no pun intended) I've never heard of that either. I don't think it was a cougar based on the size and how it moved. Anyways it could have been nothing at all, but it definitely spooked us the most out of anything on this trip and I was watching our 6 after passing the location for some time after, especially in the mist. We got back to the TH and it was clear, at 4800', we were in a cloud. Our cars were still there, but no one else's. Didn't see any other humans the whole day.

Overall a grueling trip. Definitely more hiking that camping. I wish the weather was nicer for longer. I wanted that money shot of Mt. Rainier. Learned a ton on this trip, and will probably be back at some point either later this summer or next summer to hike the Arch Rock section of the PCT. Great loop if you are looking to avoid crowds during COVID. Just keep in mind the roughness of Maggie Creek correlating to much slower hiking times. I bet by August the Greenwater River ford will be much easier. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing this hike alone due to the black bear and mountain lion presence. Especially the latter, they scare the crap out of me. Anyway if you read this far and have any questions feel free to ask in the comments below!

Regarding the I section of the PCT northbound from Chinook Pass to Snoqualmie Pass, the trail starts out in great condition from Chinook Pass up past Sheep Lake to Sourdough Gap. On the far side it continues in good condition (and with cell reception) along the ridge above Crystal Mountain basin. There are a number of spur trails to nearby peaks, however light rain can obscure any chance at a view. 

After the first handful of miles, the trail enters a recently burned zone. After about 18 miles arch rock spring provided an excellent source of water. Due to the fire the nearby campsites are unappealing and the trail to Arch Rock itself is gone. 

The cabin in Government Meadows is in good condition, if full of mice, and provides a warm though poorly lit place for a pause, complete with woodturning stove. 

The stretch from Government Meadows to Snoqualmie is crisscrossed with forest roads, old logging roads and high-power lines. However mirror lake provides a scenic interlude and its waters are warm enough to be swimmable, even on a rainy September day. 

Along the route there were no difficult river crossings. There were at least three trail-adjacent springs, and number of additional points where water crossed the trail making filtering easy. The water at Government Meadows is an unappealing brown, perhaps due to peat. 

September 18 - Government Meadows. Good campsites, six other groups. 

September 19 - Abandoned Logging road near spring. Good campsites, one other group.

Total distance 69.8 Miles with 9,294 feet of ascent.

Arch Rock Trail #1187.  Coming off the PCT going north, we were advised by a Ranger at REI that this trail was a good exit point down to Echo Lake through Old Growth forest and out along the Greenwater Trail to FR 70.  Unfortunately the Ranger appears to not know the trail area was severely burned in 2018.  At the trail junction with the PCT the trail signs were laying on the ground.  Coming north down to the green Airplane Meadow (good water) we afterwards found the trail hard to follow and lost it for a while.

Thanks to GPS and good map we rediscovered the trail up on the ridge and found it difficult to follow down to Echo Lake.  The ground was burned down to the mineral soil and little vegetation had returned.  Over the next miles down to Echo Lake as it was covered in dozens of burned blowdown trees, ash and dust.  We found little water, and what was evident was down in a steep gully paralleling the trail.  The burn area went down to and around Echo Lake.  I recommend this trail only to experienced hikers with good map and compass knowledge and use of GPS.

Found a Samsung phone at Echo Lake. Comment on this report if you lost one there!

Overnight loop, Echo Lake trail to Maggie Creek trail to PCT,  to Arch Rock trail, back to Echo Lake.

Still some downed logs to navigate in the burned areas of Maggie Creek and Arch Rock trails. Also occasional spots where trail gets lost, so good navigation skills are key.

Trail to and from Echo Lake was clear and free of obstacles.