The road to to the Bedal Basin trail is narrow and rough. I would advise a higher clearance vehicle with four wheel drive if you decide to go up there.

The trail is bushy, overgrown, and difficult to follow sometimes. Pink ribbons have been tied to trees at major creek crossings showing you were to cross, and they've been tied to trees marking the route up the gully to the basin.

If you are attempting to follow the map on your Gaia GPS app, or the 7.5' USGS map from Caltopo, be advised that the route these maps show is wrong. You'll want to stay on the right hand side of the gully and follow the ribbons.

We followed the map, which had us cross back over to the left side of the gully, and then we bushwhacked our way up to where the map said the trail ended -- and then we went little way past that.

I wouldn't recommend going the way we went. We made it to a boulder field at the base of the mountain, but we were north of the actual basin. So the moral of the story is make sure you have an accurate map or GPS track to follow.

There were no views because it was foggy and snowing like crazy. It was raining at the trail head, but started snowing fairly hard once we got above above 4,000 feet. We stopped at about 4,700 feet and there was around ten inches of snow on the ground.

We didn't see anyone else on the trail, and it doesn't look like this trail gets a whole lot of use.

Getting up the forest road was no problem in a big 4x4 truck, but we encountered a couple cars coming down and there is NO place to pull out until just before Bedal Creek Trailhead.  It was a very tight squeeze on the shoulder to get around each other.  There was room for about three cars at the firepit, about a tenth of a mile before the trail head.  Start down the road and turn left on the Bedal Creek trail, still marked with a small yellow temporary sign.  Through the trees the trail is easily followed, but there are a number of fallen trees to climb over and under.  The meadows are overgrown, so watch your step, it will be hard to see your feet and there are rocks and holes hiding out. 

 Our group headed up to summit Sloan Peak as an overnight trip.  We turned off the trail at about twoish miles, just before a creek crossing.  There are pink flags in the trees from there, heading up to the east.  From there it's about another two miles of just bushwacking through forest -shrubby, but not too bad- to get to the saddle.  It's steep and slow going, but the meadows just before the saddle and tarn are in peak bloom right now and covered in spirea, heather, Columbia lilies, lupine, paintbrush, violets and tons of others. We camped in the saddle at 5300 ft where there was running water.

The following morning we left camp at 4 am and headed across the glacier.  There were several crevasses to navigate, and later in the season will probably be impassable.  There was a bit of a traverse and then an icy gully that took a lot of time, prep and caution to get up.  The scramble at the top to the summit was fun and views were out of this world.  Glacier loomed close in the beginning, and we could also see Baker, Shuksan, Rainier and tons of other peaks.  Only three other teams in the summit register this year and we saw no other people on the trail.  We had partly sunny weather on our climb up, but upon our arrival back at camp a storm had rolled in, dropping some precipitation and we heard thunder all the way back to the cars.

First off, the road is quite rough and steep, although there aren't many pot holes or washouts, so clearance wasn't an issue. The biggest problem is the steepness and loose rocks. My tires slipped a couple of times and I had to be careful going down to not gather too much speed. For this reason, I'd recommend a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The worst part is right before and right after the 5th switch back (the last left hander). There's a place to park right before that, so if you don't feel comfortable, I'd recommend parking there and walking (probably about a mile from there, there were about 3 cars there on my way back). The second thing about the road is that it does not match google maps at all. Its signed for FR 4096, so its easy to find. If you have the Green Trails Map, its exactly as drawn there. 

When you get to the trail head, don't continue to follow the road. The trail is to the left, maybe 10 feet before the fire pit. Its marked with a "temporary" trail sign and several orange and pink markers. I made the mistake of hiking down the road last year and never found the actual trail.

The first mile and a half of trail is in pretty good shape. There were probably something like a dozen blowdowns, nothing impossible to get over. The tread is good and easy to follow. However, the brush is quite thick in sections (nettles, raspberries, bracken, etc.). It was also very wet. Unless a trail crew beats back the brush, I'd strongly recommend long pants and long sleeves. One the way in, I did note the climbers route, its well marked and off to the left. The creek crossings before Bedal Creek were no problem.

Once you get to Bedal Creek, as the guide book (Day Hiking: North Cascades is what I'm referring to here) says, things get a bit more interesting. The creek itself is not hard to cross at this time. However, the banks can be steep and full of loose rocks. There is a marker across the creek, which I didn't see on the way in, but if you do see it, cross approximately there and go perpendicular to the stream to find a trail. You will find an actually trail there and that is easy to follow and takes you up between the two creeks as the guide book says. Unfortunately, I didn't find that until the way back. On the way up, I basically followed the creek bank, alternating between banks when possible or sometimes just up the creek. Its quite slippery, so be careful (also just use the trail I mentioned above). There was still some snow on the banks. The "lone big yellow cedar" is still there, you can't miss it. When you see that, make sure you are on the right bank. Just above that look for a cairn to the right near the bushes that takes you onto an actual trail again. That trail is quite overgrown and marked with cairns at times. It does go up a small creek at one point. Keep looking for cairns.

Unfortunately, at the end of that part, it looks like the trail has slid into the creek. I think this is right were the guidebook says the trail should go back into the woods and up into the basin. I was at 4450' and could see the side creek, but I couldn't find a way to climb the creek banks or locate the trail into the forest. So this was my stopping point. It might have been possible to bushwhack or scramble, but I was tired at that point and there was a decent view of Mt Forgotten and Sloan Peak. I know I was close to the basin, but hopefully there wasn't an 'easy' way that I just missed (please let me know if there was). 

On the way back, I stuck to the dry rocky creek bed, which is marked with cairns. I didn't see the entrance to the trail between the creeks, so I ended up going down the other creek. That wasn't fun, so I eventually decided to head perpendicular to get back to the northern Bedal creek. There I found the trail and used that. So, I imaging if you used that trail in the first place, then you would know where it comes out into the rocky creek bed. 

This trail really isn't too hard if you know where you're going. But that's easier said than done once you get to the Bedal Creek. However, the views are really good. Its also a good place for privacy as I saw only three other groups. Hopefully someday the Forest Service will fix up the road and the last part of the trail. When they do, I'll be back.

The road up to the trail head is rough and very over grown, scratched up the sides of my truck pretty good. The trail is a little over grown as well but still manageable until close to the end. Theres a big washed out area and that may have killed the trail. Theres still some what of a trail if you could even call it that. Its mostly bushwhacking your own way to the basin. Still a fun hike, and VERY private.