Like Rodney Dangerfield, the PCT south of Snoqualmie Pass gets little respect. The mountains are not particularly high and lack that alpine glamor that hikers crave. The land that the trail passes through is a mismanaged checkerboard of public and private land, which has the reputation of being a continuous logged-to-the max stumpscape. All the finest hiking guidebooks snub the trails here. Naturally I had to find out what it's like! I drove to Stampede Pass to hike the PCT south. I found the poorly marked trail just past the high point of the pass, starting at a small parking area featuring a trash-strewn fire ring (why would someone try to burn a tube of caulk?). Beyond this unpromising start(elev 3800'), the trail quickly became quite nice. A few feet beyond the trailhead, I encountered a surprisingly nice view of Mount Rainier rising above Lizard Lake, a small pond near Stampede pass. The Willis Wall and it's recently lethal Liberty Ridge were clearly visible on the mountain. The trail travelled on a gradually climbing course through a scraggly fir forest that will not interest the loggers for a long time. Bear Grass was blooming in abundance in the open woodland. The trail looked little used other than by deer, but was in very good shape and free of snow and mud. Soon the trail reached the first of several huge powerline swaths. If you could ignore the buzzing high-tension lines, the swaths looked like pretty nice mountain meadows, with abundant blooms of lupine, indian paintbrush, and beargrass. further on, the trail passed a strangely located trailhead parking lot, featuring a fancy restroom and no cars, and a road leading to the Stampede Pass weather station. A sign pointing to the station had the word for ""water"" written in several languages; apparently this is a dry stretch of trail in late august when the PCT thru-hikers arrive. Pines-- lodgepole and western white--were oddly abundant around the station. The trail continued on rising and dipping in the gentle terrain, crossing numerous logging roads and powerline swaths between blocks of scraggly second growth forest. At length the trail topped a high point thickly forested with silver firs, then dropped a few hundred feet into a saddle shaded by large old growth firs, the first big trees that I had seen. A few patches of snow lingered on the high point. Then the trail climbed steeply to a 4400' logged-over summit, covered by abundant blueberry bushes and a scattering of christmas tree-sized silver firs, where the views of the Cascade Crest were pretty grand. The round trip to this point from Stampede Pass was about 6 miles, which I figured was enough. In summary, this stretch of the PCT is not such a bad walk. It's no wilderness, but you won't meet a lot of people, which is not such a bad thing.

PCT Trail Chinook Pass to Snoqualmie Pass Pacific Crest Trail - The South Cascades - Chinook Pass to Snoqualmie on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) September 1-7, 1997 69.1 miles, 6 days This is the fourth section of the Pacific Crest Trail that my partner and I have hiked. We have now hiked the PCT from Chinook Pass (I-90) to Manning Park, Canada, approximately 340 miles. This leaves about 170 miles to go, from Chinook Pass to the Columbia River. Manning Park is the northern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail which is 2300 miles long, and goes from Mexico to Canada This section of the Pacific Crest Trail (at least in Washington) had a wide variety of terrain, from typical high mountains with views of Mt. Rainier to many square miles of forest that has been clear cut. In this section the trail elevation varied from a high of about 6500 ft in the Norse Peak Wilderness area down to 3000 ft at Snoqualmie Pass. Weather on the trip was mostly sunny and dry all the way. No rain, although there were two days of low clouds with the fog rolling over the ridge tops we were on. These occurred on days when we were in forests or clear cuts without any real views. Scenery was not anywhere as impressive compared to what we have seen from Snoqualmie Pass on north. The trail from Sheep Lake (2.2 miles in from Chinook Pass) on through the Norse Peak Wilderness area and the Blowout Mountain area offered the best views. Much of the trail was through ""rolling"" hills either in forest or in clear cut rather than over high ridges with expansive views beyond. There were no significant climbs, maybe a 1000 feet or so, as compared to 3000 foot climbs (and corresponding descents) in the Glacier Peak area (north of Steven's Pass.) The trail was generally good all the way with relatively few blowdowns. Trail reconstruction was in progress near Tacoma Pass area, heading south to Blowout Mountain. It has been reconstructed all the way from north of Mirror Lake (about 9 miles south of Snoqualmie Pass.) There is a relatively new shelter at Camp Ulrick (Government Meadows) with good water and a toilet. Lots of elk (and quite a few bow hunters) were seen between Sheep Lake and Government Meadows. Water was scarce along some sections of the trail as well a relatively few campsites available in places. The only reliable water north of Government Meadows is at a spring 5 miles north of Government Meadows and at (below) Blowout Mountain, a distance of 12 miles. The PCT guide states that Blowout Mountain has the only reliable water for the next 17 miles to beyond Stampede Pass. This water is several hundred feet down and almost a mile off the PCT via trails #1318 and #1388. However, we did find a very good stream at Tacoma Pass (go west on road 52 for about 5 minutes; go left on the first logging road you come to and go 200 yds into the uncut forest; the stream crosses the road) which is about 6 miles north of Blowout Mountain. This water source was not noted in the PCT guide. If you camp at Tacoma Pass, be prepared for the logging trucks that come by at about 4:30 am. Water between Tacoma Pass to a few miles beyond Stampede Pass was not readily available (Lizard Lake water at Stampede Pass is bad news and should only be used in an emergency - boil and treat/filter.) From there on, water was generally available every few miles or so. This was a relatively easy section of trail and does offer a variety of views.