These hikes are both considered "Washington top 100 hikes" and they are!  

Crowell Ridge is part of the PNWT and is in excellent shape having been recently graded with water bars and no logs.  I hiked it for five miles and saw one other hiker, two deer hunters and no water.

Gypsy Peak is amazing!  The place to turn off is at the ridge at 6508 - at a artistic cairn. I was able to follow a boot track about half of the time but found it easiest to simply stay on the ridge line - EXCEPT you can avoid going up and over 7033 by hiking below and to the left on a little boot trail.  When in doubt, stay right of the ridge versus left. 

I was tempted to continue to South Fork Peak but am saving it for another day as I was joining a WTA work party the next day.  

I stayed two nights at the WONDERFUL hiker friendly Metaline Falls historic Washington Inn.  $50/night with a hiker room that is a key resting spot for PNWT hikers!  A great find!  Arvey is the owner and Tiffany is the hostess - both so helpful and friendly.  Great spot to meet hikers from throughout the world!  Next door is the great Farmhouse Café and across the street is the 5th Avenue Bar and Grill. 

For four days, a crew of nine WTA volunteers worked on logging out the North Fork Sullivan trail from the junction for the now-closed Slate Creek trail to the junction at Crowell Ridge.

We had a hot and strenuous hike in on Saturday morning, when it was close to 100 degrees in the valley and not much cooler on trail. After the seven-mile, very steep approach, we set up camp, rehydrated, and got a relatively early bedtime in order to be ready for logging out in the the morning. 

Over the trip, our crew of nine got 168 logs off more than a mile of trail using only handtools, and did a few patches of seriously-needed tread work. There are still a few logs remaining on the final two miles to the Crowell Ridge junction, but they are mostly easily stepped over. 

After work on the second day, a friend and I decided to hike up to the ridge for some sweeping views. The trail became easier to navigate (as far as logs were concerned) past our worksite, but beyond the final switchbacks (about a mile from the ridge), the biggest concern is the tread itself, which is so overgrown with beargrass that at times we questioned if we were still on a trail. 

Luckily only in a few sections are like this, and as we swam out of head-high beargrass, the trail became more evident. 

The views from the ridge were so rewarding. We saw the mountains of Canada and Idaho, Salmo Lookout, Sullivan Lake, and a delightful field of beargrass below us -- the trail that went that way was signed 'Bear Pasture'. There was a thunderstorm brewing some ridges to the east, and it was late in the day, so we took some photos, had a small snack, and headed down. 

It took us an hour to return to our workplace on our way down, which made us think it was about two miles from where we stopped working to the ridge, and another 30 minutes to get to camp, so likely another mile. 

The thunderstorm was (thankfully) not that close or violent. The wind blew a bit and we got a small sprinkle of rain, then on Monday we headed out -- the exit was markedly faster than our approach. 

I first hiked a variation on this loop about ten years ago and thought it was about time to return.  Last time I made Gypsy Meadows my start & end point, but this time I decided to make the drive even easier by using lower trailheads.  We went in via the Halliday Trail, accessible less than 1 mile off the pavement on Highway 31, and we finished at the north end of Sullivan Lake, adjacent to a developed campground and therefore on the pavement.  We had a shuttle car, so we were able to skip the road-walk section.  If you don't have a shuttle car, use Red Bluff instead of Halliday and add about 1.5 miles on the road at the end (Sullivan Campground to the Red Bluff TH on the Sullivan Lake Road), and it's basically the same loop.

We started Saturday morning, hiking in on the Halliday Trail.  I have never hiked the entirety of this trail before, so this part was new to me.  The bugs were pretty fierce here, as the trail crosses the Halliday Fen where there's a lot of standing water.  Aside from the mosquitoes, the trail was delightful: pretty forest, several good viewpoints, and a moderate climb.

We met the PNTA crew working on the North Fork Sullivan Creek re-route around the former bridge site, and they have the new trail segment entirely roughed in at this point.  The trail beyond the re-route hasn't been maintained during the trail closure, so once we crossed into the Salmo Priest Wilderness (about 1 mile past the re-route) and started the big climb up to Crowell Ridge, we were frequently having to climb over and under downed trees.  We filled up on water at the last stream before gaining Crowell Ridge, then camped at the dry campsite at the North Fork/Crowell Ridge intersection on Saturday night.  This allowed for exploration of the old Crowell Ridge fire lookout & provided excellent sunset/sunrise views.  This was a tough day with nearly 5,000' elevation gain.

On Sunday we continued out Crowell Ridge to Bear Pasture, stopping a few times to enjoy the views and make a few snow angels.  We were trying to pick out Canadian National Parks across the border (we think we saw three), looking at Gypsy Peak in the foreground, and then looking across to our night's destination on the Shedroof Divide.  The Idaho Selkirks were visible on the horizon.  

Once at Bear Pasture, we descended via Leola Creek.  It's a former trail and roadbed, now choked with alder.  There's no good hiker access down, so we battled our way through.  This is definitely not a beginner-friendly route.

At the bottom, we hiked up the Shedroof Cut-off trail to intersect the Shedroof Divide, and then had to hike longer than we would have liked to get to a decent campsite for the night.  The campsites are few and far between on this route, so this ended up being a theme for our group.  It would be easier with a smaller group, but we needed room for five.

On Monday morning I was awoken far too early by a bear checking me out as I slept!  The others were in tents, but I was sleeping on the ground and must have looked very interesting to the passing bear.  It promptly ran away when I woke up, thank goodness!  Just a curious bear, and my food was several hundred feet away & safely up a tree, so it all turned out well.

We hiked out the Shedroof Divide to Pass Creek Pass, then crossed the road to continue toward Grassy Top.  We turned off on the Hall/Grassy Divide and were hoping for a campsite with water near a stream indicated on the USGS map.  We found neither, and ended up hiking all the way to Noisy Creek before we found a place with room for five backpackers.  This made for a very long day on Monday!

Tuesday was easy: finish out Noisy Creek, then hike the Sullivan Lakeshore trail to our waiting shuttle car.  We were keeping a close eye on the time since we knew Cathy's Cafe in Metaline Falls would be closing at 2pm, and we made it with plenty of time to spare (which also allowed for a quick dip in Sullivan Lake).  Good food & milkshakes to-go!

This full loop is roughly 55-60 miles in total length, with nearly 10,000' elevation gain.  It's tough!  But it's also about the best grand tour of the northeast corner, so well worth the effort.

 

The starting point for today's hike was the Slate Creek Trail (#525). It is 4.2 miles long and intersects the North Fork Trail (#507) which leads up to Crowell Ridge in 2.7 miles (Crowell Ridge #515). I nearly made it to the end of Crowell Ridge (3.7 to Bear Pasture or 2.2 to the end of the ridge), but I reached my turnaround time just 1/2 mile shy of the end of the ridge before it drops down to Bear Pasture. I was considering hiking a little longer when I started to hear thunder in the distance--that made my decision for me! The rain caught me in the last four miles of the hike and I walked out in rain, lightening and thunder. It was a little scary, and I wasn't able to hike as fast as I would have liked because of the downfall on the trail. The good news is that there are no downed trees on the North Fork Trail--I helped with a trail clearing crew on that trail during Hike-a-Thon last year, so it was nice to see that the trail is still clear. Now I want to see if I can get some friends to help clear the Slate Creek Trail, too.

I did this trip as part of a work party organized by Conservation Northwest. We arrived Saturday morning and organized a shuttle so that we would only have to hike the trail one-way, but this could also be done as an out-and-back trip from either trail head. We left our shuttle vehicle at the Red Bluff TH. This trail head is only 1/4 mile east of the Mill Pond Campground and it has paved access, although the parking is limited (3-4 vehicles). We then drove our other vehicles to our starting point at Sullivan Mountain (road 245, which is very rocky and not recommended for low-clearance vehicles). We started our trip by hiking out Crowell Ridge to the intersection with the North Fork trail. This portion of the trail is 4.1 miles. There are no water sources along this section of the trail, but the views are spectacular and the huckleberries are ripe right now. The North Fork trail was main focus of our trailwork, as this trail had not been cleared in at least four years. We cleared all downfall and brushed out the worst sections. There is a small campsite with easy access to water 3.1 miles from the Crowell Ridge trail. Beyond this point there are no reliable water sources on the trail. On the second day of our trailwork party we moved camp to the North Fork of Sullivan Creek. This is next reliable water source, located .9 miles from the intersection with the North Fork trail. From here it is only 4.4 miles to the Red Bluff trailhead This hike really allows visitors to see all that the Salmo Priest Wilderness has to offer. The Crowell Ridge section starts high and has 360 degree views. Hikers can see nearby Gypsy Peak (the tallest peak in Eastern Washington at 7,309') -- in fact, it is an easy day hike / scramble to the summit from Crowell Ridge. Hikers can also see Abercrombie and Hooknose Mountains, the Shedroof Divide, and north into Canada. The North Fork trail becomes more and more heavily treed as one descends. The upper portions of the trail are park-like as the trees are well spaced and bear grass carpets the ground. The lower portions of the trail, and continuing out to the Red Bluff trail, have amazing cedar stands.

These trails can be combined to form an approximately 55 mile backpack trip that highlights some of the most spectacular trails in the Salmo Priest Wilderness. We started this backpack on July 29 from the Gypsy Meadows campground (the first several miles of the trip were combined with the trailwork that was going on in the area). We managed to make it back to the car just before dusk on July 31. The Shedroof Divide Cutoff is now completely cleared of all downfall. The Shedroof Divide south has been partially cleared between the Cutoff and the Thunder Creek Trail (there is an approximately 1.5 mile section that still has a significant amount of downfall). From the Thunder Creek trail south on the Shedroof Divide there has been no trailwork in recent years. The trail crosses an old burn area, and several of the dead / burned trees have fallen across the trail. The Shedroof Divide ends at Pass Creek Pass, and it is necessary to walk a short section of the route on the road in order to pick up the route again on the Grassy Top trail. The Backcountry Horsemen worked on the Grassy Top trail on July 28th, and the trail is now entirely cleared of downfall. For the loop we left the Grassy Top trail at 2.7 miles and continued down trail 533 towards Hall Mountain. This section of trail has not been cleared this year, but the amount of downfall is fairly small. After 5.1 miles the trail intersects the Noisy Creek trail; this trail has been cleared of downfall all the way to the trailhead at Noisy Creek campground. At the campground it is necessary to hike on the paved road until reaching the boat launch area. From the boat launch we took the lake shore trail to the campground at the other end of the lake. While hiking along the lake shore trail we saw our only large wild animal: a bighorn sheep ram, hanging out in the shade near the private cabins. At the Sullivan Lake campground on the north end of the lake it again becomes necessary to hike on the road, this time for a longer section. We followed the road north to the Red Bluff trailhead. The Red Bluff trail is fairly clear, and intersects with the Halliday and North Fork trails after 5.3 miles. From this intersection it is another 5.3 miles along the North Fork trail up to Crowell Ridge. This is one of the steepest sections of trail I have ever seen (or else I was extremely tired at this point...it's hard to tell which was the case)! The trail obviously does not see much traffic, but also did not have a significant amount of downfall. Fortunately, there were a few huckleberry bushes that gave me a good reason to take a break as the trail climbed relentlessly towards Crowell Ridge. Crowell Ridge is in good shape, and there are several good vantage points along the route that allowed us to look across to the Shedroof Divide and see where we had been just the day before. That really puts some perspective on the route! From the North Fork intersection to Bear Pasture is only 3.7 miles of easy hiking...then for the toughest section of all. The Leola Creek trail is unmaintained and quite overgrown with some of the largest alder plants I have ever seen. It is approximately 5 miles down a series of switchbacks and back to the main road. Every once in a while the alder clears enough for a view of the spectacular cedar trees along the sides of the old trail/roadbed. However, in a few places there are also large trees down across the old trail, making the hiking even more difficult. This portion of the hike takes a significant amount of time. Fortunately, from the end of the old Leola Creek road it is only about a mile back to Gypsy Meadows.