A wonderful 5-day / 4-night one-way hike through the North Cascades! Some blowdowns to navigate, some mosquitoes and biting flies, but generally very pleasant with tons of wildflowers, wildlife, and ripe salmonberries.

Backpacking itinerary (data via CalTopo):

The deeper trails, specifically Park Creek Pass Trail, did have a fair amount of blowdown to navigate over. The worst parts were between Two Mile and Five Mile camps. I was suprised the ranger that issued our permits mentioned the steep bit of Park Creek Trail between Park Creek and Two Mile, but not the blowdowns, given that was our longest day and the distance did give her pause as we were talking through the itinerary. But it was all manageable.

Water was generally very easy to find, and we were never in a spot where we wanted to filter more water and couldn't find it.

We did have to ford Thunder Creek on Thunder Creek Trail right near the Thunder Basin Stock Camp. The water was about knee-high, and not too swift. Just chilly! All the other creeks had bridges or you could walk / rock-hop over them.

We managed to spot a huge variety of wildlife - mountain goats near Cascade Pass, pikas and marmots nearly every day, mule deer chilling on the trail near Park Creek Pass (we ended up cutting off the switchback to avoid getting too close to them), butterflies, snakes, bumblebees, hummingbirds and thrushes and wrens and pine siskins!

I think if I were to do this again, I'd either:
(a) go in reverse order so the longer days were later while carrying less food weight
-OR-
(b) plan on spending the night before up in the North Cascades and hike in farther than Pelton Basin the first night.

Buckner was an AMAZING camp, but given that was surrounded by our two biggest days, we didn't get to really enjoy it as much as we could.

Junction was harder to find than it should have been - I don't think many folks come from the way we did and there really wasn't much signage at the Fisher Creek / Thunder Creek trail junction on where to go for the camp. We found the stock camp and really struggled to find the hiker camp, but did manage to find it.

The road up to Cascade Pass wasn't terrible, but there were a few spots that felt much better in our V60 Cross-Country AWD than in our manual Toyota Corolla. Since we did the through-hike, we needed to go up Cascade River Road with both vehicles. On the way down, there was a backup due to a vehicle getting a wheel stuck up in the air. Thankfully it was remedied quickly, though it did make for a conga line of cars coming down.

Sunday: Bad news - Red Flag Warning up for east side of the North Cascades; Ruby Fire is almost 400 acres in size; fire suppression efforts using planes and water drops has been reduced as planes have been called to other locations (e.g., just north of I-90 east of Snoqualmie Pass).  For the Pincer 2 and Easy fires, the first have reached the respective roads (SR 20 and Cascade River Road).  Good news: much cooler, moister weather will settle in for at least a week.

New fire, growing rapidly, but under full suppression efforts.  Note current heat locations and intensities for three fires in the region.

Ruby Fire Closures (NCNP Complex)

As of 8.9.24, the following are closed to all access due to fire activity.

• Trails
• Fourth of July
• Panther Creek
• Thunder Creek
• Fisher Creek
• Camps
• Neve
• Thunder
• Fourth of July
• Panther Group
• McAllister
• McAllister Stock
• Tricouni
• Junction
• Junction Stock
• Fisher
• Cosho
• Skagit Queen
• Thunder Basin
• Thunder Basin Stock
• Cross-country Zones
• Ruby

Figure 2 illustrates conditions of the Miners Fire Complex and the associated damage (panels A and C).  A burn log (panel B) illustrates why both stand, down, and rolling logs are so dangerous.  Fires can smolder in them as well as in the root system and then under the right conditions, provide an ignition source with lots of burning embers.

Information on Easy Fire and the Calcite Creek Fire and their closures see https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report-2024-07-18.111624594105

Information on the Pioneer Fire as well as the Miners Fire Complex and the Pincer 2 Fire and associated closures see: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report-2024-06-20.215949501306

Hiking any part of the PCT and want to know about current closures or detours: https://closures.pcta.org/

1 flat patch of snow, easily crossed. Lovely wildflowers in every open area, especially in the half mile past the pass: pink, white, and yellow heather and heath, valerian, alpine and Cusick’s speedwell, columbine, lupine, groundsel, alpine sandwort, and incredible mountain vistas!!

We saw 65 species of plants flowering, list below. Thanks Paul for the list!

FLOWERING PLANTS IN BLOOM (65 species)

white (28)

bunchberry / dwarf dogwood (Cornus unalaschkensis)

thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)

five-leaved bramble / creeping raspberry (Rubus pedatus)

dwarf bramble / creeping raspberry (Rubus lasiococcus)

starry false Solomon’s seal (Maianthemum stellatum)

plumed / large false Solomon’s seal (Maianthemum racemosum)

clasping twisted-stalk (Streptopus amplexifolius)

foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata)

Sitka valerian (Valeriana sitchensis)

queen’s cup (Clintonia uniflora)

stream / brook / mountain meadow saxifrage (Micranthes odontoloma)

alpine / Tolmie’s saxifrage (Micranthes tolmiei)

Lyall’s saxifrage (Micranthes lyallii)

red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa)

Sitka mountain-ash (Sorbus sitchensis)

Fendler’s waterleaf (Hydrophyllum fendleri)

willow, species uncertain (Salix sp.)

white mountain-heather (Cassiope mertensiana)

partridge-foot (Luetkea pectinata)

leather-leaf saxifrage (Leptarrhena pyrolifolia)

lance-leaf spring-beauty (Claytonia lanceolata)

willowherb, maybe thread-stem / chaparral (Epilobium, maybe minutum)

western anemone / pasque-flower (Anemone occidentalis)

thread-leaf / mountain sandwort (Eremogone capillaris)

pussytoes, probably woolly (Antennaria, probably lanata)

spreading phlox (Phlox diffusa)

common yarrow (Achillea millefolia)

alpine buckwheat / dirty socks (Eriogonum pyrolifolium)

yellow (9)

mountain arnica (Arnica latifolia)

pioneer / streambank violet (Viola glabella)

bracted lousewort (Pedicularis bracteosa)

cinquefoil, probably fan-leaf / high mountain (Potentilla, probably flabellifolia)

seep monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata)

buttercup, maybe snowmelt (Ranunculus, maybe eschscholtzii)

desert-parsley / biscuit-root, maybe Brandegee’s (Lomatium, maybe brandegeei)

wallflower, probably sand-dwelling (Erysimum, probably arenicola)

groundsel, probably tall western (Senecio, probably integerrimus)

reddish: pink to red to red-purple (16)

western / Pacific coral root (Corallorhiza mertensiana)

pinesap (Monotropa hypopitys)

false azalea / fool’s huckleberry (Rhododendron menziesii)

maple-leaf currant (Ribes acerifolium)

salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis)

western meadow-rue (Thalictrum occidentale) ꟷ both ♂ & ♀ plants

rose, probably baldhip / wood or Nutka (Rosa, probably gymnocarpa or nutkana)

red columbine (Aquilegia formosa)

oval-leaf blueberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium)

Cascades blueberry (Vaccinium deliciosum)

pink mountain-heath (Phyllodoce empetriformis)

willowherb, probably alpine (Epilobium, probably anagallidifolium)

snowberry, maybe mountain (Symphoricarpos, maybe rotundifolius)

Wenatchee / Elmer’s paintbrush (Castilleja elmeri)

scarlet paintbrush (Castilleja miniata)

spiraea, rosy / subalpine or Douglas’s (Spiraea splendens or douglasii)

bluish: blue to violet to blue-purple (7)

lupine, species uncertain (Lupinus sp.)

Cusick’s speedwell (Veronica cusickii)

alpine speedwell (Veronica wormskjoldii)

daisy, probably subalpine (Erigeron, probably glacialis)

small-flowered penstemon (Penstemon procerus)

Davidson’s penstemon (Penstemon davidsonii)

edible thistle (Cirsium edule)

green (3)

slender bog orchid (Platanthera stricta)

Brewer’s miterwort (Pectiantia breweri)

alpine miterwort (Pectantia pentandra)

orange (1)

orange agoseris (Agoseris aurantiaca)

brown (1)

Oregon boxwood (Paxistima myrsinites)

BIRDS

Swainson’s Thrush

Varied Thrush

Pileated Woodpecker

Wren, maybe House

Golden-Crowned Kinglet

Pacific Wren

Chipping Sparrow

Finch, maybe Purple

Mountain Chickadee

Pine Siskin

BUTTERFLIES

fritillary, species uncertain

Boisduval’s Blue

parnassian, species 

Day 1 - Started the day picking up our backpacking permit at the Marblemount WIC. We arrived at 7 AM sharp and were ~15th in line. The wait to get our permit took a little over an hour. Thankfully the 3D map of the park inside the center made for great entertainment. We made it to Easy Pass trailhead by 10 AM and there was plenty of parking still available. Easy Pass was no joke - especially once we were above the tree line and exposed to the sun. The crossing of Easy Pass Creek took some balancing on thin logs and there were several snow patches to cross on the way up. We slowed down to make sure we had our footing, but the snow crossings weren't bad. When we made it to the top of Easy Pass, the views made it all worthwhile! Looking into Fisher Basin took my breath away. We took a long break at the top of Easy Pass to soak it all in then continued down the back side of the pass and into Fisher Basin. The decent is narrow and rocky, with great wildflowers dotting the side of the trail. Once down into the basin, there were several spots where the trail was overgrown and we had to fight through dense greenery. But the trail was always easy to find. The next 10 miles were rolling hills through a wide variety of landscapes. 15+ miles and 10 hours later we arrived at Junction Stock Camp for our first night. The views at Junction Camp were incredible! The Stock Camp was more tucked away in the trees, so didn't have the same views but was a fine site nonetheless. Bugs were present but not a major issue. The walk to access water was longer than we would have liked after such a slog of a hiking day.

Day 2 - We slept in and enjoyed a slow morning with a few visits from some deer friends. We were on the trail by noon for a short hike to McCallister Group Camp. This hike was mostly uneventful and flat. One highlight was the crossing of Fisher Creek with a great spot to dip our toes and hats in the ice-cold water for refreshment. Tricouni campsite in this area looks like a gem. We made it to McCallister Group Camp in mid-afternoon and went to cool off in McCallister Creek. The Group Camp area got blazing hot in the afternoon sun, so we sought shade down at the unattended Stock Camp. There was limited tree cover at the Group Camp which made hammocking difficult but made for incredible views of the stars that evening.

Day 3 - We were on the trail by 8 AM determined to conquer Fourth of July Pass and make it 10+ miles to Panther Group Camp well before dinner. Thunder Creek was raging and flashed an enchanting shade of blue. Fourth of July Pass was a grueling climb with no views and steep grade. We earned a nice rest at the top of the pass, where you can finally see snow-capped peaks in the distance. After a rest we continued on the relatively easy trail to Panther Creek. Beware of many overgrown sections of trail on this stint. Panther Group Camp was right on the water which allowed for bathing and the calming sound of rushing water. A short hike past the camp is a glorious waterfall on the left hand side of the trail - a great spot to catch sunrise.

Day 4 - What we thought would be an easy 4 miles out turned out to be much steeper than we imagined. This was a major climb from Panther Creek out to the trailhead. We had earned a big greasy meal on the way back to civilization.

We started this in-and-out backpacking trip at Colonial Creek Campground and camped the next three nights in Junction, Cosho, and then McAllister, consecutively. Trails and campsites were in excellent condition, despite rain and mud on the third/fourth days.

The first day was about 10-11 miles of hiking from the trailhead up to Junction Camp. The first 8 of that was slow rolling hills along Thunder Creek to where it joins Fisher Creek at Tricouni Camp. Immediately before Tricouni we encountered trail crews who warned us that the next two miles (Tricouni to Junction) have no water access and are one "annoying hill". As promised, we didn't have access to the Fisher Creek below, but we were able to capture photos of it's substantial waterfalls and of the mountains overhead.

Junction camp hosts incredible views and is a convenient stop for access to both the Thunder and Fisher Creek trails. Climbing up from Tricouni is challenging, but completely worth it for the campsite upgrade. We encountered two other parties staying in Junction for day hikes up each creek.

From Junction on the second day we pursued one short day hike (without packs) down to the mining cabins in the meadows. The descent (and subsequent ascent) was very steep, and we felt the impact for the remainder of our hike to Cosho later that day. The short side-course was worth it, however, to see these fascinating artifacts of the Cascades' mineral history. We had the fortune to coincide with a parks maintenance crew who were busy restoring these structures, using local timber and era-appropriate techniques. They took a break to give us a tour and tell us about the history of the planned but never built town at Skagit Queen, up Thunder Creek.

After ascending out of the meadow we collected packs and proceeded to Cosho Camp up Fisher Creek. The next few miles of the Fisher Creek Trail (heading East from Junction) were harder than expected. We could see some remnants of an older trail which closely followed the creek, but the trail today diverges from the gradual creek slope to frequently rise and fall in altitude. Water crossings later in the trail are well-maintained, but are usually simple beam-and-handrail bridges which could be hazardous in wet conditions. Fortunately we crossed each time before the rain started and encountered no trouble.

Cosho Camp is empty and very convenient. Campsites have excellent creek access and plenty of open space, but the forest canopy made mountain views harder to come by.

The third day of hiking we turned around to make our way back towards the trailhead. Weather forecasts predicted rain this day and we picked up the pace to get to McAllister Camp. We arrived with just enough time to pitch tents and keep dry.

McAllister camp is beautifully prepared, with an easy-to-use bear hang wire and tent platforms, however water requires a longer walk.

If we were to do this trail again, we would stay multiple nights in Junction and do long scenic day hikes down each creek trail. Junction is by far the most scenic campsite in this report.