3 day, 2 night backpacking trip that did parts of both these trails, but neither of them in totality. It was INCREDIBLE. I've been backpacking a lot places and this is one of my favorites. Day 1: 9.5 miles into White Pass campground. Yes it's hard on the 3,000 gain in 3 miles, but it's doable! Day 2: day hike ~2 miles on PCT North to Red Pass, then back towards White Pass and 2 miles on PCT South then back to camp for 8 mile total. Day 3: White Pass back to the trailhead.

Water: There's plentiful water right now with all the snow run off. Creeks about every half hour from the trailhead to Mackinaw. 1 creek that's a little tricky to get to about half way up the switchbacks but it's there if you needed it. Then 2 more creeks at the top of the switchbacks before you get to the PCT junction. 2-3 additional creeks from PCT junction to White Pass. Several snow run off trickles that are plenty big enough to filter in the 2 miles south of White Pass.

Camping: There were a ton of folks at White Pass camp area, mostly all Glacier Peak summit parties. 20+ tents both nights. The toilet is hard to find, but you go down into the camping area, then turn left and follow it a ways. Turn right at the big rock cairn just before the last privy sign (don't go straight past the last privy sign). There's some tent pads on the ridge, but you're not supposed to camp there so avoid that if you can. Also please try not to camp on the meadows themselves!

Bugs: I only got 1 bite and I didn't wear any bug spray (and I'm normally a mosquito magnet). But I think they are going to start getting worse pretty soon as it's about that time of year.

Snow: a handful of snow crossings once you get up to the PCT. I brought yak tracks but never put them on. Trekking poles were very helpful for balance. Watch out for snow bridges. The trail going down Red Pass into Glacier Peak Meadows had several more big snow patches across it, but it was definitely passable as we saw several folks cross them easily without gear. Camp sites at White Pass were all melted out.

Trail: In great condition. We hand sawed a couple ~6 inch down trees on the switchbacks, but otherwise the trail was great. There was even a WTA work party- thank you for keeping this trail fabulous! I was expecting way more blowdowns but there were nearly none!

Wildlife: We saw (and heard) many grouse around White Pass, and there were tons of butterflies everywhere. There are also marmots galore along the PCT section, particularly from the junction at the top of the steep part to White Pass. I saw about 15 at 7am on our hike out. While we didn't see any bears, a friend saw one the next day on this same trail.

Wildflowers: So delightful! Up on the PCT there's tons of yellow glacier lilies, yellow lady's slipper, white pasqueflower, american bistort, sitka valerian, mountain heather, phlox, and even some beardstongue. On the switchbacks there were also brilliant paintbrush and some lupine. The first waves of flowers (like glacier lilies) are peaking, but second waves are just getting ready to go, especially up higher.

Highly recommend this STUNNING hike with amazing views in all directions. It was such a treat to see Rainier, Glacier peak, and Sloan peak, not to mention the countless other craggy mountain tops and ridges. Next time I'll do the whole Pilot Ridge loop, or actually go down into the Glacier Peak Meadows but this was a great sampler.

Happy Trails!

We started early Saturday morning from the Sauk river trailhead and merged onto the PCT over Red Pass overnighting in Glacier Peak Meadows. The trip was 12.5 miles each way on well maintained trails. There was minimal smoke which came and went in the meadows area. Reports from others suggested that the White Pass area had more smoke issues. Lower elevations also seemed to have heavier smoke.

Blue berries were aplenty and made for great after dinner dessert and morning oatmeal topping.

Ideally, this trip would be a three day trip providing opportunities to explore the upper basin and glaciers.

Completed a 3-night backpack on 9/2-9/5, with nights 1 and 2 at White Pass Camp and night 3 at Blue Lake Camp. On the 2nd day, we did a day hike up to Glacier Peak Meadows. It was a fabulous trip!

The road to the trailhead was a bit rough with lots of potholes, but I think it could be done in most sedans if you went slow. We did get a flat tire at the trailhead that I think was caused by one of the rocks on the road. Lots of parking options at the trailhead.

The hike from the trailhead up to White Pass Camp was a slog, with lots of switchbacks in the sun. White Pass Camp had some nearby streams, a toilet, and was fairly busy when we arrived at 2pm on a Friday (granted, it was a holiday weekend). No bugs.

The hike from White Pass Camp to Blue Lake was beautiful and fairly easy, but only a couple of water sources on the way. We took the high trail into Blue Lake, which was doable, but fairly narrow and steep. I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't confident ascending and descending steep slopes with uneven footing. We had our choice of campsites Saturday at noon, though it was full later in the day. There was a toilet here too, though sometimes I wonder who decides on the placement (totally visible from the trail). No bugs. We did a day hike to Johnson Mountain after setting up camp, which was the highlight of the trip for us! Sensational views - I can't recommend it enough!!

The last day had a lot of nice views before we began descending in earnest. After what felt like forever, we made it to the river and crossed easily on a big log. There were a couple of water sources on the descent, at least one of which seemed like it would be year round. 

We spent two nights doing a "lolly pop" style loop from the North Fork Sauk River trailhead up to Glacier Peak Meadows via the PCT, to White Chuck Glacier, White Pass, and ultimately back via the N Fork Sauk again.

Seems this deserved a trip report given the lack of information we found prior to our trip. On the first day we hiked up the N Fork Sauk River trail all the way up the 3000' gain of (mildly hot, exposed) switchbacks to the intersection with the PCT. From here we took the PCT up to Red Pass, and then dropped down into the beautiful basin below Glacier Peak which led into the camps near the meadows, where we stayed for the first night. The trail was busy with PCT thru-hikers but there are plenty of campsites. We found one with a beautiful full view of Glacier Peak.

The next morning we packed up and decided to try and follow the trail shown on our Green Trails Mountain Loop Highway map, which is shown leaving from Glacier Peak Meadows and heading along the right side of White Chuck River, up through a valley and all the way up to White Chuck Glacier. The trail comes and goes, but we were able to mostly follow it up along the side of the raging river (there is a large, beautiful waterfall adjacent to the Meadows). After climbing a few steep bits you come to a flat opening with many channels and a large patch of remaining snow along the side of a scree field. We managed to follow a few cairns, crossed the snow (very solid and easy to walk on) and found a faint trail going up along a green hillside, again staying to the right of the White Chuck. This faint trail continues steeply up for some time, all the while you have the option to refill your water in the many streams coming into the main channel. I found myself feeling very thankful that we were going up instead of down. Eventually we came up into another flat area that is full of boulders and lacks vegetation. This was a nice spot for a break as we finally got Glacier Peak back into our view. From here we skirted right of the larger boulders and back around to walk along the White Chuck once more, heading straight toward Glacier Peak and the eerily chalky blue lake just below White Chuck Glacier. The trail disappears here, but the flat, gravel-like tread makes for easy wandering. We stayed to the right of the lake, but you may receive a nice view of Mount Baker if you stay left. At this point you can either head across a more boulder-covered area straight toward the glacier, or stay right, getting a nice view of the glacier from a distance, which is what we did as I do not enjoy boulder walking. Unfortunately, as we continued south away from the glacier and back toward the main trail, it continues through boulder fields for some time and makes for difficult and tiring walking. The trail is only sometimes visible and we kept our eyes peeled for more cairns but had difficultly following it much. Eventually the trail does pick up again as you head back up into the meadow and come to another (unnamed) pass. From here is a wonderful view looking down into the basin adjacent to where we came up by the White Chuck River, as well as still quite nice view of Glacier Peak and even a peek at Baker's top. It feels like this is where the "main" trail should pick up again, given the proximity now to the popular camp at White Pass, but sadly this is not the case. The trail drops suddenly and steeply on the east side of the pass, and we tried to follow very lackluster switchbacks down without slipping on the extremely dusty path. What goes down must come back up and alas the trail continues back up the other side on probably the sketchiest part of the trail, an extremely steep patch with major exposure that I pretended to ignore. Again, I was so thankful we weren't doing this loop in the other direction as I surely would have slipped here. Thankfully after we reached the top, the trail is pretty straightforward from here, skirting along the side of the ridge back toward White Pass. It was quite hot but there are several small streams we crossed before arriving at White Pass camp.

We camped at White Pass for the night and returned the same way we came up. This was a fun trip but I will most likely not walk the Foam Creek Basin trail again given how difficult the terrain was in some spots—just a little out of my comfort zone. Be prepared for route-finding, definitely have a map with you and I'd recommend doing it clockwise to avoid going downhill on the steepest sections! Overall a great, challenging trip.

 N Fork Sauk is a busy trail. Camped first night near the fallen shelter at the base of the ridge climb, away from the crowds deeper in the woods. Few bugs. It’s nice to climb to the PCT early in the morning, it would be a long grind in the sun. Saw a bear about a 1000 feet below the PCT, about a 100 feet off the trail in the meadows where there are lots of ripe blueberries. The bear was happy and ignored us. The ridge walk to Red Pass is awesome. The hike down to Glacier Meadows is also stunning. Few shady camps and lots of folks show up after 4. There is a nice camp on the hill near the privy and a great camp down in the valley floor in a cluster of trees if you are going to Glacier Gap. Trail to the Gap is straightforward but intermittent. Stay right of the first two waterfalls and between the two waterfalls below the final climb to the lake near the Gap. The right side waterfall is the outflow stream from the lake.  A compass bearing is useful if you’re confused. The climbing route from White Pass to the Gap is obvious at that point if you want to make a loop. Bugs were intermittently bad at the meadows. Blueberries ripe at around 5000 feet but not along the PCT. A beautiful hike! It took us 6 hours to go all the way from Glacier Meadows back to the car.