July 6-7 loop trip up White River, down PCT, and back on Indian Creek. Summary: If you want to do this loop, wait a good month. Lots of bugs, blowdowns and snow problems. Wildlife: 18-20 bear droppings on White River trail; about the same on Indian Creek (I have no idea how recent). Got a good view of a deer on the upper White River (it was by a side stream and the water kept it from hearing me until it was in full view; it bolted, then stopped and looked at me before diving into the brush). Surprised another deer on Indian Creek trail—didn’t see it, but heard it crunching through the brush. Lots of deer tracks (hoof prints—not droppings)—following these tracks helped me over several snow patches. Plenty of birds, a few lizards (salamanders?), a water snake. Bugs: Mosquitoes were terrible—particularly from the trail head to Boulder Pass cut-off and on the lower Indian Creek. These girls would probe your deet defense until they found access. I got a bite on an eye brow and lower lip (and back of elbows, under hat brim, etc.). A few other little black bugs bit me. Blowdowns: Lots. Worst spots—White River, after you turn to the west, on the first few avalanche run-outs; upper Indian creek, where it seems like the whole mountainside came down during the winter. Many “interlaced” blowdowns (multiple trees all jumbled together)—these take a lot of time to figure out how to get around, and more time to find the trail again. River crossings: I put on water shoes once before the White River crossings. All three crossings of the White River require wading of some sort. The second crossing of the White was not fun. The trail hits the water just above a waterfall—a slip would be very bad. Went up stream just a little and crossed via 2 rock bars—still tough. On the upper Indian Creek, there is so much avalanche run-out that most the side streams are buried under snow. Several streams on the lower end require wading. Snow: Many patches of snow on the White River trail—but until the third crossing of the White River, the snow is no problem. As you start the switchbacked climb towards the pass, the snow patches get bigger and you have to pay better attention. Still though, no significant snow problems until about 4800 feet (starting just after the final switchback on the climb to the pass). Lots of snow on top—I never found the intersection of White River and PCT. I did, however, find a few bare spots on the PCT as I worked my way south (open, west facing slopes). The Indian Pass area is buried—no sign of PCT or Indian Creek trail. Heading down Indian Creek, I was surprised at how long it took to get out of snow (and consequently, how long it took me to find the trail). Occasional patches further down from avalanche run outs—some of these are pretty big, but route finding was not a big problem. Brush: Bad. The worst is on lower Indian Creek—many times it was above my head. The walk out on Sunday in the rain was a pain. Lots of brush on White River—but it wasn’t raining on Saturday, so it was much more tolerable. Fellow hikers: Saw one guy who was hiking out on the White River trail on Saturday. He had gone in on July 4th and said he got within 2 miles of the PCT. No sign of any travelers on the PCT. Saw no one on the Indian Creek trail. Miscellaneous I: Just after the first crossing of the White River, I noticed a lot of smooth “river rock” that was sitting on top of the snow (a good 100 plus feet from the river and maybe 35-40 above the river level). It finally dawned on me that an avalanche had scoured the river bottom and dumped rock on the far side. Miscellaneous II: The top of Indian Creek is a mess. I was amazed at the snow amounts and debris in the floodplain. There are shattered trees and broken rocks and evergreen boughs everywhere. I was surprised at how far the debris traveled down stream—at times, it looks like the avalanche hit the channel and then went down stream around a few turns (and in places, this “flood” took out trees along the edge of the flood plain). The first 4 or 5 avalanche “fans” (going down stream) all had significant destruction. The lower fans are not as bad. There is so much snow in the flood plain that upper Indian Creek is under the snow more than not. Miscellaneous III: Because of the snow and debris problems on upper Indian Creek, I had a very hard time finding the trail. At the very top, I wasn’t worried—I just followed the general stream bed because it was taking me down. However, once I ran into the avalanche debris and once the stream started to break out of the snow, I started looking for the trail in earnest. It took me along time and I traveled down stream much further than I had planned. I am not sure where the trail is on the upper portion—if it is in the flood plain, it won’t be cleared for quite some time.

This trail has fuller brush than just about anything except the upper White River trail. The first few miles are in nice forest, then you cross the first brush path. A couple miles further people and horses must give up, because the trail becomes quite faint. And the brush moves in to compensate. However, all logs have been cut, some obviously this year. Someone brush this trail! It's a dandy in the forest sections, and leads up to blueberry-infested Indian Pass. I wandered up Kodak Peak and snapped a Fujichrome. Lots of berries up there. 2001 has been the ""year of the berry"" for sure!

This traverse begins at the Little Wenatchee trailhead and climbs over Sauk Pass and Indian Pass before heading down the Indian Creek trail. A recent Washington Trails magazine reported the Indian Creek trail was cleared of blowdown last fall, and that the new bridge over the White River was in. The time was now! Our hearty group of four shouldered day packs and set out up the Little Wenatchee River trail about 5:30 am Wednesday morning. The weather was splendid. The trail was in good shape, but overgrown in the first five miles. Meander Meadow was lovely, and the trail was easy to follow up to the snow. There was consistent snow cover beginning about 5000 feet on the ascent to Sauk Pass, with occasional sections that had melted out revealing the trail beneath. We saw recent bear tracks in the snow and mud at the pass. We took a side trip to scramble up Indian Head Peak. There was no snow on the peak. The route we took ascended through some moderately steep low brush slopes initially to steep heather and grass slopes. Most of the climb is Class 1, with a final Class 2 scramble for 50 feet to the summit. This side scramble added three miles to the traverse. After spending an hour enjoying the warm sun and splendid views from the summit, we descended the steep slopes, enjoying some of the unique geologic features of this mountain, before joining back up with the Indian Creek trail. The Indian Creek trail was definitely logged out. It must have been a tremendous effort. We traveled the first four miles of this trail on our approach to Mt. Saul two years ago (the summer after the White River bridge collapsed), and encountered numerous blowdown. However, there is still a lot of work to do. High up in its descent to the White River (about mile 10), Indian Creek has decided to flow down a section of the trail. We were forced to walk above the old creek bed for about a quarter mile through tangles of branches, brush, and water. Some serious re-routing of the trail is necessary here. Parts of the trail along the valley floor (miles 4 through 8) are also very overgrown with high head-level brush to the point where it is hard to see the path. Drainage is also an issue along this section, as the myriad of little streams coming off Indian Head and Saul pool in the area where the trail is, making the stream crossings interesting, but not difficult. Once we got into deeper forest, the trail became quite lovely, with no brush and no blowdown. We enjoyed the descent to Indian Creek, but I remembered two years ago the bridge on Indian Creek was sagging and on its last leg. I silently hoped it was there - I don't think crossing Indian Creek would have been an option at this flow level, and I certainly didn't want to go back! I turned the corner, afraid to look to see if there was a bridge. The old bridge wasn't there - but a brand new gorgeous log bridge was in its place! No more worries. The last two miles to the trailhead were uneventful, save for some sore feet. By our timing, we figured that the Indian Creek trail had to be closer to 12 miles from Indian Pass. Total statistics on the traverse: 25 miles, 13 hours, 5300 feet elevation gain, 6000 feet elevation loss (including ascent of Indian Head Peak). Without the optional ascent, it would be 22 miles, 9 to 10 hours, 2800 feet elevation gain and 3500 feet elevation loss.