After driving up the Icicle Rd. and checking out different hikes, decided on this one. One other car in the parking area. Partially cloudy, Party of 2 w/dog, beautiful at first, over the bridge and up some switchbacks till you meet up with trout lake trail #1555 then pretty gradual walk through woods, see creek partially. Didn't make it to next trail break #1557 because of snow on the trail. Nice hike on a fair day, wish we could have made it further.

The Jack Ridge trail from the Jack Creek side is a great trainer for wilderness skills with blowdowns to clamber over and under and overgrown brush springy enough to catapult you off the hillside. The wooded crest is beautiful and in excellent condition, the worst of the blowdowns is toward Trout Lake- keep your eyes peeled for those sawn logs! Trout Lake is a scenic mosquito nest, and the long traverse back to Jack Creek is an airy flower garden.

To get to the trail head, follow Icicle Creek road all the way until it splits, then take the left across the river. Just after the bridge, take a left on road 615 which also has a sign for Jack/Trout creek trailhead. I was the only car in the parking lot on this chilly November morning. My dog and I headed up Jack Creek, which is a long valley trail. About 700’ of climbing in the first mile but after that the climb is too gradual to notice. The trail is in great shape, and appears to have been cleared of blow-downs not too long ago. All the turns are signed. Speaking of signs, there is horse poop everywhere on this trail. There are a couple nice campsites along the trail that I made a note of. We went a little over 5 miles then took a right on 1559; the Meadow Creek trail. We had to cross the icy Jack Creek soon after the turn. I was able to get across on a very long slippery log, but my dog wasn’t so lucky. She broke through the ice, eventually making it up on the thicker stuff and getting across. The next crossing is Meadow Creek. It is smaller, and I was able to string together enough rock tops to make it across dry but don’t count on that if the water is any higher. In about 1.5 miles the trail opens into a meadow with views of the surrounding peaks. We turned on the Snowall/Cradle Lake Trail just before the meadow and headed up the hill. This trail is less-travelled, a few blow-downs and no horses. The trail switchbacks up the hill, along the ridge top, down, then up again along the outlet of Cradle Lake. A few inches of snow now but still easy to follow the trail. The lake sits at the base of a huge Talus field, with a few larch trees sprinkling their golden needles on the shore. The lake was covered with ice and snow, but I could hear the creaking and groaning of melt happening in the afternoon sun. After lunch we ran back to the car, a 20 mile round trip.

ICICLE CREEK ROAD IS CLOSED due to a mud slide at Fourth of July Creek. The road is barricaded at Bridge Creek campground. Call or check before you come.