4 brave Scouts (& 3 braver adults) from Troop 407 hiked the 54+ miles from Ingalls Cr TH to Rock Island CG, and back. 6 days to make a giant bold 'L' shape. Trails are generally in good shape, but very overgrown w/ brush in many places. No snow on trail; 1 dry (blowdown) & one semi-dry (rock-hop) crossings of Jack Cr are necessary. Had the entire Rock Island car-campground to ourselves, since Icicle Cr road is washed out. Views of the Stuart Range and other nearby mtns are great. Bugs were only bad near Stuart Pass/Lake Ingalls. Side trails such as Falls Cr or Van Epps have wet fords of Jack or Ingalls Cr.

Ingalls Creek Loop This was a great 3 day hike up Ingalls Creek to Stuart Pass and back by the County Line trail. The Ingalls Creek trail is in great shape, thanks to current trail work by the Cascade Youth Corp, camped at the Falls Creek trail junction as I passed by. Few bugs, and an easy 16 miles to Stuart Pass and Ingalls Lake in one day if you go light (I hike PCT style, with a 20 lb pack, which included water and food for 4 days). I also explored the Jack Creek trail beyond Stuart Pass for a few miles and seemed to be the first hiker of the season, with snowbanks to cross and winter branches to clear from the trail. Going back down the next day, then up the Beverly Turnpike trail, was again in glorious weather, but the trail looked like a winter stream bed in many places. However I’d had a much worse report on the condition of the Hardscrabble trail and didn’t even see a sign for the Cascade trail. So don’t plan to use these when ascending or descending the Wenatchee Range that borders the south side of Ingalls Creek, with the other trails being passable but rough in places. Once up on the ridge, the side trip up Iron Mountain was fantastic, with both great views and wildflowers. Then I headed toward Fourth Creek Pass and the Tooth Saddle, on the way returning a couple of lost items I’d found to a couple of grateful ladies whom I’d met on the trail for the third time. Hiking the serpentine barrens up to the Saddle and down the other side was no problem. However the way trail marked on the Green Trails map to the next serpentine saddle was little more than a contour x-country route, required good map, compass, and altimeter skills. Looking down, the Stafford Creek trail below looked like a freeway compared to what I’d just come through. Indeed the hike up Navaho Peak from the Stafford Creek Saddle was obviously very popular. Camping on the east shoulder of Navaho, I hiked up it at sunrise the next morning for the best views in the area south of the Stuart Range. The easy way out and back to Ingalls trailhead is then to head down the Falls Creek trail, but with a little extra time on my hands and a willingness to go off-trail, I decided to explore down the Negro Creek route. The trail immediately disappeared in meadows but I picked it up again by contouring to the left from a collapsed miner’s cabin and spring. From here on it was very good down to a logging road, which I followed to the lower Negro Creek trail, described as overgrown and abandoned in the trail guide. Actually if you walk beyond where the trail should start to a woods road on the right, you pick it up at an abandoned homestead. From here a broad ATV track follows the trail route across the creek, where it soon reverts to hillside trail. This has obviously been maintained, probably by fishermen, for about a mile, until it drops down to the creek. But from here on the trail guide proved accurate. With numerous creek crossings in the next mile, it was hard to know if you’re supposed to cross the creek or plow through brush until a section of real trail emerges again as it moves up the hillside. Eventually I got tired of all this and decided to hike 2000’ up the north hillside and come down the ridge top to an old logging road. It was a good hike up on a rib directly to the 5100’ summit, but walking east along the ridge top led into rock buttresses. Eventually I decided to drop down the south side and contour along the hillside just below them, but the side hill gouging was sometimes tough going as my water and energy ran out. Where the ridge dropped down at its eastern end, there was old county line trail with marked trees and evidence of ridge top helicopter logging. From here I headed down through the woods to the logging road, crossing sections of old trail, but found the road to be totally overgrown. After a mile of very slow going, often through thick slide alder and snowbrush, the road widened and the brush become much sparser. In another mile there was a welcome “stream” – a bare trickle of water in this drier country, and after a final quick mile I was down to the lower Negro Creek road. Though several mining claims were conspicuously posted, with threatening language and collapsed campers nearby, the road had reverted to trail, with more evidence of fishermen than miners. When it reaches Peshatin Creek, with the Blewett Pass highway on the other side, this road becomes a paved road, obviously the old pass road. Soon I came to a truly massive landslide, explaining why the road had reverted to brush or trail above and was gated below.

This is loop 47 in the Mountaineers ""Best Loop Hikes"". The book says 8 hours, GrnLkHiker did it in 6 on 8/15/07 but it took us 10. Maybe our mistake was taking it clockwise, oppposite to what the book recommends; our older knees would rather go up steep slopes than down them. We did a lot of extra miles and elevation gain trying to find the trail up Jack Ridge and down to Trout Lake, and we also took an unintentional side trip. Be forwarned that #1557 is overgrown, there are many massive blow-downs, no signs and many boot tracks going who knows where. Also, this hike is almost entirely in the forest, it's a beautiful forest but we were longing for some views after a long day and when the trail left the wilderness area and entered a clearcut above Trout Creek, the opening was welcome. Jack Creek Trail #1558 is a fine trail along a pretty creek, we passed two fishermen, the only folks we saw all day. After 3 miles there is a sign for #1557 up Jack Ridge. The trail is immediately engulfed in thick brush, but passable. Soon you cross a creek and then switchback steeply up through more brush. Be careful not to get off on a dead-end boot track; we did twice, back-tracked one time and bushwhacked back to the trail the second time. You should hear the creek to your right most of the way up, and if you haven't switch-backed in about 50 yards you probably missed one. Lots of brush and blowdowns. The only views are from the top of Jack Ridge, not spectacular but nice to be in the open. We missed the trail down to slime-green Trout Lake because a boot track continues south along the ridge past it. When you see Trout Lake, look for a sharp switchback to the left just before an avalanche slope; there is no marker. Not realizing we had missed it, we continued south along the ridge and then up several hundred feet above a burn where the views are better; this side trip added an hour or more to the loop. The #1557 down to Trout Lake starts out okay but soon disappears beneath some massive blowdowns. We thought we had missed a switchback and backtracked before figuring out we'd just have to go over/under/around several huge trees. After bushwhacking for half an hour, we found the trail again. The lake is very marshy and difficult to approach because of all the brush and logs. We found the outlet and crossed it and then looked for #1555 heading north. There are no markers and I'm not sure what we took was a trail. We followed the east side of the outlet stream through a lot of muck and brush until the outlet stream meets Trout Creek, this is also the junction with trail #1554. Here we crossed back over the outlet stream and there are trail signs, though not particularly helpful ones. Find a trail going north with Trout Creek heading downstream on your right. This is #1555 and it is easy to follow along the north ridge above Trout Creek and then west back down to #1558. Fine weather, no bugs, plenty of water for our filter bottles and a few berries too.

I had originally planned to do the Chatter Creek trail today. Unfortunately, the Green Trails Map is incorrect and I spent a fruitless hour trying to find the elusive TH past the Chatter Creek camping area. On my way out of the Icicle Creek Road, I realized the TH has now been moved to just BEFORE the Chatter Creek Campground. Alas.... I found an alternative trail do to along the Icicle Creek and will have to return to do the Chatter Creek trail. I decided to do the loop trail up to Trout Lake. Aside from encountering some folks on horseback at the TH, I had the trail to myself the entire day. Started down the Jack Creek trail for about 1.5 miles. It was in great condition and cleared of blow downs. Then took a right on the Trout Creek trail and started the swichbacks up and up. The trail is mostly in the forest, a nice respite from the Leavenworth sun. The trail is pretty well maintained, although was a bit overgrown as it traverses the side of Jack Ridge. Reached the lake after 4 miles on trail #1555. There were quite a few blowdowns there, which could make finding a camp site a bit challenging. Shared my lunch spot on the lake edge with a beautiful doe and then started heading up and over Jack Ridge again on trail #1557. This trail is in much need of attention. There were multiple blowdowns and the trail is becoming overgrown. While hiking this section, I kept thinking that without some attention, this section of trail is at risk for being overtaken by the devils glove and slide alder. After what seemed like longer than 3.5 miles (as listed on the map), trail #1558 was again reached and it was an easy 3 miles back to the TH. All in all, it was a beautiful ~13 mile loop trip, easily done in under 6 hours. And now I know where to find that darn Chatter Creek TH!

July 7, 2007: Cradle Lake A deep forested walk beside a rushing creek, followed by a steep ascent through more forest to finally attain the reward of a beautiful alpine lake in a stunning setting. The forecast was for a hot day, but at 5am it was quite cool as I motored alongside Jack Creek. Deep in the forested valley it was quite gloomy. Soon however, a touch of gold on the tops of Blackjack Ridge, across the valley, uplifted my spirits. The appearance of flowers beside the trail worked more wonders, and it was all happy-happy-joy-joy till the intersection with the Meadow Creek trail, about 5mi into the hike. The joy was short lived as I was soon at the ford of Jack Creek. I decided to forgo the wade in favor of a scuttling across on a log. That was definitely a bad idea, since I left quite a bit of flesh on the sharp bark. A short time later I was at the ford of Meadow Creek. Without hesitation this time, it was off with the boots and on with the wade. The water was a couple of feet deep and cold, but not too bad. With the fords out of the way, I was looking for some quicker progress. However, the nice trail (to this point) quickly disintegrated into a mess. Nasty blow-downs, armed with splintered branches became the order of the day. Next up were the gorgeous meadows of the Meadow Creek valley and the junction of the Snowall Creek trail. I wandered for a bit into the meadows to enjoy the fields of flowers, before heading back to the east edge and the Snowall Creek trail that would lead me to Cradle Lake. The trail beginning was completely obscured by a large blow-down (what else!), and I probably would have missed it if it wasn’t for the sign. The interminable blow-downs kept me company as the grade (for the first time) steepened. For the next 1-1.5mi and 1,800ft of gain I wrestled with the trail, until (finally!) the forest began to open up and views started to appear. At 5,800ft and the unsigned junction with the Blackjack Ridge trail I headed left (keeping to the Snowall Creek trail) as the trail traversed around a shoulder (dropping about 150ft) and into the outlet meadows of Cradle Lake. This part is gorgeous! Harding Mountain across the Meadow Creek valley was as in-your-face as one could wish for. Mount Stuart and Ingalls Peaks were also prominent. The final climb up to Cradle Lake was through a garden of flowers; even the trail was obscured at times by said flowers! At 9:40am, I was at the lake. Cradle Lake is beautiful: lovely red rocks on one side and green hills on the other lead to a lovely mix of reflected colors in the lake. Glacier lilies and shooting stars lined the meadows ringing the lake. To the south was a 6,623ft hill; climbing this is a must! The 6,623ft hill sported 360 degree views of various peaks near and far: Highchair Mountain, Glacier Peak, Mount Baker, The Cradle, Mount Rainier, Harding Mountain Ingalls Peaks, Mount Stuart, Eightmile Mountain, Cashmere Mountain… Views of Cradle Lake too were best from here (or from the saddle over which the Snowall Creek trail continued). I explored around the lake for a bit, before reluctantly embarking on the long hike back to the car. More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani/sets/72157600712442660 Stats: • Distance (round-trip): ~18mi • Elevation gain (cumulative): 4,300ft • Hiking time: 9.75hrs