Did a counterclockwise loop in the snow from Jack Creek Trail -> Jack Ridge -> Trout Creek Trail. Trail's in great condition up to the intersection, then I ran into a lot of blowdowns on the switchbacks on Trout Creek Trail and further in on Jack Creek Trail. Lots of snow still on the trail, but not a ton like past years. Spikes (and maybe snowshoes) might be a good idea.

Hiked as a counterclockwise loop, starting at the Jack Trout TH. Road is no problems. Arrived at 11am on a cloudy Saturday, and there were two cars in the parking lot that probably would fit 10 cars at capacity. Jack Creek Trail is in great shape. Note there are a couple established camp sites at the intersection of Jack Ridge and Jack Creek trails. 

Turned East at the Jack Ridge trail and immediately noticed that this trail is much less traveled. Maybe 30ish trees we had to get around on this trail in total. Had to go off trail a few times to make it over some large blowdowns. Made the ridge, but was completely socked in. Nice peekabo views on the way up to the south west and I can imagine the ridge views would have been spectacular. WIldflowers in bloom! Trail down to the east from the ridge was very overgrown, but still able to be followed (though I questioned myself a few times). GPS helped as a sanity check a few times, but I wouldnt say it would be absolutely necessary. 

Easily found the intersection with Trout Creek trail with a nice sign. Trout Creek trail was a welcome respite from the bushwhacking - minimal trees/brush on the way down.

Bugs were intermittent on the trail - pretty bad at the intersection of the creek and ridge trail, and awful at Trout Lake. We got to the lake basin, and wanted to see the lake (because we hadnt seen much all day) but got out of there ASAP due to mosquitos. 

In total: GPS says 14 miles, caltopo says 12.8. 7 people, one dog 7 hours TH to TH with day packs. Definitely recommend going on a day with some sun to get the views!

Made a nice clockwise loop along Trout Creek, Trout Lake, Jack Ridge and Jack Creek. Trail is in overall good condition with some downed trees. The trail can be easy to lose when navigating blow downs on the way up to the ridge from the lake, so just keep an eye out for where you are going. 

Blog version (disclaimers)

Quick-and-dirty version

Access: Eightmile Lake Trailhead
Round Trip: 16 miles
Elevation Range: 3280′-7800′
Gear: helmet, snowshoes, microspikes
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: no pets

Approach

1. Hike the Eightmile Lake Trail to reach the western end of the lake.
2. Navigate through the brush and old avalanche debris to go around Point 7793.
3. Continue uphill through the east basin of Jack Ridge to reach the summit.

Highlights

• Expansive view to Teanaway Backcountry and Icicle Ridge.
• Excellent views of the Stuart Range, Eightmile Mountain, and Cashmere Mountain
• Sunshine and solitude

Lowlights

• Massive down trees and brush in the valley past Eightmile Lake
• Not enough snow yet for a straightforward climb
• Windy summit ridge

Planned what was to be a great multi-night loop: start off at the Jack Trout Trailhead and take the Jack Creek Trail > Meadow Creek Trail > Snowall Cradle Lake Trail up to Cradle Lake to camp for the night, then in the morning, descend the Snowall Cradle Lake Trail > French Creek Trail > Klonaqua Lakes trail to camp again, then the next morning exit via the Klonaqua Lakes Trail > French Creek Trail > Meadow Creek Trail > Jack Creek Trail. Well...the mountains had other plans.

The four of us set off from the Jack Trout trailhead at 7:00am Friday July 3 and hiked the 4 or so miles of the Jack Creek Trail to the Jack Creek crossing, where (we thought) the Jack Creek and Meadow Creek trails meet, without incident. The Jack Creek trail is in great shape with an easy grade. We also crossed Jack Creek easily, the water being about calf-high or so. We continued on to what we thought was the Meadow Creek trail, which soon completely disappeared into nothing. We seemed to be on a trail of some sort, either decades old or a game trail, completely overgrown with thick bushes, many blowdowns, and new green growth that completely obscured the ground. We had both Gaia GPS and maps from Caltopo, and bushwhacked to where the trail was supposed to be, but still couldn't find it. We decided to go as far as the junction with the Snowall-Cradle Lake Trail and see if that was better, but we couldn't find that either. No signage or even the faintest hint of a trail where the junction showed on our maps. It was noon by this point and we decided to turn around and try to camp up over Jack Ridge at Trout Lake. We started up the Jack Ridge Trail at 2:30 and reached the top at 4:30, passing a pair of hikers who warned us of bad mosquitos at the lake. We figured it might be ok, but as soon as we gained the ridge we could see the lake was really more of a bog, and the bugs were getting much worse. We decided to turn around again, and descended back the way we came. We reached the junction of the Jack Creek and Jack Ridge Trails again at 6:30 and camped at a well-established horse camp.

The next morning, still wanting to salvage some of the original trip, we hiked out back to the Jack Trout trailhead in a little over an hour and drove to the end of Icicle Road to the Icicle Creek Trailhead. Starting at 8:45, we quickly covered the Icicle Creek and French Creek Trails without much incident, though a few spots on the French Creek Trail are overgrown—nothing like Meadow Creek, though. We reached the Klonaqua Lakes Trail at about 12:30 and hiked to Lower Klonaqua Lake to camp, passing a couple of small snow patches right before the lake. We had microspikes, but didn't need them. There were a couple of other parties already at the lake when we arrived around 1:30. We set up camp and finally had some time to relax and enjoy our surroundings. The lake and views of Granite Mountain are beautiful!

The hike out the next day was straightforward—we left camp at 8:15, stopping briefly at the junction of the Snowall-Cradle Lake Trail to check out the French Creek ford. It's about 3-4 feet high but not moving super fast. We reached our car at 1:30, happy we had at least gotten to visit one of the lakes we planned. What an adventure!

Now that I'm home and have done further research into the Meadow Creek Trail, I'm not even sure we were ever on it in the first place. I saw two trip reports stating the USFS trail maps put the trail about .5 mile north of where it actually is, and the junction of the Jack Creek and Meadow Creek Trails .6 miles south of where we crossed. Did we just completely miss it and cross the river way too early? Or is the Meadow Creek Trail completely unmaintained? Either way, it made for a frustrating day, but also a learning moment.