Cady Creek Trail: Those expecting standard trail conditions will find this route to the PCT exceptionally brushy and in many instances difficult to follow. Shoulder-high brush is continuous and often includes devil's club and thistle, which can be uncomfortable to physically navigate through. A good trail map is important to stay on track here, as there are several areas where the true route ebbs out or is challenging to see beneath the brush. The high brush additionally makes it difficult to see where to safely step over rocks and limbs and creates tripping hazards underfoot.

Cady Ridge Trail: This trail has the best conditions of the three at the Little Wenatchee Ford Trailhead to access the PCT. Brush level is not exceptionally notable, and 3-5 downed trees can be expected but can be crossed without issue.

Little Wenatchee Trail: 3 areas of large downed trees can be expected on this route, but there are reroutes around the blowdowns that are passable by both stock users and hikers. A moderate amount of brush can be expected (it can be high in sections) but overall the trail is in passable shape as an approach to meander meadows or the PCT.

The PCT between Cady Creek Junction and White Pass is in good shape, with very few downed logs. Keep in mind that water access will continue to dwindle from seasonal streams as we approach late summer, so fill up accordingly at larger stream crossings. Be mindful of camping only on disturbed surfaces and not on live vegetation in the alpine. Seasonal berries (huckleberry, blueberry and salmonberry) are all in full swing along the trail!

Two night loop clockwise. Up Cady Ridge trail to camp at Lake Sally Ann night 1 - PCT over Dishpan Gap to Meander Meadow to camp night 2 - down and out via Little Wenatchee River trail. Other trail reports detail the highs and lows of this route, so just to add my take/some color.

Flora: There are some really gorgeous grassy meadows and neat sedges along Cady Ridge, and the low bush huckleberries are prime. Meander Meadow is spectacular. Again the grasses/sedges are delightful and look like lavender mist over the meadow as you descend, and along the trail and in the meadow tons of Cascade aster, bistort, fireweed, arnica, corn lily, paintbrush (red and whitish/light yellow), purple monkey flower, monk's hood, thistle, cow parsnip, small bluebells, lousewort, pearly everlasting, heather, elephant's head, spirea, bog gentian, goat's beard etc. etc. etc. And yes both devil's club and stinging nettle along Little Wenatchee trail.

Fauna: Saw a deer (buck?) grazing below Sally Ann at dusk. Lots of marmots everywhere, including the two cutest little marmots playing/chasing each other, hiding, and chirping to each other in Meander Meadow. Heard pikas, saw none. Fish in the Meader Meadow streams - my husband really hopes they are bull trout  A big old toad down Little Wenatchee trail and a garter snake sunning itself, too. Grouse being grouse. Bugs bad at times, buzzing and biting, but not too too terrible.

 Toilet talk: Contrary to the WTA description, there is a toilet at the Wenatchee Ford trailhead and it was clean and stocked. Toilet at Sally Ann is barely serviceable and be forewarned, in full view of at least two campsites and the trail. Toilet at Meander Meadow is fine... but why didn't they face it towards the view??? 

Other: There's a detour on the road to the trail head, just follow the signs, but it does seem to add a bit of time/mileage and feels like you're going the wrong way at times. Maybe 7 cars at the trailhead around 11 am on a Friday. There were probably a dozen tents at Sally Ann on Friday night, but it didn't feel crowded and good privacy between most sites. Mix of thru, section, and weekend hikers it seemed. There was only one other group at Meander Meadow on Saturday night. Traffic as you'd expect on the PCT on a beautiful Saturday in August, but on Cady Ridge and Little Wenatchee trails we only met one or two other groups. 

The views along this route are excellent. Once you get up on Cady Ridge and basically for the rest of the trip (until you're down on the Little Wenatchee trail) there's one after another after another. When you're grinding up Cady Ridge know that you will be rewarded. Glacier is stunning, as are all the other peaks in all directions. Meander Meadow is enchanting. Other reports detail the brushy-ness of Little Wenatchee and they're right. It's really brushy. I guess a redeeming factor was it was hot and my dew-soaked pants provided a little bit of natural AC. I am glad we did this trip clockwise, as the Cady Ridge trail was more interesting to me, and again a reward for the uphill slog endured for the first few miles. Also seems like the Cady Ridge downhill would be a little rougher on the knees than Little Wenatchee.

WTA Little Wenatchee River (#1525) is a 7 mile hike that starts at the end of the 6500 road.   This route travels along the valley floor of the Little Wenatchee River for several miles before switchbacking up 1500 feet through intermittent slide alder and mature forest to Meander Meadows.  This route description needs to be corrected.

Little Wenatchee Gorge is a 3(RT) mile hike starts at the Lake Creek Campground, with modest elevation gain.  The trail is a bit overgrown with several blowdowns to negotiate, rocky with a few roots  and brushy sections.  Much of the time you are walking high above a beautiful river gorge, but occasionally the trail is at creek level and you could cool off your feet in the icy water if so inclined.

In a moment of absentmindedness, I left the cargo cover for my Subaru Forester at the trailhead parking lot. If anyone happens to find it and is headed back to Seattle, I’d be really grateful if you could bring it along. Feel free to text me at 206-659-2329

Someone mentioned on another review as such "it was the best of trails, it was the worst of trails" and that could not be more true of this anti-clockwise loop (LWF - Meander Meadow - Kodak Peak - Cady Ridge - return to LWF). 

The road to Little Wenatchee Ford Trailhead is quite a journey, thanks in part to an unexpected detour in the late hours on Friday, July 5.  The way was rough at times, but passable by most vehicles with extreme care toward the end of the road.  I was thankful for my higher clearance vehicle, and still managed to bang up the undercarriage at one point.  Upon arrival, we became at least the 7th or 8th vehicle in the lot, and still there was space for a few more.  Pit toilet was out of service, sadly.  We car camped here for the night.

We set off on the Little Wenatchee Trail on Saturday morning, loaded up for an overnight at Lake Sally Ann.  This trail was a DOOZY.  Overgrown is an understatement.  We are familiar with most regions around here and have sampled them all, with this one exception.  With that said, our primary error was assuming wearing shorts would be a good idea.  Dear Reader, it was not.  The overgrowth was consuming my 5' 7" at many points.  The stinging nettle and devil's club were two plants that I could have done without encountering with bare legs.  The bugs were relentless, though Bullfrog with SPF 50 did a decent job of deterring them.  Everytime we neared a stand of evergreens, I was thrilled at the prospect of reprieve from the overgrowth.  We were grateful when the elevation started climbing and we lost the bulk of the prickly/stingy plants, but you can look forward to about 5-6 miles of this nonsense.  There are blowdowns to negotiate and you should keep your eyes down to ensure you are not about to trip an fall face-first into nettles, as the trail is obscured quite often.  Upon reaching the meadows, we decided to eat breakfast, filter water, and have some coffee before carrying on.  Water source in the meadow is wonderful and flowing nicely at this time.  The meadow is gorgeous and the bugs were ridiculous of course.  

From here, we moved upward toward the PCT, with our next objective in sight - Kodak Peak.  Be sure to look back and admire the views of the river valley as you gradually climb.  The wildflowers are overwhelming and it is simply stunning up there.  Once we reached the junction, we turned South on the PCT and walked until the saddle, where Glacier Peak suddenly comes into full view.  Another stunner here!  There are a few campsites around to the east and west.  We dropped our packs and took the left hand trail toward Kodak Peak.  

The trail to the summit is generally a walk-up.  There are a few confusing offshoot trails, but they all eventually tie back together.  This was like a staircase to heaven with flowers and views.  Once at the summit, there is a nice flat spot for someone who plans ahead and brings their water for the evening to camp.  Even though the winds were consistent, we were mauled by mosquitoes.  These guys were out for blood and nothing was going to deter them.  We made it brief and moved on quickly.  That was the worst of the bugs for sure.  

We now only had to load our packs on our backs and backtrack North on the PCT to Lake Sally Ann, which was our camp for the night.  This has some ups and downs and is cruisy PCT sailing as one would expect.  There were few snowfields, lots of water/mud, and views.  Upon reaching Dishpan Gap, the trail moves to the west side of the mountain and there were several snow crossings that required a bit more care and trekking poles.  From Ward's Pass, the trail drops quite a bit in elevation and there were a few East/Northeast-facing snow-covered rocky areas to negotiate.  All were definitely crossable, but might become a bit dicey as the snow melts.  I found myself just moving as quickly and lightly as I could to hopefully avoid punching through.  After the junction with Cady Ridge Trail, you are in the home stretch to the lake.  The lake was mostly melted out, but lots of surrounding snow, which reduced the campsite options by quite a bit.  There were two others at the lake when we arrived and at least 6 more were added before the night was done.  The lake is beautiful and there are rainbow trout milling about in the clear water.  The soundtrack was provided by the waterfall, pikas sounding alarms, and many lovely birds: Varied Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, and what I presume are Violet-green swallows.  If anyone has any knowledge of the swallows in this area, I would love to know more.  These birds were so fun to watch in the morning.  They were skimming the water together in increasing numbers and flying in formation.  It was such a wonderful way to eat breakfast in the morning.  

After breaking camp, onward we hiked, back to the trailhead via the Cady Ridge Trail.  After the quick jaunt back to the South on the PCT, we turned right onto our next trail.  This section was absolutely stunning.  Glacier Peak is ever-present and now you start to simultaneously have all the Central Cascade heavy-hitters in view - even everyone's favorite volcano (my second favorite), Rainier.  This place must be a riot of color in the autumn and I would love to come back and take it all in!  The hiking is lovely, the views are breathtaking, and the geology is mesmerizing.  Open ridge hiking is something I could get used to.  A bit of in-n-out of the trees, wide open views, some interesting blowdowns, and suddenly you are headed essentially straight down the drainage.  My knees were quite relieved when we dropped down to about 3700 ft and we had some proper switchbacks.  A few more brushes with the overgrown river flora and we arrived back to the junction with the Little Wenatchee Ford trail.  Keep in mind that there is no reliable water between the PCT junction and the Little Wenatchee.  There were a few small trickles, but it's very swampy and earthy.  We will be back, but not via the Little Wenatchee Trail - haha!