We knew we weren't going to make it to the top, but we wanted to go high enough to see some views--and we did that. We took the first bus of the day up-valley and arrived at High Bridge trailhead at 9:00. The hike was great and consistent with the description in the trail report. We hiked up five miles (about 4000 feet elevation gain), had lunch and then headed down. We were just short of where Howard Creek crosses the trail. In hindsight, we should have tried to go a little faster and farther and had that as our turnaround point. In any event, we made it back to High Bridge by 5:15 in plenty of time to catch the 6:15 bus back down the valley. We talked to one young PCT hiker who was taking the bus to the civilization of the Stehkin Landing. He had a very small pack and said he sometimes covered 40 miles in one day! We also talked to Ranger Stan who lives in the cool historic house at High Bridge. He was very nice and a great source of information. 

We had a few days of meandering around the Stehekin River (hanging out at Bridge Creek Camp, hiking Goode Ridge, etc.) and had an opportunity to finally take a crack at McGregor. We lugged our packs all the way up to Heaton Camp, which is a lovely and lonely spot perched in a high basin among some larches. It's hard work to get there, but I'm glad we did it. 

Just as we were settling into camp, a half-human half-gazelle creature came bounding past camp. A few minutes later he descended at an even faster pace, having presumably turned around above us at trail's end. I don't know who this trail runner was, but I think he was the only person we encountered. 

After we settled into camp and ate lunch, we decided to try for an afternoon summit, so we hoofed it up the remaining 0.3 miles of trail to it's end at a talus field. The talus was mildly annoying, but nothing overly treacherous. Starting about halfway up the talus you can *clearly* see the painted arrows that mark the route. These are now safety orange (with occasional faded red visible below) and appear to have been quite recently repainted. They are plentiful and fairly obvious, so if you're not seeing arrows, you are not on route. 

The route itself was a bit more intense than I had expected. I would call it a solid Class 3 with maybe even a couple spots verging into Class 4. There is significant exposure, especially in the first couple hundred feet above the talus field, so it's probably not a good choice for those afraid of heights or who do not feel confident navigating narrow ledges with occasional patches of loose rock. That said, if you are experienced with scrambling or rock climbing, it's all quite straightforward. 

The route wanders around a fair bit and it would be challenging to follow without the painting arrows. Note that the correct route goes to a notch that is climber's *left* of the block that sits left/north of the summit. This route is correctly shown on the NPS website and other trip reports (but it is incorrectly labelled on a 2018 trip report by MartinTravles.) Once through the notch, you come out on the eastern side of McGregor right above the Sandalee Glacier. From there it's another 100-150 feet vertical of easy uphill walking to the true summit. We crossed one minor snow patch, but everything else was melted. There are no technical difficulties after the notch. The views from the summit are nothing short of epic -- 360 degrees of mountains and rivers without end, as Gary Snyder might have said. 

We carefully made our way back down to the talus, building one cairn where the descent route isn't as clear, for lounging at camp and dinner in the solitude of alpine country. The next morning was cool and breezy, but we enjoyed our descent among the marmots and pikas and two black bears that we spotted in the first mile or so below camp. 

Started out my day from the high bridge trailhead. The trail up to Heaton camp was pretty easy to follow, a little overgrown in spots, but nothing too difficult. Once I made it up to the Heaton camp there was a snowfield I had to cross in order to scramble up but it was easily passable with just microspikes.  I wore a climbing helmet on the scramble up as there are a lot of loose rocks. Made it to the ridge and was just 0.3 miles from the summit of McGregor but there was a little too much snow for my skill set so I decided to forgo the final push to the summit. Photos attached of what it looks like.  With the weather being warm the rest of this week I suspect it will melt enough to do the route with no snow by next week.

The Red Bus run by the park service is not running. The Stehekin Valley Ranch is running shuttles up the valley from the lodge at 10$ one way. They will stop at whatever THs you want and let you off. Be sure and check the return schedule. I caught the shuttle to High Bridge in the morning. The hike: This is part of the PCT going northbound and it was fun to talk to the thru hikers that had gone into town for supplies. The trail  turns off the PCT by the lake, I followed the trail marked McGregor Mtn. Howard Lake is pretty marshy, but I saw a few rocks above the lake that would make a nice spot for lunch. I continued on to McGregor Mtn, but let me be clear, I had no intention of hiking all the way up, all 6 miles and 6200' elevation gain. Not this old gal. I did want to get above the lake for some views and a few more hikeathon miles. I don't know how much this trail is hiked, it was pretty brushy and overgrown, but still easy to follow. It contours around the north side of the lake and then starts switchbacking up. As with all steep mtn trails, the views got better as I climbed. In about a mile, there is a nice side trail to a waterfall view and some great views overlooking the lake and the mtns southwest. I continued up for maybe a mile until I found a spot to catch a view of mtns off to the north. I then turned around and went back to the waterfall for lunch. I was the only one on that trail and I was solo so it was a bit unnerving, since I don't often hike by myself. I wasn't worried about bears, more about cougars, lots of cat sunning rocks all around. I sang, badly. 100 bottles of beer on the wall...  All in all the GPS watch read 6 miles, so nice little hike. Also be aware that on many maps this will be labeled Coon Lake and Coon Creek, the name recently changed to be more respectful of the original homesteader. 

Blog version (disclaimers)

Quick-and-dirty version

Access: Stehekin, Washington
Round Trip: 17.5 miles
Elevation Range: 1600′-8122′
Gear: helmet, crampons, ice ax

Approach

1. Take Lake of the Lake II ferry from Fields Point Landing to Stehekin, WA.
2. Ride the Red Bus from Stehekin dock to High Bridge.
3. From High Bridge, take the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) through Howard Lake (formerly Coon Lake) to McGregor Mountain Trail.
4. Climb the switchbacking trail for 5.5 miles to reach the base of the mountain at 7200'.
5. Follow red painted arrows and cairns through the access gully.
6. From the west ridge, continue to follow markings and arrive at the summit with a radio tower.

Highlights

• Lady of the Lake II ferry and Red Bus
• Seeing Mountaineers friends on the ferry
• A scenic ferry ride to Stehekin on Lake Chelan
• Views to the south on the descent

Lowlights

• Short trip
• Stubborn clouds; no views in the final 1000'