Milk Creek #790 — Mar. 5, 2001

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

George Winters

The drive up the Suiattle Road (FS 26) is clear of obstructions and free of snow. Parking is at the end of the road. Follow the Suiattle trail (#784) for about 0.8 miles. Milk creek trail starts here. The trail is in very good shape, mostly dry until coming to snow. There was one log across the trail just past Rivord Creek (mp 0.2). Rivord Creek was running very low at this time. Sometimes during the spring Rivord creek is a definite wet boot crossing. At about 1 mile on the trail, there are lots and lots of small rocks covering the trail, I wonder if the quake added some rock fall to this area. It is easily hiked but might not be good for horses. Snow starts on the trail as you enter the Milk Creek valley proper, at abotu 2300 ft and 1.5 miles on the trail. It is about a food deep in this area.

Milk Creek #790 — Jul. 23, 2000

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Botany&Birds

Beware of: trail conditions

First 3 miles of the trail was well maintained and fairly easy walking. About .75 miles from the trailhead we had to ford a creek or cross on a nearby tree. The tree looks small and scary, but was easer than crossing the slippery rocks as one member of our party discovered. At about 2.5 miles we entered a nice section of old growth forest and the lower end of the upper milk creek drainage. We camped at the Creek about 3.3 miles in. The bridge had a sign saying it was under repair. Another good camp was available just .25 miles up the trail. We hit a short overgrown stretch of trail right before the camp that was wet, muddy, and buggy. The upper part of the drainage from 3.75 miles until about 5.5 miles was heavily overgrown. In a steady drizzle this was miserable hiking. Saw alot of bear sign, but no bears. At the Junction with the PCT we headed south toward Mica Lake 9 miles in. The snow level was solid at 5,000 feet and the lake was 3/4 frozen. The looks like snow will be on the trail well into August this year. We camped just off the trail at the snow line in a tiny spot, defenitely not a camp. Althrough our trip was wet and the views fogged in, I would recommend this hike in late August after it dries out and the vegitation is beaten down.

Milk Creek #790 — Jul. 2, 2000

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Tab

The intention was to get a good leg stretch by going up the Milk Creek Trail, around the north side of Glacier, then down and out from the upper Suiattle. The reality was that there was a blizzard going on in this vicinity on Monday... Jeez!... The lower section of the Milk Creek trail is clear, a blowdown or two on the upper section...the switchbacks up to the ridge are mostly snowfree...then you get to the top, and there is 100% snow cover at the top of that ridge...( I don't know what to call it...Vista Rigde' Dolly Creek Ridge'). Anyway, there were huge flakes falling, looked like about 2 inches accumulation by noon...So I abandoned the big plan and turned around and headed it out. I have never been so soddenly soggy sopping wet in all my life. It poured rain as though a monumental cow were dropping waters upon a flat rock that I was perched upon. Jeez!

Milk Creek, Flower Dome, Buck Creek Pass, Chiwawa River, White River, Napeequa River, High Pass, Little Giant Pass, Suiattle River Trail, Glacier Peak Circumnavigation — Sep. 18, 1999

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Historic Trip Reports

200

Beware of: road, snow & trail conditions

Loop Around Glacier Peak: Sept. 9 - Sept. 19 A long trip with glorious weather. The route alternatively yo-yos from 1800'-4200' valley bottoms to 5600'-6500' ridges. Every day offered bright sunny cloudless days. With the exception of the short days, you'd swear it was mid-August, temps in the 70s & 80s, with lots & lots of bugs! Deet was an absolute must and we still lost a lot of blood to the hordes of black flies. Killerly sweet alpine glory gardens - highly recommended!!!: Buck Cr. Pass, High Pass, Flower Dome, Boulder Pass (west side), PCT from White R. junction to upper White Chuck basin, Fire Cr. Pass (north side) Overrated or not worth it: Napeequa Valley, L. Giant Pass (see below) Terrific trails: Suiattle R., Buck Cr. #789 (once reaching the meadows), Buck Cr. #1513, Flower Dome, High Pass, Boulder Pass, almost all of the PCT, Milk Cr. Trails to avoid, if possible: Little Giant Trail, White River Trail. These trails are in terrible condition! Little Giant starts out OK for the 1st 1.5 mi. or so, with nice sweeping, albeit steep switchbacks, where it then turns straight up a brutally steep incised ridge, drops down to cross L. Giant Cr., then resumes its disconcertingly steep trek straight up an exposed gneiss ridge to ~1/3 mi. below the pass, where it swichbacks to the pass. The ""100 hikes"" book states that the L. Giant trail is ""nicely engineered"". WHAT'!'! Dude, it doesn't take much engineering ability to connect 2 points with a straight line. After reaching L. Giant Pass, the hell march continues. The ""trail"" down into the Napeequa Valley is ~90% gone - swallowed up by dense thickets of slide alder and brush. In most places the only way to find the route by locating some bent over brush or small gaps in the alder thickets. In some places the trail simply dissapears. Additionally, there are billions and billions of voracious biting black flies in the Napeequa, the worst I've encountered in Washington. Avoid L. Giant if you can!!! Use the (non F.S.) pack trail through High Pass to the Napeequa instead if it's possible. The White R. Trail, even though it's marked as maintained on the Green trails map, hasn't been for many years. In the meadows the trail is ~70% gone and features head-high thickets of alder, salmonberry, and thistles. In the forested sections, there were 40-50 large blowdowns, many of which required significant detours. It was pretty much a bushwack. After hacking our way through White R., we both looked like we lost a fight with a herd of cats. Some safety notes: Fire Creek Pass still has patches of very steep hard packed snow - an ice axe is highly recommended! Mica Lake is still 90% frozen! The Kennedy Cr. bridge is gone, there was an iffy footlog available at the time for crossing, but it wasn't very stable. If that log is gone, then it's a waist-deep ford in a very swift current. Overall the trip was an awesome adventure, but IMHO I would avoid the aforementioned trails until some maintenance is done. Happy trails!

Box Mtn Lakes,Milk Creek #790 — Aug. 21, 1999

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

McKinley

17 people found this report helpful

Box Mountain Lakes on Lime Ridge via Suiattle River Road and Milk Creek trail. A couple of years ago, while hiking along Lost Creek Ridge (just above Camp Lake) I first caught sight of a spectacular ridge appearing to radiate from Glacier Peak, which turned out to be Lime Ridge - which I right then and there entered in my 'places to visit' note book. I made my first brief exploration last Sunday via the Suiattle River Road and Milk Creek trail and climbed approx 3400' in 2 miles to Box Mtn. Lake on the shoulder of Lime Ridge. The trail up to Box Mtn. Lakes from the Milk Creek Trail is NOT on any map I could find (neither Green Trails or USGS) but it is mentioned in 'Routes & Rocks' (out of print) and also in Becky's alpine guide (very small paragraph). Though it is unmarked, if you know exactly where to look, the 'trail head' is possible to find (just short of the first stream you meet on the Milk Creek trail after the Suiattle River bridge). If it weren't for the blow downs the trail would be easy to follow since it appears to be quite heavily used. Leaving the Milk Creek trail (approx. 1,700' altitude) the 'trail' climbs 3000 feet in the first 1.2 miles before (more or less) leveling out at about one-half mile of Box Mtn Lake (alt 5060'). This makes for an unremitting workout all the way from the Milk Creek Trail to the ridge top with no switchbacks to relieve the strain. Kind of like climbing a very poorly constructed 3000 foot (crumbling) staircase with an occasional maze thrown in to keep you on your toes. The 'mazes' are the 'group blowdowns'. The trail has 're-routed itself' around the older blowdowns but last winter's blowdowns are too new to have been accommodated. In three or four places whole stands of trees seem to have fallen across the trail and completely obliterated any trace of it. You must fight your way under, over, around and through jungles to relocate the trail. I did not have too much trouble with blowdowns on the trip up, but coming down was more difficult. Gravity and fatigue seemed to conspire against me and I lost the trail for about 30 minutes after fighting my way through an especially large 'group blowdown' The route is deeply wooded all the way up to the shoulder of the ridge and only near the top are you finally rewarded with a fine view of Dome Peak with the glaciers hanging from its southwest face. But there is no view of Glacier Peak. Higher points further along Lime Ridge itself obscure all views in the direction of Glacier Peak. Woods give way to meadows only when you reach the top of the ridge about half a mile from Box Mtn Lake. Given the difficulty of the climb up to the ridge top and the amount of territory and number of lakes there are to explore once there, it makes no sense to make the trip to Box Mtn Lakes unless you plan to stay for several days and explore. Only a few snow patches at top but plenty of bugs.