It's been 6 years since the last report was filed for The South Fork Silver Creek Trail and I can understand why; I doubt many hikers have ventured up here in recent years as the upper end of the trail is nearly impassable. I estimate about 400 trees down across the tread beyond where a WTA BCRT worked earlier in the year. It is particularly bad above 4600' upon entering a burn. Some sections are completely swallowed up by chest-high thimbleberry and grown over with alder. I cursed, sweated and nearly turned back but pushed on because I thought it would get better. Some sections are still pristine and lured me into believing that I'd seen the worst of it, but again, overgrowth and blowdown was the norm. 

I finally made it to the top of the ridge near Gunsight Pass and took a left at an unsigned junction with designs of hiking over to Linton Mountain. Much to my surprise this unofficial or abandoned trail was easy to follow. I continued to the ridge out to Linton after passing a hunter's camp and found that the old trail continued that way. This was a good sign as I had nearly been at wits' end on the "maintained trail." 

I lost the old trail about 1/4 mile from Linton and bushwhacked the rest of the way which was not bad compared to what I had seen earlier. 

After resting up and recharging on the summit, I vowed to not return via my ascent route and opted instead to walk the ridge over to the North Fork Silver Ck Trail for a loop. I knew this trail would be well maintained since it is part of the PNT and it was indeed. There are just a few blowdowns to report. 

The 3ish mile connecting ridge walk was splendid and I followed an intermittent old trail that always showed up when I needed it. I crossed over Peak 6631 and could see the rest of the route dipped into some forested areas before joining the trail below Abercrombie. I kept bear spray close and clacked my poles at intervals but ursus never showed. 

After reaching the trail, I made quick work of the 7 or so miles back down to the trailhead on many switchbacks to complete the loop. 

The South Fork Silver Ck Trail is in dire need of some serious attention. A good creek at the 5700' level makes this a viable scenic loop option from this trailhead but with the trail in its current state, I wouldn't recommend it.

21.8 miles and 5455' gain 

Update: A crew from the PNTA came through in early Oct and logged out an estimated 500 trees from The South Fork Trail and made it to within 1.2 miles from the top. Thank you, PNTA!

We had a great hike to Abercrombie; met some great WTA volunteers in the camping area who were spending the weekend doing trail maintenance. The trail was in great shape (thank you volunteers)! The forest service roads up were in good shape (we were in a 5 window school bus and have met some not-so-great forest service roads) and easy to travel. We stayed at campsite 5 and wished we could have stayed for much longer! No bugs to speak of except for a few horse(deer?moose?) flies here and there. Clear and hot day with a good view of surrounding mountains from the top.

It is not impossible to navigate however extremely difficult I encountered more than 70 logs down in the trail that you need to either crawl over or under with many more that are soon to fall extremely hazardous situation. Trail will definitely need many hands including the backcountry Horsemen to help clear the path. From the silver creek campground the trail is clear just about up until the 3 mile mark after that the cussing begins. If you plan on mountain biking down from the Abercrombie trail head do not attempt! Webo PNT hikers best to take the upper trail head out and road walk down to the campground

This is an option of hike number 9 in 100 hikes. I planned either a long day hike or overnight...depending on pace and water availability. I started early up the south fork of Silver Creek trail 123. It’s 7.3 miles up to Gunsight pass, but if you’re planning this loop, you cut off up the ridge at about 7. The south fork trail is pretty good condition but there are about 12-15 trees across the trail on the last 2-3 miles - the lower section has been cleared. No major blocks, they just require a little climbing and squeezing through. 

The off trail portion of this loop connects the south fork trail with the Abercrombie Mountain trail 117. It requires off-trail hiking along the ridge to the north. There are some faint old trails and game trails and plenty of open country to make your way approximately 4 miles to the Mountain trail. It’s pretty easy off trail travel - I wore shorts and trail runners and my shins aren’t too banged up. Once you reach the Abercrombie trail 117, you can head up top. The trail up is in good shape - little rocky but the whole hill is rocky, so... Once on top, I looked to see if any snow was hanging on for water refill (south fork trail had water all the way up, multiple crossings still flowing, but once your on the ridge there is no water). There are a couple small drifts lingering - maybe two weeks worth, maybe less. I dropped back down the trail and headed north on trail 502 and stopped and melted some snow to refill. This was the only place where snow was actually still covering trail tread. After refilling, I continued north, left the trail, and headed for Hooknose mountain. This scramble is easy for about a mile, then it drops steeply down to a saddle before slowly making elevation back up to Hooknose. Peek over the edge to Hooknose lake...and wish you could scale the sheer rock to take a dip. 

I thought about camping on the ridge on the way back to Abercrombie - there are multiple spots - but it was still early, so I decided to make it a day hike. I headed back down Abercrombie trail to the north fork Silver Creek trail  119 and made my way down the looooong 5.9 mile (?) descent to the trailhead. The north fork trail is completely cleared out and in great shape. There are only two water spots on this entire drop, so, plan accordingly. Or just look forward to the cold can of LaCroix you stashed by your rig at the parking lot. The Silver Creek trailhead is actually a small campground with toilet. 

There was not a single other person on any of the trails I hiked. I estimate the total loop to be somewhere around 22 miles and probably 5000’+ total gain (there are a lot of ups and downs on the off trail sections). Mosquitos were pretty bad at the bottom, especially the trailhead, and face diving gnats/flies and horse flies were hanging out on the ridge - keep in the breeze to blow the little pests away when possible. Not a lot of flower action - after last years epic bear grass show, there were only about 6 total blooming this year! A few Indian paint brushes, a neat, dark green leaved bush with white flowers, some buckwheat, and a couple Columbian lilies hanging on. Not much wildlife except quite a few grouse, which were more than willing to blast out of the bushes and get your heart pumping even faster. 

Beautiful views all around and a very beautiful, warm day. 

Our group from the Spokane Mountaineers hiked Abercrombie from the North Fork Silver Creek trailhead.  This is the longer route to the summit (our gps units weren't in total agreement, but probably in the neighborhood of 16-17 miles RT & 4600-4800' elevation gain).  The trail is perfect grade until the final approach to the summit.  Silver Creek has much better views than the shorter access trail, so I think the extra distance is worth the effort, especially in the fall.  The trail passes through an aspen grove, which is currently at peak color.  The larch are still a few days away from peak color, so plan a hike there soon!  We had about 6" of snow on the summit, but the TH and first 4-5 miles of trail is snow-free.