Just a little snow up to Perry Falls. After that, more snow than bare trail. Several blowdowns, especially above the falls. Perry Falls is difficult to cross at the usual location (the old rope is only tied on one end), but for a little while you can walk upstream and cross on snow.

This is one gorgeous trail! One book described it as following a creek, which it does. But I found this to be more of a gorge trail. After about a quarter mile into the trail the views of the surrounding peaks as well as Big Four are fantastic and continue up to the falls. And I passed countless waterfalls on both sides of the creek. Perry Creek Falls (at 2 miles) is pretty spectacular. In all, I did this roundtrip in just over two hours. On the drive up the forest road, bypass the unsigned turnoff and continue on the main road to the end. Although the road gets narrow near the trailhead, continue towards the dead end as there is space to turn around (as long as people obey the ""no parking"" signs). On the trail there are several snow fields and creeks to cross. Although easy and not necessarily dangerous, the last snowfield before the falls does run out into Perry Creek. But if you slip, take comfort in the fact that you'd have a long way to slide before reaching the creek. By the way, a guy I passed on the trail said there was constant snow beyond the falls up to Mount Forgotten.

On a beautiful September day, I headed up the Perry Creek trail to Mt. Forgotten Meadows with my 2-year-old, Ben, in the backpack carrier. There were only two cars at the trailhead at 11:30, so we found lots of solitude. The trail begins in forest, then leads gradually up along an old talus slope on the east side of the valley above Perry Creek. (This means you don't have to head uphill in direct sunlight). We ate lunch about a mile and a half in and listened to the pikas. Note: all of the stream crossings are dry by now until just below Perry Creek Falls. Just before reaching the falls (2 miles), the trail re-enters old growth. We peered over the falls for a few minutes, and headed on. A little way upstream, someone has thoughtfully placed a rope across the creek so you can cross a slippery log with a false sense of security. By the way, this is the best water source on the trail. Not much from here on up. The grunt work began after the crossing. Switchbacks head relentlessly uphill for at least a mile. The flies became more interested in us too, so we smeared on a gentle repellant. Ben didn't seem to mind the bugs. We both enjoyed the blue huckleberries. There are some fantastic club mosses (ground pines) here. After the switchbacks, the trail runs upward to the Mt. Forgotten meadows. There are grand views north to Glacier Peak and south to the Big Four here. Ben found the trail through the meadow navigable, and ate huckleberries while I took photos. Ben slept going back down the switchbacks, and lost his sun hat somewhere along the trail (no WAY was I heading up again to find it! I was not about to hike out in the dark with a toddler.) He had a grand time playing at the creek crossing, and chattered all the way back to the car. There are still some flowers blooming--I found columbine, harebells, red heather, thistle, goatsbeard, tiarella, and others. If you go, keep in mind the sun sets early this time of year. This valley remains lit until 7PM.

This is an Oregonian's perspective of a simple, little hike (what we expected) to Stillaguamish Peak via Perry Creek trail and the ridge over to the summit. The 2 miles up to the falls is a relatively gentle rocky open bit. Once the log bridge is crossed, you find things changing to the more soft ground tread and roots in a pleasant, shady forest. Unlike some of the miners' trails in the Monte Cristo area, this steeper stretch, though, does not require high steps and root grabbing. With us six scanning for the cutoff to the ridge leading to Stillaguamish Peak, it was not evident on the ascent or descent. Granted, they say it is an un-maintained trail. But nothing stuck out, such as blazes, flags, or tread, to suggest the way. We checked the western-most switchback at 4,200' and also at the 4,300' level as other posters have suggested through the years. Attaining the ridge trail just below the meadows at 4,800' certainly works, but we would have preferred the steeper shortcut and close to a mile of less hiking. The ridge is straightforward, with the combination of the side slope and the damp, grassy vegetation requiring step vigilance most of the way. Once passing a knob on our clear, cool day, we could see the route to the summit block. The open, alpine look and surrounding scenery was awesome for the next mile. At the summit block U-notch we referred to the instructions provided by other posters, but did not proceed far enough left once past the notch. The ball-bearing, gravelly exposed slope we took directly to the summit was intersected by a distinct path on the left about 20' short of the summit. You can bet we followed that heatherly trail all the way down to the ramp to the notch with much less concern than what we faced ascending. The summit is quite large. Could hold 40 people easily, heaven forbid! On this Saturday we were the only climbing party. 150' below the notch on the return, a tarn beckoned one for a swim. It was deeper and colder than expected. As we experienced when climbing Forgotten years earlier, the last 2 miles out seemed to last forever. We would second the others' reports about the excellent condition of the Perry Creek trail from the maintenance viewpoint. And it was definitely worth it to drive 500 miles and through the omnipresent Tacoma/Seattle traffic gauntlet. Parking space is limited; you would be forced to walk a few blocks to the TH if 20 cars preceded you there.

The Perry creek trail up to the meadows is in good shape. There is snow in the meadow but the sun was hard at work and there are some dry snowfree patches. My goal for today was Mount Forgotten so after a brief respite in the meadow I shouldered my gear and headed out. There were others in the meadow contemplating the same, but I saw no one else leave the meadow in that direction. The trail drops abruptly and then disappears in some overhanging brush. It gives you the impression that it is going to continue to descend. I think this discourages many from going this way. Beckey says that this is only a 30ft drop. I'd say it is closer to 100ft. On the way out it seemed to have grown to more than a 1000ft. The trail is a climbers track from here and often just seems to disappear. Look carefully and you will find it again. I didn't encounter the snow again until I came around to the NE side. I was greeted by a small steep icy patch that I chose to climb around on its high side. This brought me to what Beckey describes as a scree gully. It is a steep icy snow chute still this year. I was glad I had my iceaxe. I began to kick steps as best I could in the hard surface. I began to question this approach as I considered the impending descent. I moved off the snow and climbed the rock and heather right at the melt boundary. I followed this same path coming down. Once above the snow chute the final approach to the summit is just a steep walk. I was quite glad to have finally reached the summit. I sat for a bit and took some pictures as the clouds began moving in. The summit register is missing. There were a few scraps of paper in the pipe and if they represent everyone thats been up here, its a pretty lonely summit. I think I counted eleven other people this year. I wrote an entry in a small spiral notebook that I had with me and donated it for use as the new summit register. It was now 5:30 and I decided I'd best head out if I wanted to be out before dark. Got back to the trailhead at 8pm. All in all it was a good day. I found a camera on my way back down the Perry Creek trail. If you can ID the make and model I'll do what I can to get it back to you.