My friend and I had some time before meeting her ride home after camping and hiking to Gypsy Peak so we stopped for a leg stretch. Great trail that follows the lake. We quickly reached the burn area from last summer and it’s amazing how quickly the forest recovers. This is a great up and down trail for everyone. 

Sullivan Lake trail was closed because of the fire.

Right now, they are repairing the bridge, so the road to the southern trailhead is closed about a mile south of the trailhead.

When you get to the southern trailhead, the closure signs are still present hence the "trail conditions" I list, and some large trees have fallen in the area.

I came in from the north, parked, and kayaked the length of the lake to the south shore and stopped for lunch by the south shore. Then I returned. I honestly did not see any evidence of burned forest near the lake and think the closure should be lifted if it hasn't been.

I first hiked a variation on this loop about ten years ago and thought it was about time to return.  Last time I made Gypsy Meadows my start & end point, but this time I decided to make the drive even easier by using lower trailheads.  We went in via the Halliday Trail, accessible less than 1 mile off the pavement on Highway 31, and we finished at the north end of Sullivan Lake, adjacent to a developed campground and therefore on the pavement.  We had a shuttle car, so we were able to skip the road-walk section.  If you don't have a shuttle car, use Red Bluff instead of Halliday and add about 1.5 miles on the road at the end (Sullivan Campground to the Red Bluff TH on the Sullivan Lake Road), and it's basically the same loop.

We started Saturday morning, hiking in on the Halliday Trail.  I have never hiked the entirety of this trail before, so this part was new to me.  The bugs were pretty fierce here, as the trail crosses the Halliday Fen where there's a lot of standing water.  Aside from the mosquitoes, the trail was delightful: pretty forest, several good viewpoints, and a moderate climb.

We met the PNTA crew working on the North Fork Sullivan Creek re-route around the former bridge site, and they have the new trail segment entirely roughed in at this point.  The trail beyond the re-route hasn't been maintained during the trail closure, so once we crossed into the Salmo Priest Wilderness (about 1 mile past the re-route) and started the big climb up to Crowell Ridge, we were frequently having to climb over and under downed trees.  We filled up on water at the last stream before gaining Crowell Ridge, then camped at the dry campsite at the North Fork/Crowell Ridge intersection on Saturday night.  This allowed for exploration of the old Crowell Ridge fire lookout & provided excellent sunset/sunrise views.  This was a tough day with nearly 5,000' elevation gain.

On Sunday we continued out Crowell Ridge to Bear Pasture, stopping a few times to enjoy the views and make a few snow angels.  We were trying to pick out Canadian National Parks across the border (we think we saw three), looking at Gypsy Peak in the foreground, and then looking across to our night's destination on the Shedroof Divide.  The Idaho Selkirks were visible on the horizon.  

Once at Bear Pasture, we descended via Leola Creek.  It's a former trail and roadbed, now choked with alder.  There's no good hiker access down, so we battled our way through.  This is definitely not a beginner-friendly route.

At the bottom, we hiked up the Shedroof Cut-off trail to intersect the Shedroof Divide, and then had to hike longer than we would have liked to get to a decent campsite for the night.  The campsites are few and far between on this route, so this ended up being a theme for our group.  It would be easier with a smaller group, but we needed room for five.

On Monday morning I was awoken far too early by a bear checking me out as I slept!  The others were in tents, but I was sleeping on the ground and must have looked very interesting to the passing bear.  It promptly ran away when I woke up, thank goodness!  Just a curious bear, and my food was several hundred feet away & safely up a tree, so it all turned out well.

We hiked out the Shedroof Divide to Pass Creek Pass, then crossed the road to continue toward Grassy Top.  We turned off on the Hall/Grassy Divide and were hoping for a campsite with water near a stream indicated on the USGS map.  We found neither, and ended up hiking all the way to Noisy Creek before we found a place with room for five backpackers.  This made for a very long day on Monday!

Tuesday was easy: finish out Noisy Creek, then hike the Sullivan Lakeshore trail to our waiting shuttle car.  We were keeping a close eye on the time since we knew Cathy's Cafe in Metaline Falls would be closing at 2pm, and we made it with plenty of time to spare (which also allowed for a quick dip in Sullivan Lake).  Good food & milkshakes to-go!

This full loop is roughly 55-60 miles in total length, with nearly 10,000' elevation gain.  It's tough!  But it's also about the best grand tour of the northeast corner, so well worth the effort.

The trail is in great shape and the views of Sullivan Lake along the way are spectacular. The trail is pretty rocky. I have balance issues so I had to pay close attention to where I was placing my feet. Shouldn't be an issue for able-bodied hikers.