The trail to Thorp Mountain lookout, a personal favorite, is one of those underrated and undervisited gems of the Cascades. Most go for the spectacular vistas from the lookout. While I like the views too, I go mainly for the wildflowers, for which this hike should be renowned. The first 2.7 miles up to the trail junction for Thorp Lake are a bit of a mixed bag; the wildflower show begins at this point. Just up from the junction is the biggest field of bluebells you'll ever see, covering literally many acres. While bluebells dominate, there are many other beauties to catch your eye, including several louseworts, Jacob's Ladder, and intensely colored larkspurs. But the crowning glory (pun intended) is the small flower meadow on the summit and just below, where the color borders on psychedelic. Take time to look at the smaller plants in this area, many of which sport tiny but elegant and colorful blossoms. Words can't do justice - go see for yourself. Most guidebooks recommend the long loop trail to get to the lookout, but take my advice and go up the much shorter (3 miles) trail 1316 and spend your time reveling in the summit views and flower show instead of trudging along the blazing hot (and not nearly as interesting) loop trail.

Our group of 2 dads and 4 kids (ages 9-13) spent 2 nights at Thorp Lake. Our original plan to loop via Little Joe Lake become impractical when the Thorp Creek trail was closed for the season because of a dead horse on the trail. (The ranger website says it's closed and the ranger confirmed this by phone.) So we hiked in from Knox Creek and back out via French Cabin Creek, leaving a bike at the latter trailhead to retrieve the car at the former. We sweated up the short steep hike on the Knox Creek trail. At the top, where you meet the Kachess Ridge trail, you can scramble up a steep face for a great view down into Thorp Lake. The ridge walk north to the junction with the lookout trail offered views of Kachess Lake. We continued north to the junction with the Thorp Creek trail, which is easy to spot even though the sign has completely fallen apart. Then we dropped steeply down to the signed junction with the Thorp Lake spur. (There's no sign from that end saying anything about the trail closure beyond.) As you approach Thorp Lake you first reach a very large campsite suitable for groups. A few yards further, perhaps 30 paces from the lake, was our choice site, with space for 2 or 3 tents and nice logs for sitting. If you walk around the lake clockwise (the trail fades in spots but you can't get lost), you'll find a couple more small sites. All these spots are well shaded. Then, on a bit of land that juts into the lake, lie a couple of more open spots that also looked appealing. It's possible to continue circumnavigating the lake by scrambling across rocks, though one section would be a little dicey with backpacks or young kids. Given the effort required to reach the lake with the main access closed, we were surprised the next day to be visited by another hiking party, who had apparently come in via a "fisherman's trail" (which they had trouble following) from the end of road 4312. And a day hiker came in that way the next day. On the way out we took a side-trip up to the lookout, but alas, the only looking that day was into thick fog. No ranger was present. A few notes on the hike south along the Kachess Ridge trail from Knox Creek (junction with 1315.1) to French Cabin Basin (junction with 1305): the trail climbs from 5300' to about 5650', partly on a ridge with a deadly drop on the left if you're not paying attention. (We felt OK with our kids who were 9+, but a younger or less responsible hiker could be in danger.) There's actually one short section that still has some snow, but it's no problem. Then it drops to 5500' before climbing again to 5766' and then dropping to the junction with the French Cabin Creek trail (4900'). Shortly before that junction it meets a forest road which is .2 mile away according to my 2002 Green Trails map, but ignore the road and continue left on the trail. Then you reach the signed junction with the French Cabin Creek trail #1305. Also, there is a signage problem with that trail #1305. It's called 1305 on my map and the wooden sign at the top of the trail. But at the trailhead (the upper one, a half mile drive on a very rough road above road 4308) is a metal sign saying simply "1307". (There is a less conspicuous "temporary sign" near there that says "1305".) The only trail 1307 I can find is 5+ miles away near Jolly Mountain. Either I'm missing something or someone made a serious mistake. I've emailed the ranger in hopes of getting this fixed. The drop down 1305 is steep and quick. Despite the numbering confusion, we were happy to discover that we'd left the bike at the right place, and I took a nice ride back to our car at Knox Creek trailhead, 4 miles, 400' down, and 900' up in 50 minutes. We found a few mosquitoes on our hike but they weren't a problem. There are still some good wildflowers and we found a few berries in spots. There were a couple of blowdowns and muddy spots, but not significant so I won't check those boxes.

The ranger website reports that as of 8/12: "ALERT! Thorp Creek trail is closed for the remainder of 2011. This closure is in the interest of public safety and is designed to prevent conflict between humans and scavengers associated with a dead horse located adjacent to the trail. Use Knox Creek Trail to access Thorp Mountain." Note that this closure affects just trail 1316 from the Thorp Creek trailhead to the junction with 1315. It does not affect 1315.2, the spur from 1315 to the summit, as long as you access it from 1315 (from the Knox Creek trailhead, No Name Ridge, or Little Joe Lake). But I'm tagging this report with both trails to make sure anyone hiking in the area will see it.

After all the luck we had dodging late snows up on Hex Mountain, when another sunny hiking day presented itself we headed back out over Snoqualmie Pass to continue exploring the trails around Cle Elum Lake. This time we set our sights on the long approach to Thorp Mountain Lookout hoping for some big views off of Kachess Ridge – we were not disappointed. Most hikers approach Thorp Mountain from the Knox Creek Trailhead, which is both shorter and easier than the Thorp Creek Trail we hiked. Currently, this route is made more complicated by the absence of a bridge over Thorp Creek near the trailhead. The creek might be friendlier in a few weeks after this year’s belated thaw, but currently it’s knee-deep, fast-flowing and ice-cold. Cross with caution. For the full report check out: http://www.hikingwithmybrother.com/2011/07/thorp-mountain-lookout-via-thorp-creek.html Jer

I decided to get up early to go somewhere before work, and this ended up pushing it. It took about 2 hours to the trailhead from Seattle, so this should be an all-day trip. Park near a gate on the road that says ""bridge out,"" it's not really marked other than that. Bring a pole or stick to cross Thorp creek where the bridge is out, as there is only a small log. The lower creek trail is fine, it starts getting steep maybe 1.5 miles in and climbs nicely up to the junction with the ridge trail. You will need a map to get the junctions right, as the signs have been destroyed and some routes are hard to find. I would have been lost without a map and compass. The top was amazing, best views I've seen in a while. The summit was right on the crest of the weather breaking, so looking west was cloudy but east was clear. I highly recommend this trail, there was just a little bit of snow on the scrambling route up that confused me a little.