As we started started our weekend backpacking, Saturday, to Thorp Lake we found the bridge washed out close to the start of the Thorp Creek trail. Craig (our handy Paul Bunyan) waded out in the river and build a bridge (see picture). The Thorp Creek trail is in pretty good shape, but there are a couple of trees across trail at some locations. Thorp Lake is fabulous and now free of ice, with only a couple of small patches of snow around the lake. On Sunday, we climbed towards Thorp Mountain. We did not reach serious snow pathes until we got close to top around 5300 ft altitude. It started snowing as we got closer to the peak and it was difficult spotting the trail in many places.

This was potentially a really great idea, but the huge snow pack derailed my plan, which was to make a through hike up Thorp Creek, along Kachess Ridge and down the French Cabin Creek trail (1305). So, we left a bike at the trail head of French Cabin Creek, then drove to the trailhead of Thorp Creek. The trail up to the turn off to the Thorp Mtn lookout was really nice, with a couple of wet crossings, but nothing major. A few snow fields, but again, nothing too tricky. The trail to the lake was non-existent, but it was easy enough to find the lake just by heading due south through the trees. The trail to the lookout was impossible to follow because of snowfields and in fact I don't think I was ever on it on the way up--it was just sort of a scramble. At the top the trail re-emerged, but en route down it quickly disappeared under snow. After the junction with 1315 things wen fine for a while, but after passing the Knox Creek Trail heading steeply down to the east, things got tricky. We managed the first snow field, but after another 300 meters or so we hit a point on the east edge of the ridge where the snow was so deep and treacherous that we elected to turn around. Sigh. It would be a great hike later on in July or August. Thus, we had to go to Knox Creek trail (totally snow free) and then I hoofed it back to the bike on road 120, then 4308--some 3 miles--then rode back to the car--another 5 miles on gravel, got the car and came back for the grumpy husband and dog. I think I did him in on this one as he's elected to forgo my next weekend outing... But it really would be a great hike to do and I think I might even feel the need to go back and try it again when the snow's melted... Just can't get enough!

Starting with the Thorp Creek Trail, you can assemble various paths into an enjoyable 10 mile loop touring the heights of Kachess Ridge. The scenery is not of the alpine stunner variety-- in fact, Kachess Ridge is not in protected wilderness and clearcuts are visible everywhere-- but the flower show right now is **fabulous** in the many meadows traversed by the route. It's also nice that the trails here tend to be more lightly used compared to the more glamorous wilderness areas. Some skeeters were out, but not enough to make me use repellant. I started by following the Thorp Creek Trail, which is in good condition although a little overgrown with knee-high brush. I was glad to see signs of recent trail work activity: new signs, cut logs, drain dips, and such. The grade starts out easy, then becomes steep near Thorp Lake, reached via a quarter mile spur which I didn't do. Beyond the lake, the trail rapidly climbed a meadowy slope to a junction. Here I went right onto the Kachess Ridge Trail, whose decent tread took an up-and-down course first on the side of the ridge, then on top of it. There were potentially good views on the ridgeline in spots, although I don't know for sure because clouds and drizzle got in the way. At the next junction, I went right on to the Red Mountain Trail. This path is also of the up-and-down variety, giving me plenty of exercise while I admired the flower-strewn meadows and the views. There are some confusing spots in places: a poorly marked junction with an unmapped trail and a spot where the trail has been wiped out by a logging road. But if you pay attention and have a map, the route is not difficult to follow. With this trail, oversteep grades and slumped tread suggest that some treadwork and reroutes are in order. Eventually, the trail crossed one last ridge and plunged down a slope to arrive at Little Joe Lake, a marshy pond in a peaceful wooded basin. At a junction next to the lake, I left the Red Mountain Trail and headed downhill on the Little Joe Lake Trail, which sports some rather steep grades. Rerouting and regrading of this trail would be beneficial. A few logs on the trail need removal. After one final knee-busting dive to the bottom of the valley, where the trail was doing its best to imitate the Mailbox Peak path, the Little Joe Trail ended at a logging road not far from the Thorp Creek trailhead. A final easy stroll on the road brought me back to my car. Despite Sunday's clouds and showers, the loop hike made for a nice day in the woods.

This is a longer way to the Thorp Mt. Lookout than the Knox Ck. approach. The 3 mile trail to Thorp Lk. is in good shape, with flowers much of the way-100 Hikes calls the trail ""rough and steep,"" but it's not bad. The lake was, unsurprisingly, buggy. It only took a little over an hour to reach the lake so after lounging there we headed up to the lookout (another mile and a half). That trail is snowfree with tons of flowers-the higher you get, the better they get. It's also pretty steep. We saw a hiker coming from the Knox Creek trail, so that one must be somewhat snowfree too. We saw only a handful of people on this nice Sunday.

This loop hike in the Salmon La Sac area includes a seldom traveled ridge where the trail passes through several beautiful meadows and one ugly clearcut. There are some limited snow patches in higher spots. But do leave the gaiters and ice axe at home, they are not needed. Later in the season expect the vegetation in meadow areas to partially obscure the higher portion of this lightly used trail. Note that the USGS quad does not depict all of this trail. If you would like to see the location of the rest of this trail, I posted a snip from the quad with our gps track. Go to http://mysite.verizon.net/jelfelt and follow the link for maps. Right now there is water running in every ravine. Even along the ridge part of the trail there were at least two meadow areas where it would be easy to pump water. (These may dry up later.) Not many flowers yet. The best show will likely be around the 3rd week in June. We had a good look at a bear that didn’t know it was supposed to be black and was brown instead. One of our natural history references indicates this coloring can occur east of the cascades. The only people we saw were two adventurous horse riders doing the loop in the opposite direction. Them: “Any trees down on the trail?” Us: “Nope.” Later we encountered the only sizeable tree blocking the trail on the entire loop. No problem for hikers but it surely must have been a challenge for the couple on horseback to get past. Set your trip odometer to 0.0 where you leave the Salmon La Sac Road and follow the signs for the Thorp Lake trailhead. At 4.6 miles turn right onto Road 121 (small sign “Thorp Creek trail). Cross the creek and park. Hike west 1/4 mile on road and then watch for where the trail turns off to the left. The spur trail to Thorp Lake is well signed. After another ~1/3 mile there is a junction at a switchback with the Kachess Ridge trail (weathered sign on ground). Keep right (do not switchback). After about another 1 mile watch for the junction with the Red Mountain trail (2 signs on tree) going east. Follow this trail along the ridge. There a number of interesting looking scramble bumps along the way. As the trail approaches Little Joe Lake it appears to get more use. As you go around the lake you will see the junction (signed) with the trail up Red Mountain. From the lake the trail descends a long way to a spur logging road that leads back to where you parked. The total distance is about 7.5 miles and around 2,200 feet of gain. Be sure to allow enough time. There is some upping and downing along the ridge and some sections of the trail down from Little Joe Lake are steep. The pics show two views of Little Joe Lake.