Attempted a Memorial Day weekend backpacking trip here at the advice of the Entiat Ranger Station and was sorely disappointed, along with four other parties we ran into who sadly also got the same bad advice from the same ranger. Started from the Maverick Saddle trailhead. First off, it's really hard to find the trailhead, roads unmarked, lots of turns. Then, the road to the TH is HORRIBLE, increasingly narrow with a huge cliff drop off to the side, like a death trap, scared us half to death going up it, plenty of people do it, but don't do it if you are afraid of heights. Then, on the trail, in the first mile we climbed over 20+ blowdowns, which got increasingly difficult to climb over. Snow started 3/4 of a mile in and got worse and worse until it was completely snow covered everywhere. Not an early season hike. The ranger station said they had gotten together and decided to recommend this trail to people for memorial day weekend backpacking, even though no one had been on it this year yet, so they had no idea how it was. Awesome. Good news is there is an amazing huge campsite down the hill from the trailhead in the other direction, near the river. From the river down that way you can cross over and hike south on the lower mad river trail. Lots of cougar activity, but no sightings. Did see some tweedys!

Parking at Deer Camp BenM and I went up to Maverick Saddle, down the Mad River canyon to Pine Flats, took Mad River-Tillicum-Indian Creek roads and a steep cross-country climb up to Gold Ridge, up the ridge to Sugarloaf Peak, then Entiat Summit Road back to Maverick Saddle and down to the car. Lots of cougar activity in Mad River canyon. Full photo set and GPS on my blog below.

Easy backpacking through beautiful terrain, but the bugs are fierce and the forest service road very rough. Call the Entiat ranger station in advance to find out whether the trail is snowed in or muddy, and whether the trails are open to motor bikes on a particular date for seasonal closures. The roads to Maverick Saddle are poorly marked, and very rough and steep after passing Deer Camp. From Highway 2 take Highway 207 to Chiwawa River Loop road, then to FS road #6100 (marked Lower Chiwawa Road). At Deep Creek turn east on FS road #6101. Other intersecting FS roads are not marked, but when you reach Deer Camp turn north up the hill. This is where the road is steep and rough, and you will scratch the sides of your vehicle at some places. Very few passing turnouts but some great views from the road. I had to stop my van about 1.5 miles from the intersection of roads #6101 and #5200 at a relatively wide spot. (It took a 12-point turn with 2 spotters to turn around.) At the road junction, turn north (not taking road #5200 south) to the Mad River trailhead. Off-road pickups can get there just fine and then have plenty of parking and turning space near the trailhead. We took 7 backpackers up Upper Mad River trail (1409.1) to the Guard Station marked on the Green Trails map. The trails are well-marked and are built to motorbike specifications, which made it an easy hike for us. This was the first weekend it was open to bikes and the half a dozen bikers were uniformly polite and drove slowly when they passed us. There were signs of 5 or 6 blowdowns that had recently been cleared by trail crews. We had to cross bridge-less creeks 3 times, one that had to be forded and two that we could hop across rocks and logs. The trail was dry and snow-free, and consequently dusty. The wildflowers were out in force but so were the mosquitoes and biting flies. If we kept moving the bugs did not bother us, but when we stopped to camp and cook the bugs were awful. 30% DEET was not enough. Water is plentiful along most of the route. There are several established campsites along the way, especially at the turnoff for Lost Lake trail and the intersection of Mad River and Blue Creek trails. Past the Guard Station we took Blue Creek trail (1426) to "Two Little Lakes," marked Ann and Louise. Trail #1426 was still under seasonal closure to bikes and we did not see any on the trail. Nice swimming at the lakes if you don't mind 3-5 inches of muck on the lake bottom. Overall a nice easy hike with beautiful wildflowers that I may try in another season to avoid the bugs. The motorbikes were not as annoying as I had anticipated, but the bugs were worse than anticipated.

Starting from Mavarack Saddle we hiked the Mad River trail to Mad Lk. We couldn't find anything on WTA and of course the Wenatchee Ranger Station is closed. They say call Leavenworth, who say "it's not if our area". ??? They did finally divulge that it is snow free and still closed to motorized vehicles and horses which is the window we wanted to hit. Unfortunately, there were still bikes on the trail. We met two on the way up that scared the daylights out of us, not to mention our mini Austrailain Shepherd. We met no other hikers. We finally reached the lake and there were two guys in camaflouge attire on dirt bikes - not the type I would confront in the wilderness about the trail being closed to bikes. The trail was trashed with ruts from bikes. On the way out we again heard engines and jumped off the trail to be met by 3 Forest Service employees on bikes who were there to clear trails (and I hope to give tickets). We will never again hike a trail that is open to bikes (or not open but used by them). We met three more guys on bikes when we got to the trailhead. They were nice and said that they had spent three hours getting there only to see the sign at the trailhead. They also had no understanding of why it would be closed when the trails are wet. I will say that it is ridiculous that it was not posted further down the road. The road, by the way, was the worst road we have ever been on. It is 2 1/2 miles off the FS road that has no spot for passing and a sheer dropoff. What would you do if you met a trailer coming the other way? On the bright side, it is really a lovely area and when no bikes were there, it was sheer heaven. . . lovely meadows, lots of creek/river crossings, wildflowers, and nice wooded trail. Highly recommend if you can hit the 'window' with no motorized vehicles!