Put down your phone. Close your laptop. Stand up, get your sh*t together and go to the Glacier Peak Wilderness.
We stayed at the "good campsite with a toilet at Red Creek" the first night (Monday). I think this was less buggy than Mackinaw shelter and we had it all to ourselves. The next day we headed up to the junction with the PCT. We decided to turn right and rest at White Pass for a siesta during the hottest part of the day. Then we continued out the Foam Creek trail, hoping to camp in Glacier Peak Meadows and loop around to the campsites near the White Chuck Cinder Cone for the following night. The Foam Creek trail has numerous small snow patches, and at the end there is one slidey sketchy traverse (as mentioned by PeakJunkie's report). After that we discovered "Foam Creek Basin" (name according to PeakJunkie's report) to be mostly covered in snow, so I voted we bail and head back to White Pass to camp. I had dinner in Foam Creek Basin, very lovely. Mosquitos were rough at White Pass, making it hard to cook my friend's dinner and we skipped breakfast there entirely. The sunset from the ridge at White Pass with the wildflowers was absolutely incredible, I pretty much lost my mind looking at all the flowers (and simultaneously swatting mosquitos).
There is currently water right near the junction with the PCT (less than 1/2 mile from White Pass campsite), but do note(!) reports indicate this dries up later in the season. There's a toilet at the White Pass campsites, follow the outhouse signs, it's on the south side.
We headed back to the trailhead from there, did not complete the Pilot Ridge loop.
The views and flowers were phenomenal. The bugs were a lot, just come prepared with long sleeves, long pants and non-stove food options if you wanna hop in the tent quickly. I wished I had one of those netted hats. My friend brought a Glacier Peak Wilderness map from REI, that was super useful for comparing all the camping and loop options! Although it doesn't display part of the Pilot Ridge loop, nor name the trails.
There were SO MANY marmots.
The road had some small pot holes.
Comments
hanalaura on White Pass - Pilot Ridge Loop, Glacier Peak Meadows
Thanks for the report! Was foam creek basin just below Red Pass...I recall there being some amazing (but exposed) campsites above a basin several years back...did you see anything like this??
How much longer will the wildflower show be happening...if you were to guess?
Posted by:
hanalaura on Jul 31, 2020 02:02 PM
katniss_evergreen on White Pass - Pilot Ridge Loop, Glacier Peak Meadows
Ah no, I believe Foam Creek basin is the other direction around the loop compared to Red Pass. What you’re thinking of is probably what they described in the Glacier Peak Meadows main summary - “Red Pass...The first campsites are found at 11.5 miles, on the spur trail to the White Chuck Cinder Cone; continue 1 more mile to the meadows and find your ideal home for the weekend.” Unfortunately we didn’t make it over to that area so I’m not sure about the snow cover, but from the summary and the map we had, there are definitely spots there!
No idea on the wildflowers! I don’t know much about them, do you? It seemed like they were at Peak Bloom, I couldn’t imagine any higher flower density and didn't notice any curled up buds or empty green stems. You’ll have to give an update once you go!
Posted by:
katniss_evergreen on Jul 31, 2020 04:37 PM
hanalaura on White Pass - Pilot Ridge Loop, Glacier Peak Meadows
Thank you for your reply. I will just have to explore myself...the wildflowers have been extraordinary this year! Maybe all that late season snow melt?
Posted by:
hanalaura on Aug 02, 2020 08:11 AM