West Cady Ridge to Benchmark Mountain, Pear Lake, Lake Janus and Grizzly Peak, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) Section K - Stevens Pass to Rainy Pass & Smithbrook — Friday, Aug. 1, 2025

Our first time doing a "key exchange" hike, and it was so fun! We parked at the North Fork Skykomish trailhead off FS 63; our friends parked at the Smithbrook trailhead just east of Stevens Pass. We exchanged car keys at Pear Lake. Here's our itinerary, which was about 27 miles:

• Day 1: West Cady Ridge to Benchmark Mtn (4mi)
• Day 2: Benchmark Mtn to Pear Lake via PCT (10mi)
• Day 3: Pear Lake to Smithbrook via PCT, Union Gap (13mi)

I've tagged relevant trails for this area. Here are some notes about conditions out on the trails:

• Water availability was our biggest concern, but as long as you take care to take water where it exists you'll be okay.
  • Benchmark Mountain is almost totally dry. There are a few streams early in the climb, some really foul looking tarns at the top, and then there's a spring on the north side of the trail right as you drop from the summit. 
  • On the PCT, there are still a few streams and rivulets between the lakes where you can fill up.
  • Just south of Janus Lake there is a wonderful stream with much nicer looking water than what you might be able to scoop from the lake itself.
• Wildflowers are still lovely on many west-facing ridges right now, but the real story out there is huckleberries. There are so many! They are so ripe! Plan to slow your estimated mile splits by at least 50% so you can spend time eating those delicious little berries.
• Bugs were surprisingly not bad! Better than I've seen on many other hikes recently. At dusk a bug net was helpful.
• There are some gnarly down trees between Saddle Gap and Pear Lake (maybe like 1-2 mi north of Pear) on the PCT right now that make for really unpleasant crossings.
• Pear Lake is a delightful lake, has great campsites, and the water is a lovely temperature right now. Definitely an underappreciated gem! 

Lastly...if you were the people riding mountain bikes down the Benchmark Mountain trail in the dark at 10PM on Friday night...can we talk? We really just have some questions. Questions like "why???"

Happy to answer questions in the comments!