Quartz Creek, Bald Eagle Mountain & Johnson Mountain — Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

On Tuesday we started from Quartz Creek/North Fork Sky/ W.Cady Ridge trailhead. This TH is accessed via Beckler River Road from Skykomish because of washout on Index-Galena Rd. Quartz Creek trail to Curry Gap has been brushed recently except for some short sections near beginning. We saw a brushing crew on Bald Eagle trail, but there are still a lot of brushy sections. However, all blowdowns have been cleared. Bald Eagle Mtn was a short but steep and brushy scramble up its east ridge. There was only one sign-in on the register in 2009 and we were the first to sign in 2010. We camped at a spring at the base of Long John Mtn, the only good water source on the ridge. Long John was an easy hike through open meadows. Next day we hiked to Johnson Mtn via Little Blue Lake (trail 652) and Pilot Ridge trail, an exceptionally beautiful and scenic area. A trail goes to Johnson Mtn summit, a former lookout site; however the unmaintained trail is badly eroded in places, and the last 300’ of gain included several “interesting” moves. Great views of Baker to the north to Rainier to the south. We tagged June Mtn on the way back to the campsite as an afterthought since the trail goes within 40’ of the summit. Hiked out on Thursday just ahead of the rain.