North Fork Sauk River — Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Writing as I recover from an overnight trip from the North Fork Sauk to White Pass and back. I would like to note that the North Fork Sauk trail had tons of blowdowns, but they had all been cleared, thanks to the hard work of the USFS and volunteers. Generally speaking, the trail was in good shape at all points. The first water crossing, about a mile in, was the longest, and was pretty easy. Good conditions aside, the North Fork Sauk trail gets pretty monotonous. After a few miles of steady ascent through humid forest, the trail starts to become a slog. The first campsites lie about four miles in, just before a pretty bridge crossing at Red Creek. The Mackinaw Shelter campsites, by comparison, are less nice. The shelter itself looks dismal and unsafe. This section is overrun by flies, but the location is good for filtering water, which we did. We steadily climbed after Mackinaw, dealing with a very hot day on a very exposed south face. Climbing through this section requires navigating through 26 switchbacks (the topographical map at Summitpost [for Glacier] is accurate here) which are almost entirely exposed. We took many stops to contend with scorching temperatures that did not improve until we were a little ways along the ridge trail at the top. This section was brutally hot and pretty demoralizing, but we found that keeping track of landmarks helped us along here. The section between switchback 16 and 17 was the longest, and also had a fair amount of water on the trail. This is the last water until the ridge trail, something to keep in mind if not filling up at Mackinaw. The last significant canopy lies between switchback 21 and 22, and, recognizing the tree line, we took full advantage of the shade here before continuing our climb. Once at the ridge, the trail eases and the views in the alpine area are truly beautiful. This part - before and after meeting the Pacific Crest Trail - is entirely worth it, even if the lower trail might not be. We pitched camp near White Pass (after miles of minimal signage, these sites are fairly well marked), which was mostly occupied by mountaineers. We were able to find a semi-private spot with a sunset view. The pit toilet here was vile, but I was fortunately able to use the much less used toilet near Mackinaw Shelter. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset, sunrise, and meteor showers in between. Wish we could have stayed longer. Ten hours up, six hours down. If I could change anything, I would headed up the trail earlier.