North Fork Skykomish River, Dishpan Gap — Saturday, Jul. 13, 2013

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

My first volunteer vacation! Not having backpacked for a long time, I was a little anxious about this trip. This was an easy backpack into a campsite on the river about 3+ miles in. Take the Pass Creek fork to the right off the main trail to a nice campsite by the river. We base camped here and worked on the trails in this area, brushing out, widening trail and constructing horse fords across a couple of creeks. I took the trail up to Dishpan Gap on my day off. This is a 12 mile RT hike from the campsite. There is one serious river crossing over a log that may be a butt scoot if you are not comfortable with balance. There is another nice campsite about 4 miles up from the junction, just before you start seriously gaining elevation. Hike through meadows ( a few snow patches linger, watch for the trail) then switchback up to Dishpan Gap for nice views and a junction with the PCT. A couple of more adventurous hikers in our group did a 19 mile RT, heading up the Pass Creek trail to Cady Pass then on the PCT, summited Kodak Peak and back down Dishpan Gap trail. They reported snow patches, but easily crossed with poles. The bugs were BAD all week, not benevolent PNW bugs, but the hordes from Mordor!. The thrushes are calling Deeeeeet for a reason. We had netting, long shirts and bug spray the whole week. Lots of huckleberries in a month!