North Fork Sauk River — Tuesday, Jun. 24, 2014

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

The trail is in excellent condition to the Mackinaw shelter and beyond. There's a small snow pile covering about 10 feet of the trail just before the shelter and easily crossed. Runoff crosses the trail in several places, so wear your waterproof boots- There are a also a number of meadow crossings with close in brush crowding the trail that are very damp this time of year. I had set out to take four days and do the White Pass/Pilot Ridge loop, however snow fields still linger from about 4,000ft and up, and I was forced to turn back at about the 5,500ft mark. Almost everything is in bloom all along the trail, and mule deer can be seen grazing in the ridge meadows.