Twin Lakes - Monte Cristo, Monte Cristo Ghost Town — Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

We started from the South Fork Sauk River bridge along the newly cleared Old Monte Cristo Wagon Road rather than the old rail grade at Barlow Pass. This winds through the forest on the north side of the river and adds about a mile to the trip into Monte Cristo- it's also about 200-300ft lower than the pass summit. It was gorgeous old forest and fairly secluded as few people are aware of this route yet- The road IS still under construction with one really nice bridge and two rough log crossings over small stream gullies. It comes out on an old forest road and joins the rail grade road just before Haps Hill Camp. From the trailhead to Monte Cristo this much-traveled trail is easy going and accessible. Turning south from town and climbing up, we headed toward Poodledog Pass and Silver lake. The trail up is rocky and rough, with only one small creek after you leave Monte Cristo, but easy to follow and well defined. Silver Lake was stunning to see, both in the late afternoon sun and at dawn (we camped there for the night), unfortunately the area around the lake is marshy in places and this created fine habitat for midges and mosquitoes, and the high traffic this area gets provides them with plenty of food. We went on to Twin Lakes in the morning as a day hike from our camp at Silver Lake. Despite the high traffic this trail gets (Saturday alone we crossed paths with not less than 15 different parties headed to or from the lakes) the trail is thin and brushy in many places, and there really isn't a "Distinct" trail up the final ridge- Following the wrong track here could lead to a scramble or worse, a dead end. We opted against the trek down the last 3/4mi and 700ft to the lakes themselves, contented with the view from the overlook and a short climb to the top of the norther knoll of the saddle the trail passes through. Nevertheless the views were spectacular and worth the hike in. We had planned to stay a second night at Silver Lake, but the bugs were insufferable and so upon returning to the camp we packed up and descended to Monte Cristo. While the bugs were less of an issue here, we decided that we were already packed and on our feet, and opted to simply hike out that evening.