North Fork Sauk River — Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

There's little I can add to the chorus of praise for this trail and the views & access it affords to the North Fork of the Sauk River, so I'll hit a few practical points for the small army of hikers & climbers who transit this trail on the way to the PCT or Glacier Peak beyond. The #649 has been thoroughly brushed, I'd guess within the past month. The trail tread is in fantastic condition all the way to the junction with the PCT. We counted eleven foot bridges between the trailhead and the Mackinaw Shelter, all in good repair. The new log bridge at Red Creek –replete with handrails on both sides– will inspire gratitude for trail crews, evidence of whose presence is visible in stacks of bridge timbers rough-cut from the massive blowdowns along the route and the odd coffee can of galvanized spikes. We saw no evidence of the foot bridge across to the Pilot Ridge Trail (#652), but we weren't trying to get across so we didn't look very hard. There are a few nice campsites at Red Creek with good water available from the noisy creek immediately east of the campsites. There's a vault toilet in good repair. There are tons of nice campsites in the area of the Mackinaw Shelter, though be warned: this is the first campsite in all my travels where I experienced a woodchuck/wood rat (saw both around...didn't dust for the guilty species' prints) climb 30' up a tree, 15' out a limb, and down 10' of paracord to raid a food cache. I suspect if you contain obvious food smells (exposed nuts, greasy food paper &c) they'd opt for lower-hanging fruit, so to speak. There is much access to good water at this camp, a vault toilet, and good firewood for gathering near camp and just up-trail. The shelter itself appeared to be free of rodent droppings and was more or less dry (one obvious hole in the roof), and is festooned with giant nails for hanging stuff. Some of these are not bent down on the inside/outside and are sharp/rusty, so mind your head! There are a few freshets in the 3000' climb between the Mackinaw Shelter and the junction with the PCT, but none you'd consider an ideal or reliable water source. I've pumped snowmelt from an elk's footprint in dire straits before though, so let your exigent thirst be your guide. tl;dr-a gentle walk in the woods to the Mackinaw Shelter; kink-inducing climb to the PCT. Mind your water in the 2nd half.