Meander Meadow - Dishpan Gap - Cady Ridge Loop, Kodak Peak — Friday, Jul. 3, 2015

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - East

Finally, a three day weekend-which means longer drive times become very much acceptable and areas we rarely get to venture to are no longer out of reach. Ah, thank you forefathers. First off, the road to the trailhead is completely accessible by all-up until the last two miles or so. While we saw low-clearance vehicles that had obviously made it past the potholes, roots and rocks, I can't guarantee that they did it unscathed. That's one bumpy, brushy forest service road, and I wouldn't have wanted to drive it in my little commuter car. We opted to hike the loop clockwise, starting with heading up...and up...and up (as we were not relishing coming down...and down...and down) the Cady Ridge trail, traversing the PCT over Dishpan Gap with a side trip to Kodak Peak, then out through Meander Meadows on the Little Wenatchee River Trail. While the first bit of the Cady Ridge Trail is a gentle up through lovely forest, it quickly turns into a brutal ascent with little shade and no respite-the grade is steep and the tread rough. I'm sure it was made much worse by the excessive heat (we really didn't time that one well), but no way would I want to have to descend that ridge in any weather. If you have stronger knees than I, it may not seem so daunting. Mine ache just thinking about it. That being said, I may have actually preferred it to the bushwacking that we were forced to perform two days later as we exited along the Little Wenatchee. Good Lord! Never again. Someone get in there with a machete, please! (Ponder, in his never-wavering attempt to find Good in All Things, remarked that we sure were breathing some well-oxygenated air! Yes. Yes, we were. The flora is quite happy on that trail.) Cady Ridge itself, however, as well as this particular section of the PCT and Meander Meadows, I really don't even have words for. Absolutely breathtaking. Wildflowers are at peak right now for most of the way, Glacier Peak is in-your-face spectacular, and the meadows and hillsides are the most brilliant emerald green imaginable. This was definitely one of those trips that make us just pause and give thanks for where we live, and for the wilderness we are fortunate enough to have access to. The theme of the hike was dry, dry, dry. There's no water source anywhere along Cady Ridge, and the sporadic trickles along the PCT just north of the Cady Ridge junction, and north of Kodak Peak, are so small that there was no way our Sawyer Gravity was going to be able to scoop up enough water for filtering. Some pump models might be able to make a go of it, but to be on the safe side, pack double the amount of water you think you might need, or be willing to make the trek to one of the lakes in the area (Lake Sally Ann is an easy half mile ramble heading south on the PCT from the Cady Ridge trail). We ended up hiking down to Indian Pass on our second day, and then a little over a mile or so along the Indian Creek Trail, where we found the creek flowing abundantly. Rumor has it there was also water further north along the PCT in the White Pass area, but that was more trekking than we were willing to take on during this particularly hot trip. If Meander Meadows is your destination water will not be an issue as there is a creek that, well, meanders through the camps. Campsites along this loop are ample-there are many more places to throw down a tent than are marked on the Green Trails map of the area. One pretty great spot on the Cady Ridge Trail just before it intersects with the PCT, a few tucked discreetly along the trail between Cady Ridge and Dishpan Gap (where we spent our first night), several at the junction of the PCT with the Blue Lake High Trail, and one or two affording absolutely epic views of Glacier further along the PCT just before reaching the Little Wenatchee River Trail sign. We were lucky enough to spend our second night in the only site available on the trail to Kodak Peak (“trail” may be a bit of misnomer-it's a peak bagger's route, which means straight up, narrow, and rocky. And totally worth it, as it awards you a 360 view of all of the surrounding peaks). It's right on the trail, but only a whopping three people (and one dog) passed us within the 24 hours we were camped there. Really, the entire three days was remarkably uncrowded (unless you count our brief visit to Lake Sally Ann to get water. It's probably a lovely place to camp-if you don't mind company. After having hiked up until that point only encountering a handful of other people it was quite a shock to round the corner and discover 486 humans and half again as many dogs lounging on the banks of the lake. Okay, there were maybe a dozen people. But it felt like party central. No thanks). One final word of wisdom – Permethrin your clothes and bring along DEET. The biting flies were worse than the 'skeeters, but both were out in full force and apparently ravenous.