Skagit River Loop Trail — Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016

North Cascades > North Cascades Highway - Hwy 20

This is a nice walk in the campground at the North Cascades Visitors Center (which is closed for the winter). When we got there, the trail was taped off with a sign that said the trail was closed due to fire activity. We thought maybe it hadn't been taken down from summer so we hopped over it and hiked the trail anyway. This is the first of what I will call my 'healing hikes' recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. It is very mellow with just one short hill. It is thru the moss covered forest with some nice river access midway. We found out why they may have left the sign up, the trail goes thru a burn area with several blowdowns and dead snags. It would not be smart to take this on a windy day. This will be a nice mellow walk when the park service is able to clean it up and open it. Perfect for a healing knee and just far enough at 1.8 miles. We drove the North Cascades hwy up to the winter close and got some great views. No snow on the road as of today.