The trail's in great shape. I have a knee issue but this trail didn't bother me at all. A few small creek crossings that would benefit from having a walking stick for balance but I didn't get my feet wet. One or two slightly muddy patches but nbd.
This is an easy backpack trip and would be fantastic for a first trip - this is my second time doing this trip. We snagged a same-day permit on Friday mid-day and got the sites we wanted.
We stayed at Neve Camp on the first night, just a couple easy miles from the parking lot. I found a perfect bear hang here though didn't spot a lot of others around. Nice stream beside our camp for getting water. The river's pretty loud so don't drink too much before bed ;)
The bridge to the McAllister hiker camps is currently washed out. We stayed at McAllister horse camp, which the rangers gave us the sole permit for though there were 5+ tent pads. Fortunately one tent pad was by itself, far away from the horsey smelling area. Nice central fire area with decent sitting logs. Very challenging to find an appropriate bear hang here, it took quite a bit of hunting. Mosquitoes and flies a little bitey here. Lovely little stream to fill water near camp. (When the bridge is repaired, the McAllister camps across the river are nice and large.)
It's a gorgeous forest! I was surprised how few other hikers we saw - and mostly backpackers.
Blueberries were either just starting or just ending - a few bushes had edible berries and spotted plenty of green berries too. Some wildflowers I spotted: tons of bunchberry dogwood, pink wintergreen, twinflower, goatsbeard, pinedrop, rattlesnake plantain (about to open), some type of coralroot, and a few purple penstemon plants further out the trail towards McAllister.
Comments