Suiattle River Trail, Image Lake via Miners Ridge — Monday, Sep. 17, 2018

We had ambitions to do a longer trip in the GP Wilderness but our weather window contracted and we had to settle for a two night excursion. I say settled but we enjoyed this trip all the same. First the simple factoids:

The Suiattle River Road was in decent shape and passable with low clearance but it’s a long drive to its end.

The Suiattle River Trail was in excellent condition other than the log pile about 2 miles in. And unless you’re a horse (or mule or llama) you wouldn't have much problem passing the log pile.

We saw good trailside camps at convenient intervals out to the PCT junction.

We saw abundant water sources along the way.

There were no bugs to speak of.

There was a little new snow up high but it was not significant.

The PCT was indeed like a highway this time of year, with quick stepping NoBos passing every few minutes. But the Suiattle Trail was quiet.

The proper pronunciation is “Soo-attle”.

It was a long climb up to Miners Ridge and Image Lake.

The best map I've found for this area is the Green Trails 111SX. The Trails Illustrated GP Wilderness Map appears not to have been updated for some time and doesn't show the rerouting of the PCT, the new bridge, etc.

The Suiattle River rises at Suiattle Glacier south of Glacier Peak and flows counterclockwise all the way around the volcano to its north-northwest flank, capturing everything that comes off the myriad east and north facing glaciers plus quite a bit more from jagged ranges farther east and north. Remarkably the White Chuck River on the west captures everything else flowing from Glacier Peak. The White Chuck merges into the Sauk, which in turn receives the Suiattle. You’ll likely drive the Hwy 530 bridge spanning the Sauk over these combined waters on your way to the Suiattle River Road. Pause a moment and consider all those glaciers, all those meadows, all those creeks and all that water flowing together and into a single stream. Having never been around to the back side of Glacier Peak and having stared at the amazing wraparound canyon of the Suiattle on many a map - and wanting to eventually piece together a longer cross-range trek we conjured up a little scouting mission.

The first part of the mission was just to drive to the end of the Suiattle River Road and appreciate the fact that one can actually do this after years of closure. It takes quite a while to make this drive so we used the time to properly appreciate that fact. The views were pretty good too, after we got deep enough to be away from the logged areas. The river was visually arresting, with its pearly pale blue water and wide gravel bars. As we slowly rolled open-windowed over a bridge near road’s end we detected a distinctly eggy odor; Sulphur Creek! We knew we were close. The parking lot was large. And mostly empty. And the half that was reserved for stock users was entirely empty.

For the next part we walked the lovely, gentle and lush trail along the river. This one is a trail runner’s dream. With national park quality design, tread and looks the grade slowly climbs from about 1650’ at the trailhead to a 2500’ high point six miles in, with a few little ups and downs in between. It runs close to the mesmerizing river for the first three miles or so then it wends up and mostly out of river view but within earshot. Looking up you won’t see a whole lot through the tree canopy but then the tree canopy is something to behold. That and the deep moss. Early on the trail you can kind of make out a good sized peak, which I think is Grassy Point, but you won’t see the volcano. At around 3.2 miles there’s a big logjam in the river directing the water up against the northern bank (where the trail is). The current eats away at the base of a steep slope. The trail has already been compromised and it’s not hard to imagine one violent storm taking a big bite and cutting off trail access again. Is changing the logjam something that can even be discussed? Yes, this is within a wilderness but it would seem to be a case of a little prevention being worth a lot of cure because a rerouting of the trail through here is sure to make a bigger impact. Oh, and I have to mention the slide and huge logs about two miles from the trailhead but that poses no serious obstacle to hikers. You might have to muddy a knee or a fist.

We saw good campsites at three miles and four miles. We camped just before the crossing of Canyon Creek at about 6.5 miles where there were several nice tent sites and a well-kept communal fire pit along with a handful of less attractive pits. Across Canyon Creek via a newish and surprisingly impressive suspension bridge we spotted more sites. Canyon creek provided crystal clear water and a soothing background rush just right for sleeping. There was only a tiny peek-a-view of Miners Ridge through the trees. In that little view though we could see what appeared to be fresh snow. Yikes. There being no views of the river from our camp we decided after dinner to hoof it a bit farther up the trail to the intersection with the PCT and from there down to the big bridge over the Suiattle. Nice bridge. More campsites just across that bridge too. When the sun went down we were surprised by how dark it was, especially with the moon being close to full. It seems the canyon is so deep here the summer moon doesn’t get high enough to clear the ridges.

The next day we left tents in place and packed light for a long day trip. Strolling back over to the PCT we met our first thru-hiker. Sadly this one had hurt a foot and was making his way out of the forest. This is only about a hundred miles short of the 2650 mile end point. Man, that has to be tough. Shortly thereafter we got onto the PCT proper and encountered another three long-distance hikers. Going with the flow we only crossed paths with one more after that before we turned off the PCT 2.5 miles later at Miners Ridge.

Turning off the PCT meant turning off the gently graded trail and for the first time we began to ascend vigorously. That trail was in great shape too. It just went up faster. We climbed from 2800’ to 6200’ over the next five miles. It hurt. It was worth it. The views from Miners Ridge, particularly from the lookout, are some of the best I’ve seen. There was a little new snow dusting the hillsides above about 6K’. Glacier Peak was gleaming white and is all the more dramatic for its uninterrupted rise from the long valley of the Suiattle, about 8000 vertical feet across most of that length.

We sat up near the tower for quite a while to unwind from our ascent. Ate some lunch. Named peaks. Miners Ridge invites further exploration eastward, for which we had neither time nor legs that day. We did mosey over to Image Lake to lie in the sun for a spell. For the first time since July we got to see properly blue skies over the North Cascades. And for the first time this year we got to do that without swatting flies. Yes, it was worth the climb.

But what goes up must come down, so down we went. It didn’t hurt as bad as I thought it might but it was a long drop. I was sad to watch the views of the peaks disappear behind the trees and promised myself to sleep up top on some other trip.

Late in the day and back on those brief 2.5 miles of PCT we must have passed 15 to 20 thru-hikers. We were amazed. Where do they all camp? We staggered back into camp about suppertime with 20 great miles under our boots that day. Cooking, eating, darkness and sleep happened just about as quickly as you can say those words. Or at least it seemed so.

The third day we packed lazily and rolled on back to the trailhead. I took so many moss and waterfall pictures my phone died. As I was signing out back at the trailhead roster I saw that someone had signed in just behind us two days prior. This person, who I recognize from a notable activity ten years ago this week, is from Oregon and was starting a many day trip headed way, way up the Suiattle. If this person should happen to read this, I would love to hear if you made it to your destination and what you encountered along the way! Please leave me a note here.