North Fork Bridge Creek — Saturday, Jun. 25, 2022

There is snow for the first mile or so heading south from the trail head at Bridge Creek and HWY 20, then intermittent spots of snow for a ways, then the trail was clear....not hard to follow as long as you are paying attention. We had a permit for Fireweed, but opted not to stay there due to a pretty sketchy water crossing. The Bridge Creek is ROARING. The snow is melting fast and the water is FREEZING and moving rapidly. The crossing was a single log, at an angle, about five feet above the raging water. We hiked on 1.2 miles to Hideaway camp, which had a bear box as well as a pit toilet. Lucky for us we were only our for one night and there was only one other group there, so plenty of room. We did report the sketchy log crossing to a ranger on our way out. A rail (a simple one made of wood) would make this crossing MUCH safer in seasons like this. The hike was beautiful. There are great views and the flowers are all starting to bloom. There was a lot of bear activity. We saw plenty of scat, and ran into a guy who had spooked a bear just seconds before we came around the corner. We had no issues though. No traction needed for short snow travel.