This trip was originally a 4-day 3-night loop planned, but turned into an overnight with how badly day 1 and start of day 2 beat me up. For reference purposes Day 1 from Jack Trout TH to junction of Meadow Creek/French Creek was about 14.86 miles with almost 6k gain. Day 2 was Meadow Creek/French Creek Junction to Paddy-go-Easy TH which was 6.83 miles and about 1,100ft gain.
TL;DR:
Blackjack Ridge Trail: fine to summit, after that: NOPE!
Snowall Crade Trail: (btw blackjack & meadow creek) defined trail but lots of blowdowns
Meadow Creek Trail: (btw snowall & french creek) defined but overgrown and massive blowdown smattering near french creek
French Creek Trail: (btw meadow creek & paddy go easy pass) overgrown, lots of blowdowns near the base, fine once you get higher above tree line and more exposed
Paddy-go-Easy Trail: Paddy-go-up-over-under-around-between blowdown after blowdown. complete loss of trail in the middle. NOPE!
Road Conditions: Icicle Rd to Jack Trout Trail is mostly paved, and then gravel all the way. No potholes or any issues. Very well kept. Pit toilet available at the TH. Cle Elum Valley Road has a big washout at Scatter Creek TH - high clearance vehicles seemed to be able to cross and pass with no problem, but was decently wide and deep, not flowing too fast tho.
Trail Conditions:
Blackjack Ridge Trail: DOES NOT EXIST after the summit. Even getting to the summit the last bit is not well defined, but easier to navigate to. The trail on the map shows the junction to Snowall Cradle at roughly 5850ft - the actual junction is about 500ft lower at 5380ft. My guess is the entire trail sits 500ft lower, which makes sense as I ended up in some very dangerous situations on cliff faces and steep terrain trying to navigate according to the map. Trail is in great condition up to the summit, but prepare for 2 miles that are over 1k gain each! Worth the effort as the views are incredible at the summit, just turn around and go back though.
Snowall Cradle Trail: from the Blackjack Ridge Junction to Meadow Creek, the trail is in decent shape with a smattering of blowdowns. A few hairy sections that lose trail, and enough to tire you out (especially after miles of wayfinding and no trail).
Meadow Creek Trail: from snowall cradle junction to french creek junction, the trail was well defined, which was a much needed morale boost at the time, but is still very overgrown and a nightmare patch of blowdowns just before french creek junction. Lots of muddy sections here as well. I believe this trail only exists and is visible right now because some horses went thru (thankfully).
French Creek Trail: from meadow creek junction to Paddy-go-Easy Pass, lots of overgrowth and bushwhacking, really back jungle gym blowdowns to start and a handful as you make your way up. The trail seems really delicate in some sections like one step away from being lost to a landslide so tread carefully. Decently easy to follow, did lose the trail in a meadow nearer to the pass - follow the dried up creek rock beds to the right.
Paddy-go-Easy Pass Trail: from the pass down to the TH, fine at the pass then absolute obliteration of blowdowns. It wasn't too bad to start, just very annoying and slow going, but the middle is just complete loss of trail and more route navigating. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this trail until it gets cleaned up and reestablished. (previous trip report mentioned the same, trust me, they are bad, if you're looking for a sign, this is it).
Animals/Bugs: no animal sightings, but saw tons of bear scat along meadow creek trail. Also, tons of horse poop. Bugs weren't too bad. I did notice the mosquitos were the worst near paddy-go-easy pass, so I imagine if you're camping at sprite lake, they may be pretty unpleasant there. Otherwise they were around but not swarming or unbearable.
Water sources: this route was pretty dry, so definitely fill up when you can. Blackjack ridge had a small trickle about a mile up, and then not til I went down the mountain a ways was there a creek off trail. For being named Meadow Creek, there wasn't a ton of water until closer to French Creek junction. Both sides of Paddy-go-Easy were pretty dry with only a couple of small streams higher up from what I recall.
Other: there was nice camping spots at the meadow creek/french creek junction near a creek that has a nice little pool area to dip in. Also, highly recommend blackjack mountain, as a day hike or overnight summit and back down, but beyond that - do yourself a favor, and just don't.
Happy Trails (are found on other trails better maintained than these)
:-)
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