Crystal Lake, Circle Peak — Saturday, Oct. 9, 1999

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

There are over 2000 trails in this state. Most of them are good hard workers sometimes one goes bad or gets lost, then they call me, I’m a trail detective. I was working the day shift out of trailicide when I first heard about her. Seems that the cutoff between Circle Creek and Crystal Lake had disappeared. She was one of those trails you want to take care of. A shortcut to Crystal Lake and Meadow Mountain without the road walk. She had the kind of come-hither look that said, ""Walk all over me with your heavy boots"". The usual suspects were given the third degree. Beckey said she was the preferred route to Circle Peak and was last seen leaving the Crystal Creek tail at the second switchback ¾ of a mile from the lake headed in a northwesterly direction. 100 Hikes in the Glacier Peak area said the Forest Service would soon close the Circle Creek Road and use her to access to Circle Peak. The sketch map showed her leaving the Circle Peak Trail before the first meadow going over the ridge. Green Trails 1997 revision of the Sloan Peak quad didn’t show her but clearly showed the switchback and trail where the intersection should be. The latest Forest Service Map clamed up and didn’t even mention the Circle Creek Road, Circle Peak Trail, or nothing. It’s older brothers from the 70’s told of all of them though. There were reports on WTA from folks saying the Circle Peak Trail was in good shape but abandoned by the guy who shoulda taken care of her, the USFS. I called up my partner Mark Trail and said we should look for her this weekend with Trace (the trail dog) because the snow had finally melted and we were between hunting seasons. We didn’t want to be thrashing around the woods near logging roads with an animal whose tail resembled that of a mule deer. So we packed up Friday night in a downpour and left in the morning for Circle Creek Road No. 2703. The road, a spur off Rat Trap Pass No. 27 was in fine shape to the end but wasn’t talking. We headed up the gravel through a clear-cut at the road end following Trace’s tail, and then intersected a trail traversing the hill. She came in from the right heading up the hill. She was a bit time worn but sweet with old squeaking bridges and puncheon. She led us up to a couple broad meadows that would be nice to lie around in for a while. Then she led us astray switch backing up a snowy hillside. The altimeter said we were way too high to go where we wanted. Turned out she was just that old tramp, the Circle Peak Trail. So we headed back down looking for the right intersection. We never found an intersection but descended all the way to the clear-cut and headed up toward the ridge between Circle Creek and Crystal Creek where we saw a new blaze. It was a typical clear-cut ascent through slash and mud. At the ridgecrest the way got easier and we ascended until we thought we saw a way down. It was incredibly steep and slippery hanging Trace up in brush at one point. There we found her, right where Becky said she would be. She was going downhill fast with a one-way ticket for green hell. She had been hanging with loggers and was covered with slash and trash. Then brush got higher and thicker and she was gone again. We were confident there would be an intersection with the Crystal Creek trail at about 4000 feet. We had put a GPS waypoint at the intersection point, but we passed below the point without even Trace seeing a trace of a trail. Finally we hit the old road up Crystal Creek not shown on the Green Trails Map, but now serving as a trail. She will be gone in a year or two like her sister if not brushed. We ascended in brush and mud until it went straight up to intersect the old trail at 4200 feet. We stumbled into Crystal Lake basin after 4 hours and camped under bright stars for the night. The next morning frost was everywhere and the meadows were frozen solid. We headed off for the extension of the Meadow Lake Trail the Sierra Club guide had promised. We found a decent tread coming down to the east end Crystal Lake and Trace bounded up it. The tread disappeared in a rocky meadow but a faint path led upward before disappearing in snow. At the crossing of the ridge the tread resumed and a large cairn was seen. The tread disappeared in deep snow but Meadow Lake could be seen below and Glacier Peak in winter attire was in the distance. We turned around, as we knew there was a long ways home. Giving up on ever finding the cutoff we put a GPS waypoint at a small 5200-foot pass that was right above the last meadow on the Circle Peak Trail. We left the Crystal Lake Trail traversing up through steep but open woods following benches but no trail crossing the ridge at 5100 feet. A check of the GPS showed that it was a long ways down through steep woods to the trail, so we continued up the ridge. We found the pass 5200’ and saw several trees had been sawed here. There was still no trail. We debauched into the meadow below where we picked up that old tramp the Circle Peak Trail and rode her home. The moral of the story is if you find a trail you like you have to take care of her, or she will leave you.