North Fork Sauk River — Saturday, Jul. 10, 2004

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

I had been hearing so many contradictory reports on the state of the North Fork Sauk trail that I decided to have a look for myself this past Sunday. I ended up going all the way to Red Pass and back in about 11 hours of hiking. Except for the 20 or so trees down on the trail, it is in pretty good shape Here are some of the specifics: Necessary (Green Trails) maps - Sloan Peak (#111) and Glacier Peak (#112). round trip distance - 20 miles Total elevation gain - 4,500 ft Trip time - 11.5 hours calories expended - 5,000 As already stated, there are many trees down across the trail. Some of them are enormous. They slow you down a bit but are generally pretty easy to get around. The log that allowed a dry crossing of Red Creek (approx 4 miles from TH) is no longer there. Bring some sandles and ford it. The water was mid calf - an easy ford. About 1/4 mile of Makinaw Shelter there is a short (200 or 300 yd) section of trail which has been chewed up by the river but it is easy to get through. Within about 1/8 mile of Makinaw Shelter, there is an open section of trail (maybe 200 yds long) which is so overgrown that you can't see your feet. If you pass through here in the morning you will get soaked. Bring 3 pairs of socks! Between Trail Head and Red Pass there are only 2 places where you will see any snow on the trail: About 1/4 mile from the junction with the PCT there is a gully with snow in it - about 15' across. A slip here could be catastrophic, but without too much difficuly you can climb above this patch if you don't have an ice axe. There is no snow at all above the junction with the PCT until you are right at Red Pass. Approx 200 yds short of the pass there is a 100 yd snow patch with good run out - not dangerous. The basin north of Red Pass (Glacier Peak Meadows) still has a lot of snow - but it's perhaps 30% melted out and going fast. There are no biting flies yet and the only mosquitoes I noticed were at Red Creek. Lots of marmots and Indian Paintbrush. Enjoy!