The Glacier Peak Area - The Suiattle River trail receives a lot of use by horses and hikers and receives a lot of maintenance from the Backcountry Horseman of Washington. The trail is in good shape up to the Skyline Bridge over the Suiattle River at mp 11.4. There is a bridge-crossing at mp 3.0 that was the site of a horse-injury accident earlier this year and riders should take care there. The new Canyon Creek bridge (mp 7.0) looks nice, but is suffering from the Galloping-Gurdy effect. Just the weight of a hiker’s foot steps is enough to cause this rustic suspension bridge to start bouncing. It will be closed in mid-October to solve this problem. I reached the intersection with the Miner’s Ridge trail in good time and headed up the steep trail toward the ridge. I stopped at Sunnybrook camp and cooked myself dinner, but decided not to stay. It’s a nice site, but there’s no water or views. I reached the ridge before nightfall and climbed the steps of the 200’ lookout tower. It’s been shuttered up for the winter, but the deck was wide enough for my bivy sack so I settled in my sleeping bag and watched the sun set on the northern flanks of Glacier Peak while I scorched a Macanudo Portfino. The night skies were crisp, clear and cool at 6200’. I awoke to an equally wonderful sunrise and longed till 9:00am before heading toward Image Lake and the backpackers campground just to the southeast - both completely deserted on another fine day. I turned off the Miner’s Ridge Trail onto the Canyon Lake Trail. This officially un-maintained trail drops quickly as it works its way around the Canyon Creek drainage below Plummer and Sitting Bull mountains. The trail is battered, but passable as it re-enters forest on the north side of the drainage. There are many trees down across the trail, but the largest of them have had steps or hand-holds chopped into them to make crossing them easier. The trail rapidly regains elevation as it leaves forest and re-enters alpine meadows studded with pillows of rocks. The Canyon Lake Trail is just 6 miles from the junction, but it was taking much longer to get there than I expected and I still couldn’t see it from the trail. I dropped my pack and pulled out my map for the twentieth time that day (always a good excuse to take break) when I heard the thumping are large paws nearby. A few hundred yards away a large black bear was tearing down the hillside in front of me. I assumed it had caught wind of me and was on its way outa’ there, but it surprised me when it stopped on the trail and started running toward me (maybe surprised isn’t the best word). I jumped up on a small rise and clapped and shouted. He executed a sharp turn and headed back down hill again. The bear looked over its shoulder as it ran to get fuzzy glimpse of a pot-bellied primate decorated in a blur of bright, mismatching colors, waving its arms and yelling ""Ya bear! Ya bear!"". It ran faster. The bear stopped behind a large boulder less than 100 yards off the trail. I suspect it may have had a den under the boulder. I suddenly remembered how much I enjoyed sleeping on the deck of the lookout and turned around, hiking all the way back to the lookout, up the stairs, slammed the trap door behind me and enjoyed an encore performance of the previous night’s experience. The reversal of my plans allowed me to look down upon Image Lake surrounded by fall color, lit by the late-evening sun. Not bad. I hiked all the way out the next day. The Suiattle River trail is one of those that’s a nice hike in, but amazingly becomes twice as long on the way out. 57½ hours in one of the most beautiful areas in the Cascades and I encountered only two people ... and one bear.

Working six days a week doesn't leave a fellow much time for hiking, let alone volunteering. Lucky me, a whole weekend off. I tried to come up last weekend, however, snow in Oso detered me. Only three cars at the trailhead' I thought this was like a superhighway of a trail. The trail is wide and flat, hardly a stone out of place. I suspect this is due in part to the efforts of the Backcountry Horsemen, whom I have seen working on this trail. Here a camp, there a camp. At six miles is a wonderful camp at the Canyon Creek crossing. A perfect place to introduce your children or spouse to camping away from the car. The Canyon Creek bridge (originally built in 1953 by the USFS, and redecked in 1989 by the Backcountry Horsemen) will be receiving a much needed overhaul this spring/summer. Check with the rangers before planning a cross-creek adventure. I feel very fortunate to have seen no evidence of horses on this trail. I saw a couple in their 60's moving quickly up the trail, one of only two groups I saw today. Plenty of wildlife was visible, as the noisy river drowns out loud footsteps. I let a lady with two big dogs running up on me have it. Nobody likes it when someone's (gr) dogs run at them. All in all, no rain, so I give it a ten. It took five hours to do the twelve miles.