One upside of the Sugarloaf Fire is that the crews put fresh gravel down on the Chiwawa River road. It's in great condition and made for an easy drive to the trailhead. Most snow from last weekend has melted off the trail. The river crossing is currently easy. Fall foliage is fading but still nice. The views from the pass are amazing.

These trails and the chiwawa river road are now closed due to the Pomas Fire.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19VmFbsxX9/

We started at Little Giant Trailhead at 11am, planning on doing a loop over up Little Giant Pass, High Pass, and back through Trinity if the river seemed navigable. We were able to forge safely without much issue (water high thigh height). When we got back to our car yesterday around 9pm, we checked out the river again and it was flowing much much faster and higher. 

The trail up to Little Giant Pass was easy to navigate and had few/no blowdowns and no bushwhacking. It is fairly steep (about 1000ft/mile). If you plan to keep going after the pass, get water before the pass---the other side is far more difficult to find water sources until you hit the valley. 

The west side of Little Giant Pass trail was very overgrown, and at times a pretty heady bushwhack. It is clear this half of the trail sees far less use---at times it seemed more a deer trail. In the top half of the descent, there is a fair amount of exposure. At times, there is exposure on section with somewhat loose footing. There are great views of the valley in the sections where the bushwhack is light enough that you can actually look out. Trail is easy to follow. 

Once in the valley, the bushwhack continued until we reached our camp at Louis Creek Falls. Have the map downloaded as there are some sections that are hard to follow. WEAR PANTS. There was a ton of stinging nettle that we went through. There is a fair amount of water through this section. 

Louis Creek Falls Camp is very nice. Easy room for one tent though you could potentially fit 2 or 3 tents. Water is only a hundred yards or so from the camp (on trail). Great views of the Louis Creek Falls from the campsite. Got to camp around 7. 

Left camp about 9am. Louis Creek was still running very high so we bushwhacked a hundred yards or so downstream until we found a spot where we could cross on rocks. It would be fine to forge likely, but we did not want to get our shoes wet. A few more miles of bushwhack until finally things open into easy walking and wide open views. The views were fantastic---Glacier Peak and Clark Mountain dominate while surrounded by wildflowers, streams, and meadows. Around this point, we met our first person of the trip. 

Climbing up to High Pass was laid back. A little bit of steep bushwhacking but mostly moderate climbing with easy trail and incredible views. From High Pass, Glacier, Clark, Baker, Shuksan, and many more mountains were visible. The views of Glacier Peak are really incredible. We were close enough to see the boot pack with our bare eyes at one point. There is a ton of water in this section. 

Coming down from High Pass was a bit sketchy. There is still a snow field that was mandatory to cross that we were not anticipating due to earlier trip reports. I would recommend at least microspikes. We managed to kick steps and make it across safely, but a fall would have resulted in a long unstoppable slide into a boulder field. Likely some broken bones. When we were there around 2pm the snow was firm enough that our steps were stable, but my boyfriend did not have an easy time kicking them in. If snow conditions were less favorable, this snow field would not be passable without the right equipment. 

We did encounter one more snow section crossing the trail about half mile below the pass. This one was very steep with a rock field beneath. We were able to get off the trail and pass underneath it without too much trouble. 

We grabbed water at Buck Creek Pass Camp where we saw a huge marmot and about 5-10 other backpackers. We picked up water at the spring at camp. From here, the trail was easy to navigate for many miles, though there are a large amount of blowdowns. None of these are hard to get over, however. 

The last difficult part of the trail occurred at the Chiwawa River Crossing that is around 3200ft. I assume that the backpackers we saw in the morning had forged without much difficulty, but the river was running very high when we reached it around 7pm. We decided not to risk forging (though we met two backpackers who did successfully forge at that timestamp) and bushwhacked downstream for 5-10 minutes until we found a huge, dry log crossing the river. We crossed on that log, then climbed up and left (mostly using slide alder as ladders) until we hit the trail again. 

Until the trailhead, everything else was cruiser. We were lucky to meet up with the folks who had forged the river at the trailhead and they gave us a ride back to our car which saved us a 3 mile road walk. 

Coros stats say 8150ft gain, 27.5 miles, though I believe it was closer to 23 miles. 

On July 4, I headed to the trailhead and started around 8. Two cars besides mine, no one in sight.

I brought river sandals for the ford, which was about 28-30” at 8 am and a few inches higher and faster when I crossed again around 5pm.

Bugs set in immediately and I’d forgotten spray, but hoped, vainly that they wouldn’t bite through my sunshirt…they seemed to be swarming in certain spots and I ended with about 40 bites on each arm/shoulder. Highly recommend bug spray for this hike :)

After the initial switchbacks, there was filterable running water after the minor descent at 4000ft, and then again at 4500 ft. The initial section up to 4000ft had maybe 15-20 minor deadfalls/step overs, and was lovely and quiet, overgrown with ferns and devils club, I was glad I wore pants.

After the minor descent (200ft) and stream crossing, the trail zigzags across a rocky section marked by cairns, which were clearly a bit challenged and weathered, so I tried to buffer them up a bit. After this, the trail ascends beside a stream emerging from avalanche debris and touches snow at 5400ft. One small and one large snowfield lead to the last steep section before a long gorgeous (and fully exposed) traverse through beautiful alpine meadows with clear views of the range to the east…if the bugs weren’t so persistent I would have gone even slower to take it all in.

At the pass, I took the side trail north to a rocky spot where I could finally see why this place was so special- the views of glacier peak and the winding shire-evoking river below were like nowhere I’ve been. I stayed up there for about 2 hours dodging bugs before heading down around 2:30.

Total trail time : about 4 hours up and 2.5 down…the ford was nearly hip deep for me, so be careful. I only saw two other hikers at 400m away, and the silence was precious.

I drove out the Chiwawa in a VW wagon; some rough spots and dips to take slow, but the road is in decent shape. Post-rain, I would avoid it in a low clearance, 2WD vehicle. There are some spots that definitely get soft and sloppy. 

The quick river crossing at the trailhead was COLD. It was about 32 degrees when I got to the trailhead a little after 0900. Following the trail thru the riverbed was easy peasy and soon enough you find yourself making the little climb out of the valley bottom. Someone else said this trail got 'rude' - I think I agree. You can forget about switchbacking your way up....lazy switchbacks? No. They just don't exist after the first little bit. There was one tree down along the trail, but other than that the trail was free and clear minus some brushy spots. Sounds like some trail folks came thru a few weeks ago and you can see the evidence of that. The trail could use some lopping, but next year.

When you come into the rock area, the cairns appear to have been made by a 6 year old. They're small. They're low. They're easy to lose. Take a couple minutes and look around - you'll find the trail. You'll lose the trail. Then you'll find it again - and maybe even a 12" high cairn. It all works out though. When I popped out above the rock outcropping the smell of the blueberries decaying was intoxicating. But alas, they're mush. Take note of the handful of pine trees on the upper third of that slope....rarities!

Spectacular views at the top. Mine was a wee bit soured by some dude on his cell phone having a conversation...he posted up on Little Giant proper, I believe, and I could hear most of his conversation. Rad. And a backpacker mentioned UAS/drone activity a couple days prior. Anyway, get out and grab some elevation and a solid view of the Richardson glacier. The Napeequa valley is spectacular and the larch have turned!