Nice little overnight to Mackinaw Shelter and back trying out some new gear. Had the trail to ourselves. Wonderful weekend weather, cool, clear with a little mist in the morning. Began our hike after the clouds burned off on Saturday. Lovely hike along the trail with the dogwood blooming. Trail crew did a great job clearing all the blowdowns and trimming back the brush from the trail. The only water on the trail was at the stream crossings and that was so minor only the soles of our feet got wet. Most people we met were on their way to Glacier Peak, but if you're looking for a little in and out for the weekend, I'd recommend this one.

The N. Fk. Sauk road (#49) and trail is open for business. The Road opened Friday. The Darrington trailcrew is already hard at work, logging out massive trees from across the trail. Trail is clear to nearly Red Creek. Anyone going in, please take them some cookies or a bit of candy; they're working hard and will be out a few more days (or longer). Trail tread is in good condition; some areas brushed in the beginning, but the crew is working on logging out as a priority. The brushy areas are those that are always brushy - soft brush, not a big deal. Shuffle the feet and watch for stinging nettle. The new bridge at Red Creek is still there. I'd like to know how many other bridges (not including naturally placed footlogs) were built at Red Creek. There's a giant cedar stump on the far side with springboard notches, so it looks like another offical crossing was built long ago.

NF-49: snow free between start and mile 7, currently closed to motorized traffic for culvert replacement and maintenance until this summer according to Darrington Park Rangers. Walk, bike or ride your horse. North Fork Sauk River Trail #649: patchy snow starts around 1/2 mile mark, continuous snow starts at 1350 m, about 1 mile past Mackinaw Shelter. There are some longer sections of very dirty and cupped snow in the forest, generally it was easier and faster to walk rather than to skin. The plan was to take 4 days and ski Sitkum Glacier from Baekos Creek. After seeing the terrain from the ridge between White Mountain and Portal Peak and realizing we would be bushwhacking part of the way we changed our minds. The fast approaching front sped up our decision making too. We would have enough time to deal with the bushwhack from Pacific Crest Trail to snow line but would not be able to escape the almost certain rain on Monday. We skied the N side of White Mountain then skinned up toward Glacier Gap via White Chuck Glacier. Set up camp just below the Gap, had a great afternoon in the sun watching the wall of clouds approaching slowly. Woke up at 4 AM, left the camp at 4:45 and made the summit at 8:30 (after a slightly off turn on Cool Glacier which resulted in unplanned bagging of Disappointment Peak). We skinned to 9,600 ft then switched to boot crampons. Both summits were in cold and wet condition and in a near zero visibility, which was the real disappointment. We saw remnants of a skin track above 9,500 ft, it looked few days old. The ski down was not too great but we got to practice skiing in whiteout. Am I going up, am I going down? We escaped the clouds once we were off Cool Glacier. The ski along the ridge below Disappointment Peak was pretty good. 15 minutes before we reached our camp the snow started. Packed up and skied out via White Pass back to Mackinaw Shelter. Picked up our hiking boots, cooked food and decided to get the long wet hike out done in one go. Summiting was nice but next year I hope to get the views as well. Slideshow (with Google Earth map and a screenshot of the forecast): http://www.flickr.com/photos/runningclouds/sets/72157629838439678/with/7251401034/

Forest Road 49 is closed at Mile 0. North Fork Sauk Falls is just a mile up the road, so I did that hike. The trailhead is marked by a new sign, and the trail is in good condition. I think there were two low skinny trees that I had to duck under, but it wasn't a big deal. I had planned on doing North Fork Sauk River, and Red Mountain in the same trip, but those are 7 miles from the closure and I didn't have nearly enough time to attempt them. I added them to this trip report to note the road closure.

Forest Service Road 49 is still closed at MP 0, although the washouts at Penders canyon have obvious repairs, there is no sign of contractors replacing culverts, nor is there any sign the Lost Creek bridge in any stage of replacement. Are repairs still on schedule? If not why not open the road. Enough of that rant. Got a late start did not arrive at the road closure until 10:30 am. The road make for a pleasant bicycle ride. The majority of the tail is in good shape. There are some old growth blow downs a half mile in. None are impediment to hikers, as it is simple to walk around. Beyond blow downs are sporadic, again simple to get around. About a 1.5 miles, flooding erased some of the trail. The creek is easy to hop over though. In places fast growing brush is already hiding the trail. Nettles are present in all brushy sections. A break at the Makinaw Shelter was short lived. The area is infested with Fleas! I've never encountered that many fleas. Charging up the final 3 miles 3000 foot vertical gain to the PCT was a mistake. I quickly became heat exhausted, and retreated to the Sauk River to cool down. As i was only out for the day, i ran short on time to tackle that portion of the trail. So i make my return trip. Round trip 28 miles 10.5 hours.