Hiked N. Fork Sauk River trail up to the PCT junction and then from there to Red Pass, where I camped 2 nights. The middle day was spent day-hiking cross-country to the top of the White Chuck Glacier and back. Returned via N. Fork Sauk River trail again on the 3rd day. N. Fork Sauk River trail has some issues: * A short stretch of trail between Rainey Camp and Red Creek has been washed out. It's fairly easy to navigate around this. Follow the newly beaten path. * The bridge over Red Creek has been washed out. The crossing is easily done on logs just a few yards upstream. * About 100 yards of trail before Mackinaw Shelter was extremely brushy. Stinging Nettle is present in abundance here. The trail through this stretch gets very muddy in spots. * At about 4500' an avalanche has left numerous trees across the trail over the course of about a few hundred yards. The first half of this is difficult to navigate. A temporary route straight up through forest exists as an alternative but it can be difficult to follow. The PCT was in pristine condition up to Red Pass. Past there are stretches still covered in snow. Red Pass had some snow providing water. There is very limited camping here. Just enough room for a couple of small tents. On my second day I traveled cross-country from Red Pass to the top of the White Chuck Glacier. It quite an amazing day, exhausting and exhilarating. Even though I had a USGS topo I still had trouble navigating my way to the glacier. This was surprising because the entire route is visible from Red Pass. It just looks completely different up close. The hike out was more pleasant being mostly downhill. The meadows above treeline along the N. Fork Sauk River trail were outstanding. They hold the largest patch of Tiger Lilly I've ever seen, an entire field of them. I also noticed that a horde of mosquitoes seemed to be hanging around the campsite just west of Red Creek. No doubt the existence of this camp is only reason there are so many. Give us all a break and don't camp there in summer. http://www.flickr.com/jasonracey

We started out on the morning of the 10th. Just as we reached the washed out bridge at Red Creek the crew that is fixing it arrived to start work for the day. There is a log in place as of August 13th and they have flattened the top. Their plan is to have it done by week ending August 22nd. If you arrive before it is completed there is an easy crossing on a wide log downstream or a slightly difficult to reach crossing upstream on two parallel logs. After Red creek the trail has a few spots where you have to watch for nettles. Hikers have beat them back but they are still there. Going up the switch-backs the trail is now clear (Thanks trail crew!) all the way up to white pass. We camped for two cloudy days. In that time the weather only permitted a small day hike down to Reflection Pond and the surrounding area. The wildlife in the camping area of White Pass was incredible. We saw a couple different kinds of butterflies, a grouse family supervised the bathroom facilities, and a marmot family presided over all. In fact all up and down the PCT we saw all of these creatures over and over. Going down the North Fork Sauk Trail again we noticed that the maples are turning color already. What a great hike. From spring to fall and from old growth to meadows among mountaintops.

Pilot Ridge -- North Fork Sauk Loop, 30 mi. There's a reason I've done this 2-3 times. A favorite. Thanks to the road and trail crews. This hike circumambulates the entire headwaters of the N. Fork Sauk, off the Mtn. Loop Hwy. Why merely "hike" when you can "circumambulate"? Two 15 mile days make a fine weekend loop, but it can soak up a lot more time than that. It features some low-level old-growth hiking in the N. Fk. Sauk, but it's mostly wide-open ridge hiking above timberline in vast subalpine meadows with stunning views and 1 insect per flower. I recommend midsummer with water still available and wildflowers peaking, i.e., mid July, but anytime with clear visibility will be excellent. It would be a shame to do this trip with impaired views. DEET. Can be very dry in late season. I suggest counterclockwise; this way you'll gain your elevation in the morning shade on a north slope instead of hiking up the south-facing avalanche chute on N. Fk. Sauk Trail in the heat of midday amid maddening bugs, and you'll be hiking out tired on a usually well-maintained trail. Note: N. Fk. Sauk Tr. gets a lot of avalanche and blowdown damage, so check conditions. The route offers 5 walk-up summits: Johnson, Pt. 6562, Kodak, Indian Head (7400), and White Mt (7000). A weekend will not offer time for all of these without controlled substances. Pilot Ridge #652: North Fork Sauk crossing logs are easy, look durable. Check them out before you go clockwise. Less-maintained but in good-enough shape. Climbing steeply up N. slope, it crosses one reliable stream and a smaller stream in a high basin which may dry up in Aug/Sept. This may be your last water until Blue Lake! 7/26/09, there are tiny snow remnants along the ridge and some substantial snow patches under Johnson Mt. that may last through August, but this trail can be brutally hot and dry. Vast meadows in full bloom with world-class views of Sloan and Monte Cristo Range. Get used to it; more follows. Unusual lightning weather robbed us of 3 summits, but ordinarily, Johnson Mt. is de rigeur. We waited out the thundershower at Upper Blue Lake and saw lightning strikes on Johnson. Blue Lake is a lovely campsite. The lake is open; the previous weekend, it was not. Blue Lake High Route #652.1: Mandatory; don't even think of the lower, longer way around, which might even be more work. Drop your pack at the pass and stroll the few hundred easy feet to the summit of Pt. 6562 (higher than Skykomish, June, Benchmark, and Kodak). Unnamed, I call this "Johnson's Little Sister" or "Mt. Woebegone"; with Johnson, it guards the headwaters of N. Fork Sauk, North Fork Skykomish, Sloan Creek, and Little Wenatchee River. A summit snowpatch provides water for an unforgettable bivvy in settled weather with a 358-degree view, which the unusual lightning hazard precluded this time. Dishpan Gap: This is the halfway point. We camped here. Late season, the nearest water might be just below Ward's Pass on the east side. Kodak Peak: If you don't include this easy, scenic summit, trade in your boots for knitting gear. Johnson and 6562, which look so gentle from the other side, are steep and imposing from the east. A fine campsite is 100 yds. up the ridge from the trail at the divide, with shade, and reliable water not far below on the east slopes of Kodak. This might be a better midpoint than Dishpan Gap, but I like to bivvy on Pt. 6562, carefully. Indian Head Peak: Reliable water coming off Indian Head just north of Indian Creek Pass. Easiest ascent begins near jct. with White Creek Trail. Get one of those water bladders from a Starbuck's box, or pack a bag of snow, and you can hump a night's worth of water to a summit like this and spend a night to remember. Did that once. Minor Class 2 or class 3 scrambling near the top. Still a snowpatch along the PCT here, and some stagnant ponds that one could filter or boil. From here to White Pass, it's subalpine meadows to die for, backpacker heaven. A thundershower just missed us, and gave us a rainbow BELOW us in White R. valley. White Pass: Camp is just below the crest on the west. Must be water here somewhere. Reliable-looking stream west of White Pass on the PCT. Glorious place. An obvious, older (sheepherders'?) trail traverses NE along the east flank of White Mtn.; you can follow this as far as possible, then return to the pass via White Mtn. Again, a thundershower provided an alibi for skipping White Mt.; don't miss this if you've not been there before. North Fork Sauk #649: Darrington USFS trail crews have been doing major work here in the middle of an all-time record heat wave. Think of them as you pass. They had it all cleared out, just in time for me. Do your part to clear what you can. New log bridge over Rec Creek will be finished by the time you read this; I got to see the job in-progress, with big cable winches. Thanks to Mindy, who gave me spare camera batteries. Just walkin' the dog.

Some complications here, but getting better every day thanks to the USFS crew camped at Red Creek (they are taking up the whole camp). Trail's in great shape that far. Then there's a bridge missing at Red Ck and the crossing's either on fallen logs up- or down-stream, or a ford across a wide stretch downstream. Neither is all that tough. Then they are building a bypass of a stretch of trail that drops down to the riverbank another mile or so upstream -- the bypass is NOT complete as of this writing so don't take it, since it dead-ends shortly. Follow the old trail and pick your way around some new river channels and down trees, not too tough, then climb back up a bit. Mackinaw shelter is intact and the camping area around it is pretty darn nice. We spent first and last nights there. Fire ring and everything. On the ascent up to White Pass beware of an avalanche blowdown swath that obliterates the trail through two switchbacks. This could be treacherous since you might assume the trail crossed the swath, but it doesn't it switchbacks (twice) in the middle of it! So until they clear or bypass this, just turn left straight upslope when you come to it (there's a cairn) and keep left of the blowdown and keep going up till you hit the trail, take a left and then when you hit it again, do the same thing again until the trail takes off to the left and keeps going. A few more individual blowdowns to go around/over and finally you traverse up across the ocean of meadow up to the PCT junction. From there it's a level(er) half mile to White Pass where you'll be directed by "Camp Elsewhere" signs to not camp in the pass saddle, but down below on a little plateau, where there's easy water and a nice little forest potty-box with what's gotta be the best view ever (on a clear day). Views? Oh, my oh my. Sloan Peak and the Monte Cristo Group are stars of the show, with Indianhead and Johnson Mtn right there, too. Glacier Peak (DaKobed) remains hidden behind White Mountain. Next day we followed the PCT to Red Pass and scrambled up Portal Peak! NOW you're talkin views! DaKobed of course is RIGHT THERE, and her sisters Tahoma (Rainier) and Koma Kulshan (Baker) are on the horizons. Mt. Stuart in the distance. Tons of North Cascades beauty in all directions! So we ambled back down and then went up onto the ridge leading to White, and "ran" it for a mile or so eastward, for ongoing 360 views. The easiest way up is a little ways back down the PCT south, then a sharp left up a gully, to avoid the first few rock spurs which are pretty gnarly and covered with those tight-knit trees that are so tough to negotiate with. Past that it's wide-open up-and-down as far as you care to go east. We didn't bag White Mtn, but rather traversed down the steep meadow through marmot and grouse land back to the White Pass camp. Grouse-thumping and marmot whistles were frequently heard. Next day we dropped back down to Mackinaw and finally were out by mid-afternoon the next day. Met a lot of others climbing Glacier -- I guess with the White Chuck and Suiattle roads so badly damaged this is the best west-side approach now! No volcano climbing for us, just soaking up the views and flowers in the 6-7000 ft zone! A great week! More photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/pfitech.seanet.com/20090715NForkSaukRiver

Road and trail in good condition. We ran into a WTA work party who were hard at work making it better. They had been packed in by horses, and there was lots of horse apples on the trail. Wonderful old trees. We walked past the work party to where the trail started switchbacking up. On the drive out, we stopped to walk down to the N Fork Sauk Falls. What a magnificent waterfall! The volume was enormous. None of the descriptions of this trail ever mentioned this fantastic waterfall.