Headed out this Saturday with plans to hike up the North Fork of the Sauk River Trail and up through Glacier Peak Meadows. Got started about 11am at the trail head and had made it to the Mackinaw Shelter where the climb starts about 1pm. By 3 I had made it up to the Junction with the PCT and headed north. This is where the views start to open up on this hike to Monte Cristo and Sloan Peak.
Moving on to Reds Pass (this is one of my all time favorite views in the Cascades) there was still some snow to be crossed in the valley. Glacier Peak was hiding under some clouds, but still an awesome spot to stop and check out the views for a bit. No issues for me in trail runners on the snow, but there were some longer stretches near the top. I wouldn't expect this to be an issue for much longer though.
After passing through the campsites at the bottom of the valley to the north, I cut off on a trail heading south down into the waterfall in the bottom of the valley. There was still snow over most, but I made it down to the lower part where all the streams are and crossed over those to the bottom of the lowest waterfall.
Heading up past the lower waterfall things open up a lot to a large flat basin where the headwaters of the White Chuck have broken off into 8 different smaller pieces. At the head of the basin is another large waterfall. The path continues up this way and was still mostly under snow. This area was really cool and felt a lot bigger than it was.
After reaching the next "level" of the meadows, again lots of broken off streams and waterfalls. At this point I had lost the trail between stream crossings and snow. There is one big waterfall to the right but I made my way up the steeper side heading north because the map I was using showed the trail picking up there. I did regain the trial and headed up.
At this point it was about 7 and I decided to find a nice flat grassy spot before heading any further up into the rocky basin. I ended up camping at about 6,700 feet in a nice sheltered spot with great views going back up to Reds Pass, Glacier Peak, and the (un-named?) steep ridge the runs south of White Chuck Glacier. The wind picked up as it got dark giving me plenty of time to enjoy the sunset.
The next morning I headed north and into the basin around 9. There was still a lot of snow but not a lot of difficulty moving around. At some point you have to cross over the river running through the middle, and its really really cold but worth the effort. There are some really interesting lakes below to be seen on the north side and views of the White Chuck Glacier and Glacier Peak.
Heading back south, again you have to cross back over the main river in the middle of the basin, but the farther north you stay the easier the crossings are. If you aren't careful though you may end up in a muddy mess. From here I crossed back under the ridge running south along the White Chuck Glacier up to the saddle where the Foam Creek Trail starts. This is still basically snow 95% of the way from the lower basin to the saddle.
I reached the saddle just before noon, and just on the east side there is a large snow patch in a steep area covering the trail that requires weaving in and out of snow and steep hillside to get down. This was likely the sketchiest part of the trip for me due to my feet not letting me hike this far in anything other than trail runners, but it definitely could have been worse and I made it through pretty easily. The walk from here to Whites Pass was classic July Cascade meadow and wildflowers. I made it back to the North Fork Sauk trailhead about 4:30. Overall this was a great loop with a lot of variety.
That's a great loop!
You headed up the switchbacks to intersect the PCT from NF Sauk right in the middle of the day. I've done that a couple times and regretted it both times. Plenty warm and exposed on that south facing slope.
I decided Saturday this would be a good long hike to tackle over the weekend with the good weather before it is too late. There are some good contrasts from my trip here earlier in the year.
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That's a great loop!
You headed up the switchbacks to intersect the PCT from NF Sauk right in the middle of the day. I've done that a couple times and regretted it both times. Plenty warm and exposed on that south facing slope.
