[kitya]

Squire Creek road is quite brushy and car scratchy, but otherwise generally good. Eventually there is a little turn around spot and two apparently home-made signs stuck to a tree, first sign says "ROAD CLOSED" and second sign says "B.S." and points to the first sign. This is indeed kind of true, post 'road closed' sign things deteriorate quickly, there is one section of the road that is washed out with very narrow slopping down area left and no edge, deep ruts, rockfall leaving narrow passage car can barely squeeze through (if your car is small) and a couple of downed trees (thankfully not too huge) plus more scratchy bushes. It is only a quarter mile from "road closed" sign to the big turn around where road finally is closed for real with a cement block, about 2+ miles from the old original trailhead. Snow was present on the road right from the start and after less than a mile became so deep that I got tired of postholing and put on snowshoes and they stayed on the whole way to the summit. The snow was very deep and very wet and heavy, higher up even on snowshoes I was sometimes going through waist deep and heavy snow would constantly stick and ball up everywhere, making every step somewhat of a struggle. Definitely not anything close to our typical spring cascade concrete, more like fresh wet slushy dump, similar to occasionally big snowy dumps we more typically get in the lowlands. Despite clouds and little rain, avy danger was definitely very high too, I could hear and see large natural avalanches coming every few minutes down on Ulalach and also across on White Horse, Three Fingers and Jumbo. Testing on small slope i rolled just a small snowball and it immediately cascaded into almost the whole slope going down into a mess. Trees were dangerous too, constantly releasing huge wet tree bombs down.

Warning - sad images! I followed fresh mountain lion footprints in the snow, but they led to dense forest and this poor mountain goat.

Cornices on Ulalach are impressive and the whole wall is really steep, yet somehow has snow and even trees in places grabbing on it.

Didn't see any single person, didn't stop anywhere else, didn't use any 'developed recreation sites', didn't fill in gas and it is quite close to my home. Despite the clouds I really loved the views.

[Kim Brown]

I bet your pooch was in his element! Built for that kind of weather and terrain, no? Did you get to the trail head/end of the road? I haven't been there in years, and a lot of work went into putting tread through the washout so hikers wouldn't get lost on that massive face of mud (when it first slid). It would be sad if the road were that overgrown after all that work. It's a beautiful trip. I'd like to find the old cabin back there that the original trail crew built, that included Walt Bailey. They cut 5 big cedars, and there's a concrete platform.

[kitya]

[Kim Brown]

I actually just ran across the writeup about the cabin just yesterday! It was written by Walt Bailey and printed in a Pack & Paddle magazine. He included a photo of the cabin and the tree stumps that were cut. Looks like it was a full-on cabin for the crew, not just a leanto. The photos are quite fuzzy, but I'll take a picture of them tonight and see if they look well enough to post here. He does not describe the location, but has a picture of that big rock that's right on the Squire Cr trail that they slept under before the cabin was built. I can't think of a flat spot other than the Pass where it would have been, or way down by the creek; but the road didn't go that far then, so perhaps it lower down toward town.

[Bootpathguy]

Goat remains. Cool find

[fourteen410]

[Kim Brown]

Found the article! Turns out I'm partially full of baloney; it was a lean-to - but an elaborate one that made me think it was a cabin. Now I seem to recall some flat spots well before the giant talus slope below the Pass. I could be full of baloney on that too. I mean I got a lean-to and a cabin mixed up..... Anyway, I posted the article in the history section here. I'm all hankerin' to get back there!

[kitya]

[Bosterson]

[MangyMarmot]

Nice trip. Thanks for sharing.

[kitya]