[Dayhike Mike]

Preamble: Lime Ridge is a place I've been looking at on the map for almost a decade now. A string of lakes nestled high on a ridgeline, just a stone's throw away from Glacier Peak. How could you go wrong with a location like that? It had to be nice. Unfortunately, access was diminished when the flooding back in 2003 wiped out bridges over Milk Creek and the Suiattle River. And additional flooding in 2004 and 2006 wiped out enough of the road to make even getting to a trailhead a 12 mile one-way trip. After the initial flooding, I figured that I'd wait until the Forest Service replaced the bridges...why ford a swiftly flowing river if you don't have to, right? After many many years of delays and foot dragging by the Forest Service, I finally realized that government bureacracy was working on geologic time and I might be dead before they get around to making their intended repairs. Better off doing it sooner, rather than later. Getting There: So Tom and I headed out early Tuesday morning, ready to conquer the high route along Lime Ridge. We finally arrived at the end of the road around 10:45. Unloaded the bikes, pulled on the boots, and finished loading our packs. The ride up the valley went relatively quickly. Roughly 2 hours after leaving the cars, we arrived at the Suiattle River Trailhead. The next step involved finding a way across the Suiattle. This took a bit more time than anticipated. Nothing looked good near the old bridge site...everything was too swift, too deep. We found a place a little farther down the river where the river fanned out and split into three separate channels. A few hesitations, a few false starts, and we ended up making it across to the sandy shores on the far side. From there, we continued on up the valley, bushwhacking our way to the old Milk Creek trail and then following the overgrown trail to the first creek crossing and the old Pipeline trail. After filtering some water, we headed on up. The trailbed was in pretty decent shape...faint in places, but well defined where it mattered. It doesn't mess around, heading steeply straight up the hillside. Unfortunately, a few hundred feet up the hillside, there were a few sections of blowdown and we completely lost the trail. Tom searched right, I searched left, but there was just nothing. We probably should have spent more time looking for it, but we were in a hurry. The extra time spent figuring out the river crossing had put us way behind schedule and we were racing the daylight and trying to get up the hillside as quickly as possible. In spite of this setback, we continued on up the steep duffy hillsides. Incredibly steep, but we made good time. We dodged right, then back to the left, and then as luck would have it we hit upon a bit of a bench at 3500 feet and... "Trail!" Light was fading fast and we really didn't want to risk losing the faint track again, so we decided to call it a day. The Traverse: The next morning, we made short work of the trail on up and quickly reached the meadows and creek at 4700'. Twenty minutes (and many berries) later we were basking in the sun and enjoying the largest of the Box Mountain Lakes. The most striking thing to me was the number of social trails around the lakes...this place had been pretty well loved to death...and the fact that pretty much all of those trails were now covered in moss, delicate tendrils of heather, and/or lush ground cover. From here we worked our way around the left side of the lake, and up the waterfall coming out of the upper lake. Swam and enjoyed a few backcountry pizzas in the scenic company of the upper lake, and then continued on up a steep creek / gully to reach the large unnamed lake underneath Lime Mountain, then Rivord, and finally on to camp at Upper Twin Lake. The next morning, we headed on down the trail, working up and over the ridgeline to get a few good views of Glacier and reach Milk Lakes. Enjoyed the beautiful color on the lower lake before continuing on the picturesque trail to a tarn for lunch again. Worked our way over the ridgeline and descended the blueberry filled hillsides to Lime Lake. Swam, fished, and took more pictures before heading on up the ridgeline and continuing on toward Mica Lake. From this point, the nature of the route takes on a very different tack. Up to this point, our route had been relatively well defined -- steep and overgrown in places, but a nice trail for the most part. From the ridgeline above Lime Lake to Mica Lake, there is only the occasional cairn, infrequent boot wear, and natural benches to guide the way. Steep talus, loose rocks, a little exposed sidehilling, and one hard snowfield later, we were looking down at Mica Lake. Looking down at the lake, already in the shadows, we decided it might be nicer to camp high on Fire Creek Pass. So we filled up our water bottles at a tarn and then traversed across steep, exposed mud, heather, and cliffbands to reach the PCT and rise on up to the pass. From there, we enjoyed a glorious sunset and great views of the surrounding peaks as clouds moved in and enshrouded the hillsides beneath us. Getting Home Again: The next morning, we headed up point 6914' to get great views of Glacier Peak and the melted out lake underneath the Milk Lake Glacier. Enjoyed the sunny views and descended back to camp to pack up and head out for the long walk home. Dropped to Mica Lake and were amazed by the absolutely beautiful blues there before beginning our final descent down the million switchbacks on the f-ing stupid PCT. Near the bottom, we found the trail work that Iron had mentioned in his trip report and were kinda overwhelmed by some of the horrible decisions made in the trail routing. Amazing numbers of trees were completely undercut, massive supporting root structures completely slashed and discarded. This trail building may have been in response to a washed out trail elsewhere, but the new one doesn't look much more secure in the wet, muddy hillside, and I don't imagine it'll be long before the trees they mangled either die and/or are blown over and lie across the new trail. Once we reached the bottom of the valley, we crossed the Milk Creek on the new bridge, and headed down the valley. The Milk Creek trail has been unmaintained for the last six years. To say that it was overgrown is a vast understatement. Sections of it are sheltered by deep forest, and in those sections the worst one needs to deal with are the multitude of blowdowns, but the head-high brush, thorny vines, nettles, and devil's club were beyond anything I'd ever expected to encounter. In a few sections, we needed to retrace our steps to make sure we were still on trailbed and try to figure out where it'd gone and why it'd gone there. In any case, we made relatively good time, racing through the 6 miles of valley trail in roughly 4 hours, and made it back to the crossing of the Suiattle River at 7pm. We were thankful to be across the river as the sun's light faded away and pulled on our headlamps for the last mile of hiking and then the 12 mile bikeride out. All in all a great adventure. The only real "tragedy" was that I forgot my camera at home. (Suffice it to say that I'm looking forward to seeing Tom's pictures almost as much as you are.)

[Tom]

Day 1:

Taking a picture break along the 12 mile bike ride

Suiattle River From Road

Mike Above Ladder at Downey Bridge Washout

Trail Mushrooms

Remnants of Former Bridge over Suiattle

Former Bridge Crossing Over Suiattle

Swift and Deep - I Don't Think We'll Be Crossing Here!

Mike Crossing Suiattle on Relatively Calm and Shallow Side of Isthmus

Flip Flop Mike

Day 2:

Morning Sun - Did We Get Nuked Last Night?

???

Arriving at Meadows Below Box Lakes

Outlet Tarn Below Lower Box Lake

Lower Box Lake Outlet

Lower Box Lake Outlet Area

Lower Box Lake

Outlet Waterfall from Upper Box Lake into Lower Box Lake

Lower Box Lake from SE Shoreline

Mike Free Climbing Waterfall Slabs to Upper Box Lake

Waterfall Outlet from Upper Box Lake

Lower Box Lake from Top of Waterfall

Arriving at Upper Box Lake

Upper Box Lake Outlet

Lower Box Lake and Dome Peak

Fall Colors at Upper Box Lake

Shallow Upper Box Lake

Rising Above Upper Box Lake

Upper Rivord from Outlet Area

Shadows Falling on Upper Rivord Outfall

Leaving Upper Rivord Lake

First Views of Lower Rivord Lake

Descending to Lower Rivord Lake

Lower Rivord Lake

Fall Colors at Lower Rivord Lake

Lower Rivord Lake from Outlet Area

Rising Above Lower Rivord Lake

First Views of Glacier Peak

Dome from Upper Twin Lake

Day 3:

Dayhike Smurf at Upper Twin

Morning at Upper Twin

Beautiful Upper Twin Lake

Southern End Of Upper Twin Lake

Upper Twin Lake from South

Upper Twin Lake from Outlet Area

Fall Color at Upper Twin Lake

Lower Twin from Upper Twin

South End of Upper Twin Lake

Reflections in Upper Twin

Morning Shadows on Upper Twin

Upper Twin Lake

Lower Twin Lake

Rising Above Lower Twin Lake

Lower Twin Lake from Ridge

Arriving at Lower Milk Lake

Northern End of Lower Milk

Fall Color at Lower Milk Lake

Lower Milk Lake Outlet

Milk Meadows

Lower Milk Lake from NE

Lower Milk Lake

Shallow Southern End of Lower Milk Lake

Upper Milk Lake

Rising Above Lower Milk Lake

Upper Milk Lake from Outlet

Looking Back to Milk Lakes

Glacier Peak from Lime Ridge

Tarn North of Lime Lake

Descending to Lime Lake

Mike Preparing to Swim at Lime Lake

Lime Lake Shoreline

Glacier Peak from Lime Traverse to Mica

Looking Back to Traverse from Lime to Mica

Glacier Peak Rising Above Point 6698'

Looking North from Fire Creek Pass

Dome from Camp Above Fire Creek Pass

Sun Setting Between Pugh and Three Fingers from Camp

White Chuck at Sunset from Camp

Whitehorse at Sunset from Camp

Day 4:

Mica Lake from Camp Above Fire Creek Pass

Baker, Chaval, and Shuksan from Point 6914' (Fire Mountain and Lime Ridge In Foreground)

Dome, Sinister, Gunsight, Agnes, and Grassy Point from Point 6914'

Cadet, Sloan, and Bedal from Point 6914'

Ranier and Black Mountain from Point 6914'

Kyes, Monte Cristo, Columbia, and Cadet from Point 6914'

Marker on Point 6914'

Mica Lake from Point 6914'

Daniel and Hinman from Point 6914'

Pugh, Three Fingers, and Whitehorse from Point 6914'

Former Milk Lake Glacier and Glacier Peak

Descending Back to Camp (Fire Creek Pass and Fire Mountain in Background)

Mica Lake, Glacial Tarn, and Views East from Camp Above Fire Creek Pass

Fall Color and Glacial Tarn Below Fire Creek Pass

Arriving at Glacial Tarn

Dayhike Mike at Glacial Tarn

Leaving Glacial Tarn

Descending to Mica Lake

Approaching Mica Lake

Mica Blue

Mica Lake from PCT

East Shoreline of Mica Lake

Mica Lake

Mica Lake from Outlet

Dayhike-a-Mica Filtering

The new and improved PCT - built to last!

A thru hiker suffering from Stockholm Syndrome let us know the 5% grade switchbacks of the PCT were needed to "reduce erosion"

Milk Creek from New PCT Bridge

Looking Back To Southern End of Lime Ridge (from PCT Milk Creek Bridge)

Roman Soldier Helmet Trail?

Not the PCT? Thank Heavens!

Into the Void

White Fungus Along Milk Creek Trail

Bridge Over Milk Creek

I Think We're On Trail Again!

Glacier Peak from Roman Soldier Helmet Trail

Milk Creek Trail Puncheon

I guess some special folks get to drive the 12 miles of closed road - WTF?!?

Lime Ridge per Google Earth

Next time check Google Earth for unmapped lakes before leaving, doh!!!

[JimK]

Kim is going to hate you. That's a trip I very much want to do.

[Magellan]

I have seen a few awesome reports from you guys, but I will say it right now. This is the best one ever. Gorgeous lakes, incredible weather, and just enough bushwacking to be fun, what more could a fella want? I was introduced to the concept of unmapped lakes from Fire Mt, right in your neighborhood. A couple of questions: Since I thought it was impossible to drive down the closed portion, how did it happen? Was the car parked at Downey Bridge? Are people going to hunt down this 'law-breaker' of a person via license plate?

[naturealbeing]

Way to exploit an area that's seldom visited. Tom's pictures are way more beautiful than I ever imagined that area to be. Nicely done guys! Before the bridges were discombooberated I was planning a trip in there, but needless to say Mother Nature rearranged the furniture before I could get it done. Now you two have rekindled the fire big time! Thanks for lifting the veil of mystery and sharing the wealth of visionary dreams.

[Tom]

The road is perfectly drivable to Downey (10 miles from the road closed sign) if you have a vehicle with any sort of clearance. On the way back I noticed the "road closed" sign does indicate in small print an exception for vehicles with a permit. Personally I think this is bullsh##. I did call in the license plate to the Darrington Ranger Station but nobody returned my call. Official vehicle or not, I was tempted to let the air out of their tires. That way they'd have to walk the extra miles like everyone else.

[Malachai Constant]

Great report of my former very most favorite sekret place. Not much point in secrecy now . It looks like it has pretty much reverted to the way it was when we first went there. I guess you cannot get there to sleep on Friday night when leaving after work Are there still remnants of tread between the lakes? I remember not being able to sleep next to Twin Lakes for the fish jumping.

[chiwakum]

[Sadie's Driver]

Tom/DHM - Absolutely gorgeous! Thank you, thank you. s.d.

[Matt]

I hate you also, but only in the most positive kind of way. I've been wanting to do that trip for years. Of course, lots of people have been saying they want to go to Lime Ridge, but you guys went ahead and got it done. Nice job on the route-finding. Beautiful photos also. The lakes look wonderful.

[iron]

holy sh*t! DHM: i agree with your assessment on the trail work. they really butchered the roots of a ton of trees and the slope stability is questionable at best. maintaining the PCT standard grade... sure, but what's the point if it washes out all the time and looks like the ugly switchbacks on the north side of the suiattle???

[jenjen]

Someone described the Pipeline as a mudslick created by falling hikers. Sounds like that's still a good description.

[hikapath]

The upper lake below Lime Mountain is Upper Rivord lake--there are two Rivord lakes--Upper and lower

[Tom]

Without exception, the trails I'm happy to hike on to get to the high country were flagged by competent navigators.

[DIYSteve]

Excellent