[Slugman]

I headed up the West cady ridge trail with Daisy at 10 am on Monday, June 20th, each of us weighed down by a gallon of water in addition to our regular overnight load. There are several streams crossed, but only in the first mile or so, then nothing but snow to melt the rest of the trip. The trail starts out in a beautiful forest with trees as big as you will see just about anywhere, Doug firs and Cedars mostly, but other kinds as well. The swithbacks are continuos, at an easy grade designed for horses. Eventually the forest gives way to semi-open spaces with smaller trees, then finally reaches the ridge crest and an awesome viewpoint. The sun was beating down fiercely, but a decent breeze kept things reasonable. The next section of the trail is not my favorite. There are several non-decript bumps to go up and down, up and down, with scrub trees blocking most of the views, and no real flowers or open meadows to speak of. Finally, just before Point 5375, the good part begins, open meadows, flowers, expanding views, nice campsites (the first of the trip), and a couple of tiny snowbanks, soon to be gone. There are a couple of horse-fouled ponds, which I wouldn't drink out of if it was filtered, boiled and iodined. Blech! Because I was now totally exhausted after hiking six miles and gaining 3,000 vertical feet on a super-hot day with a heavy pack, we camped at the spot that is exactly at the top of Point 5375, the best one we saw on the whole trip. The sunset was great, and a giant full moon soon rose. Tuesday morning I decided to continue on to Benchmark mtn and then hike all the way out, a tough day for me. It wasn't wasted. Benchmark mtn is a totally fine destination, with huge rolling meadows, interesting trees and boulders, great flowers just getting going, and views in every direction from the top. There is a summit register, which I signed for Daisy and me, but I put the wrong date for my visit, the 22nd, when it was the 21st. Oh well. We hung out at the summit for quite a while, taking pictures and exploring a bit past the summit. I could see three volcanoes, Mt Baker, Mt Rainier, and of course Glacier peak nearby. There were also many other fine peaks visible, like most of the Monte Cristo peaks, Daniel, Hinman, Catherdral, Johnson, June, and others too numerous to mention. Having hiked in this area several times before, I was able to indentify almost every nearby ridge, trail, gap, pass, and peak, which was cool, and unusual for me. At about 2 pm, it appeared some thunderstorms might be gathering, so we bailed, since we had 8 miles still to go, and my tent was still set up at Point 5375. We got back and packed everything up just as the lighting started at 4 pm, with us still on the exposed ridge, not good. But the storm seemed to be passing between us and the trailhead, but also coming towards us, so I decided to hike back as fast as possible, since waiting it out on a high ridge didn't appeal to me. The wind and the blowing clouds got worse as we went, but there was no turning back. We made it to the viewpoint at the top of the main ascent with no real problems, but then all heck broke loose. From there to the car, almost four miles and 2,200 ft down, it was nothing but giant hail, torrential rain, and super-close lightning strikes that would light up the forest, with the thunder coming about one second after the flash. We got completely drenched, but thankfully it was warm enough not to cause problems. I had a crappy piece of plastic covering my pack, and I feared the worst, but it miraculously kept everything completely dry. Whew! I must dash to work now, but I will post some pics tonight.

[Tazz]

good trip report. Good job. You know you have to go back up to change the date on the reg. I'm glad you two made it out safe.

[Slugman]

Thanks. Sorry for the typos, I'll correct them later. I thought about leaving a nwhikers patch in the summit register, so someone else could retrieve it later, but I chickened out.

[phillyjon]

[Damian]

Not far after you reach the top, there is a faint trail to the right that leads to an excellent spring gushing from the side of the hill. Keep that in mind next time and save yourself some water weight.

[jimmymac]

[Damian]

I recall it being a mile or so once you reach the top and the trail flattens out. Not sure how far it actually was.