[George Winters]

Did any of the group that did this trip (Lime Ridge High Route) loose a fishing pole and water bottle along milk creek trail? I found the two items and am trying to find posts on this route. It is more likely someone doing the route this year lost these, but I have not found a likely post. I put this in the lost and found too.

[Dayhike Mike]

Thanks for checking George but I'm pretty sure we didn't lose either in there. Did you cross the Suiattle or wander down Milk Creek from the top end? Pretty lonely stretch of "trail", isn't it?

[George Winters]

I crossed the Suiattle. I did see evidence of somewhat recent travel by others. I also lost the trail entirely in one section where gravel seems to have overrun the trail. I expected the worst from the various reports, but it was still worse than I expected. I am glad I at least was there on a day that the brush was dry. The unmaintained sections of the PCT have not seemed nearly as bad as Milk Ck trail. I suppose people who explore through untrailed areas are used to this, but for a trail, this was just about the worst I have forged through. I visited the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Kekakabic Trail after the huge blowdown of 1999; sections of that were worse, but Milk Creek has some dramatically bad brush.

[Dayhike Mike]

When we came through it there were two really notable sections. The first one we hit had a bridge over a creek and the brush (nettles, berry vines, slide alder) was well over head high and had almost completely inundated / overtaken it. The second one we hit and the one that really floored me was the section where the "trail" drops down off of the banks of the creekbed for a second. Something disheartening about working your way through tall, dense brush, knowing full well that this is where the trail's supposed to be, but there's pritnear no hint, no sign, no nothing that anything man made had ever come through there. (I was thrilled when we found sign of boot wear on the other side of that mess.) On the other hand, there's something inherently adventurous and awe inspiring when you're wandering down those forgotten pathways. Slow going, but it was definitely one of the more memorable experiences I've had out hiking in recent years.

[George Winters]

I was going in the opposite direction, and I think your second problem was where I lost the trail for a while. I ended up along Milk Ck and followed that for a bit, then eventually headed toward lime ridge. Magically I suddenly felt the trail without being able to actually see it. Not long after that I entered the big meadow. In the alder patch I fell into the creek drainage that at one time I had helped dig out so that the trail was not under water. As I was trying to feel for the trail my hands found the bridge before I actually saw it. I had visions in my memory of the photo you took there in 2009, and could not believe how much more overgrown those two bridges are. By the time I got almost to the PCT I had no doubt that my return plan would involve an extra 15 miles and an extra day rather than return through that. It was fun, but not fun enough to try again right away. That last half mile or so to the PCT, I thought that going uphill, as I was, might possibly be easier than going downhill because I mostly was only feeling with my feet and that action on an uphill step seemed easier. On the other hand, going downhill through some of the log windfall messes might be easier than going uphill through the same.

[Quark]

I think it was 1999 or so when MBS hired a contractor to brush the Milk Creek trail, and they brought in a herd of goats to do the job. That was a bad idea for a lot of reasons, one being the brush was too much for the goats! I saw the area cleared after the new contractor got it brushed out - nice!

[gratenate]

Incredible photos! Rekindled my desire to visit Lime Ridge despite the long access. Did you sidehill traverse across rockfield on east face of Peak 6702 between Lime Lake and ridge NW of Mica Lake? Is the goal to stay high and pass through the notch and then work along the ridge down to Fire Creek Pass? Also curious if you know if access from Fire Mtn trail to Lime Lake via the unnamed lakes you discovered on Google Earth is feasible? Thanks for the inspiration.

[Dayhike Mike]

We did sidehill. At approximately 5800'. And, yeah, looking at topo, it looks pretty easy to get to the Fire Mountain trail from there.

[Allison]

So. This thread got bumped after a couple of years of languishing in the TR pile. Let's use this as an opportunity to remind people that the EA comment period is OPEN right now. The EA Comments may be sent by email to wfl.suiattleriverroad@dot.gov by April 20, 2012. Jim K is having a potluck/EA comment social next week. info here I know many people don't visit the site daily, but may see this TR.