[flatsqwerl]

My son's dog Grete needed a break from him so I took her to the Suiattle river area for some leisure on the river with a side trip up Middle ridge. Weather report looked fine. The long gravel road is pretty pot-holey now but I imagine it has been worse. There were about 10 cars when we showed up. We seemed to see all of those folks coming out so we had the upper river to ourselves and the other forest critters. The trail is in fine shape generally, with few blow downs. Some erosion issues are serious on one stretch above the river in the first couple miles. I would not want to be on horse here. We had a fine camp on the upper river about 10 miles in. Great camping temps - no bugs yet. It was hazy during the day which made for unimpressive lighting on the snowy peaks. It was clear at night though, so the moon and stars were a treat. On day 2 we backtracked slightly and picked up the Miners creek trail. Snow appeared somewhere around 4,500 ft and was hideous in terms of post holing and exhaustion. We took the right turn at the junction and headed south up towards Middle ridge. Once in the open, the snow was great...only sank in an inch or 2. We headed straight up the bowl to the ridge instead of following where the trail would be. The summit is open enough for great views, but still lots of trees at 6,600 ft. The only animal tracks we saw up here were some very large hooved ones..big as elk for sure.

tail up means all good about 10 miles in on the Suiattle

Grete chillin in Suiattle beach camp

Glacier peak

Plummer mountain

our route up and down/ looking north

[geyer]

Long approach! I guess that's what it takes to tire out a husky, huh? Nice picture of Plummer too. I've been considering going up there while there's still snow for a few years now.