[AntiqueLaser]

Amazingly FS 62 gate was open and I was able to drive about 4.5 miles in to a logging gate before I pushed my bike up the last mile of road to the flagged start of the climbers trail up Persis. While steep, the trail wasn't all that brushy and didn't feel as hard as some other approach trail in the area (Baring, Gunn, Phelps). On the summit of Persis I enjoyed a Sultan Bakery buttermilk bar and fought with mosquitos before heading down to the upper Persis tarn to begin the traverse to Pers-index. On the way there I stayed a bit higher up mostly on talus and the way back dropped a bit lower into the meadowy shelf hoping to find a boot path - staying in the talus was the better and far less brushy way to go. The SnoCo gulley was still pretty snowy. From the Persindex tarns to the summit of Index you more or less stay on the ridge crest with some deviations. There was an intermittent boot path for part of the time and tons of steep brushy side hilling. The crux of the whole traverse was downclimbing some dirty class 3 to access the saddle under pt 5212'. The trip back across the traverse and down to the car was exhausting, but it was fun to bomb downhill the final road mile on my bike. ~11 hr car-to-car. This was a cool trip - Close to home rugged terrain that doesn't see much traffic, but you can see Seattle skyscrapers and hear motorcycles on hwy 2 most of the day.

Looking at Index peaks from summit of Persis

Looking down at Index town and Skykomish confluence from summit of Index

Lower Persis tarn

[Stefan]

Wow. Did you just expect the gate to be open with research you found out?

[RichP]

yeah, that was an amazing stroke of luck not to find it closed on your way out. Did you have a key just in case?

[AntiqueLaser]

I was definitely not expecting the gate to be open...there wasn't any signage indicating the need for a weyerhaeuser recreation permit so I decided to risk it. Worst case scenario I have a friend in Bellingham with a key Looking at theMt Baker Snoqualmie NF Road Trail conditions page does show FS 62 as open, so hopefully this will be the case moving forward

[fourteen410]

I wonder if the gate being open has anything to do with the sale of the Snoqualmie Forest?

[Nancyann]

They are going to have to monitor it somehow if they leave the gate open because of the garbage dumping and target shooting.

[Sky Hiker]

You lucked out I would hate to be caught up there with the gate locked behind. With the constant fire danger I am sure the gate will be locked soon enough.

[Frango]

Most of the Weyerhaeuser tracts of land around here were sold to Hampton lumber this year. They’re planning on continuing with the permit/key process. However, looking at their map, I don’t see the FS62 tract included, so what will happen with it is still a mystery.

[Sky Hiker]

Was not part of that sale I am hearing.

[babylero]

Nice, this has long been a bucket list scramble for me. How bad is the crux downclimb under 5212?