[Stefan]

Melt Peak Peak 4257 / 457'P / USGS Index What sucky day we had. Alton, Greg, Sarah and I started just at the bridge crossing the Skykomish on the Index creek road at 7:45. After that we were to take a bridge across Index Creek. A little birdie told me to go across a rickety bridge across Index Creek. We went past a bridge that had car traffic on it (we knew this from the snow on the bridge) not thinking this was the one because it held cars....but it turned out on our return trip this was the correct bridge. A sign at the bridge says something like "No Trespassing Skylandia". Anyway, we kept walking up the road on the south side of Index Creek, went through somebody's private property, and then eventually had to cross Index Creek onto the north side which was moving quite steadily. We were confused as to the description of "rickety bridge". We walked a short distance onto the north side of Index Creek which has a maintained trail on a road that has been put to bed. Brush free, and important since it was drizzling! We followed this maintained road/trail (snowdepth= 6 to 9 inches) until ot jogs NW at its "corner" at 1400 feet. We walked about 150 more meters and then crossed the stream that comes out of Mud Lake. This stream was going at a faster pace than I thought it would but we were all able to make it across. Once across we worked our way up to the ridge and on to the top of Melt Peak. At times we put on snowshoes due to some low angles, but for the most part we kept them off. The snow depth was pitiful, however, there was a lot of new snow making progress extremely slow and difficult due to its unconlsolidation. On top of the new snow had a light freezing crust. At lower elevations the rain had made the snow quite dense while at the higher elevation without our snowshoes the snow was quite fluffy. The snow depth was quite low making all the brush (although not terribly bad) exposed. Now add in the factor of a heavy drizzle. The entire time. All the way to the top. Spirits were very low during this outing until we reached the summit ridge plateu at 4000 feet. Then we were all happy we could live with the misery that possessed us for the past 5 hours. Summit at 1:30. We headed down following our same tracks never putting on snowshoes. We enventually followed the road all the way out and to the only bridge that crosses Index Creek. Back to car at 4:30. For those wanting to know about going to Mud Lake and the road/trail here is the info I know. Go across the bridge across the Skykomish River and drive about 150 meters to the bridge off to the right that crosses Index Creek. Cross the bridge and 20 paces past the bridge on the left hand side will be the trail on the north side of Index Creek. This trail is extremely low grade. Brush free up to about 1500 feet. At this point we left the trail/road. You could ride a bike on it. Looks like some motorcycles could go up it without a problem too.

[wildernessed]

Sounds like you had a great time. I have been hanging around the homestead waiting to see what the weather brings looking at several trips around Stevens Pass but unsure of the weather / road / trailhead conditions or if I could even get to it. Was going to Leavenworth and looking at how the weather was there and over towards Stevens Pass but turned around in Leavenworth due to freezing rain, sleet, and snow today. Looked a little tricky and time consuming from Wenatchee. Thanks for the report. wildernessed