[scottk]

NickC, BillS and I originally planned to hike up the North Fork of the Skykomish to Dishpan Gap, then traverse over to Blue Lake and back out Eagle Ridge trail and Quartz Creek trail back to the car. My trip two weeks ago up to White Pass and Glacier gap suggested that south facing slopes below 6K should be mostly melted out and perhaps we could find dry camping in areas stripped by winds with good sun exposure. It was not to be. Apparently, it hasn't been warm enough the last two weeks to really ramp up melting of the snow. We started hitting snow patches below 4K and it was continuous snow above 5K on our way to Dishpan Gap. The trail traversing over to Blue Lake was mostly in snow and crossed some very steep no fall zones. I was surprised how well the snow was holding up on this south facing slope. Without ice axes and better crampons, we had no interest in making the crossing. We did find a nice spot to camp on Dishpan Gap with dry ground for the one-person tent and another dry spot for sitting and cooking. A perfect water source was about 200 ft downhill. It rained overnight and we awoke to clouds and fog. Fortunately, the sun came out for our pleasant walk back to the car. It looks like the ski season is still going strong above 5K on the west side of the cascades, although the sun cups were prominent, and the snow was covered with an unusually thick layer of pollen.

[contour5]

Thanks for the report on conditions. Nicely detailed and super useful!